Alabama Department of Education reports strong turnout, high preliminary satisfaction for MEGA 2025

The Alabama State Department of Education told the State Board on Tuesday that its MEGA 2025 professional development conference drew roughly 3,290 attendees, included more than 500 sessions and received generally high preliminary satisfaction ratings.

The MEGA conference, department staff said, is a signature annual event for educators across the state. “The MEGA conference is one of our signature professional development [events] supporting all the educators here in Alabama,” said Shania Washington, one of the assistant state superintendents, during the report. Washington and Molly Killingsworth, the department’s federal programs director, presented the conference summary to the board.

Department officials said the conference combined state-led sessions and district proposals, and that staff vetted more than 400 presenters. The program included 28 separate topical tracks, “early bird” sessions that began at 8:30 a.m., an exhibit hall with Career Technical Education displays and student performances, and keynote remarks from department leadership and author John Maxwell.

Preliminary evaluation results provided to the board show most attendees responded favorably. Staff characterized the figures as preliminary because evaluations are accepted for about a month after the event. The department reported that approximately 60% of respondents were “very satisfied” with early-bird sessions and 40% “satisfied.” For session topics, about 51% were “very satisfied,” 46% “satisfied” and 3% “dissatisfied.” For the overall MEGA experience, 58% were “very satisfied,” 41% “satisfied” and about 1% “dissatisfied.” Staff also reported that roughly 98% said they were very likely or likely to use the knowledge gained, and about 92% said they were very likely or likely to attend MEGA next year.

Planning for MEGA 2026 is already underway, the department said. Officials described a multi-month timeline that begins with debriefing and evaluation review, opens session proposal windows in October–December and publishes the final schedule in May–June. The department also maintains a MEGA app for attendees; the app remains live after the conference so participants can access presentations and obtain certificates of attendance.

Board members and staff praised the conference logistics and the evaluation process. The presentation reiterated that MEGA is a cross‑department effort involving legal, technology, communications and central staff to coordinate speakers, signage and on‑site operations.

The department said it will provide a finalized evaluation report once all post‑conference responses are collected and analyzed.