2026 Annual Meeting of the Participant Experience Roundtable

VENUE - MEETING AGENDA - HOTEL INFORMATION - MEETING PLANNING COMMITTEE

September 22/23, 2026

VENUE

Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor
101 Harborside Drive
Boston, MA 02128

AGENDA

Click date to open Agenda

6:30 p.m.

Pre-Event Dinner at ReelHouse East Boston, 6 New Street, Boston, MA

8:00 a.m.	Continental Breakfast Buffet
8:15 a.m.	Welcome and Introduction Steering Committee Chair: Location:
8:30 a.m.	GENERAL SESSION: Participant Engagement Beyond Automatic Enrollment Location:
	This opening panel examines what meaningful engagement looks like once automatic enrollment has done its work of getting participants into the plan. Panelists explore engagement on three fronts – financial wellness, retirement plan decision-making, and account security – and consider how providers can move participants from passive enrollment to active ownership of their financial futures. Moderator: TBA Panelists: TBA Location:
9:45 a.m.	TRANSITION BREAK
9:50 a.m.	Breakout Sessions Breakout 1 – Mapping the Moments That Matter Track: Participant Digital Experience Description: Participants interact with their plan at a handful of pivotal moments. This session identifies the three participant journeys that most shape the participant experience and dissects where friction, drop-off, and delight occur. Discussion covers how providers prioritize design investment across these journeys and how they measure improvement over time. Moderator: Location: Breakout 2 – Communicating Through Service Provider Transitions Track: Participant Communication Description: Plan transitions are among the highest anxiety moments in the participant’s experience. This session explores how service providers communicate mapping strategies, in-kind transfers, and blackout periods in ways that satisfy compliance requirements while keeping participants informed and confident. Attendees compare templates, timing practices, and lessons learned from recent conversions. Moderator: Location: Breakout 3 – Live, Recorded, and What Actually Works Track: Participant Education & Counseling Description: Online education takes many forms, and each demands its own definition of success. This session compares the reach, engagement, and outcome metrics of live webinars against on-demand content and asks how providers decide which format to deploy for which topic and audience. Moderator: Location: Breakout 4 - The Human and the Machine on the Line Track: Participant Contact Center Description: AI is reshaping the contact center, from call summarization and agent assistance to fully automated participant interactions. This session examines where AI adds value in participant conversations, where human counselors remain essential, and how providers manage accuracy, confidentiality, trust, and compliance as these tools mature. Moderator: Location:
11:00 a.m.	General Session: Peer discussion of trending topics
	A member-driven discussion of the questions on everyone’s mind. Attendees select from the topics below and share candidly what is – and isn’t – working across their organizations. Proposed topics: The Retirement Income conversation, Loans, hardship withdrawals, emergency withdrawals, Plan sponsor adoption of automatic enrollment, automatic increases, and re-enrollment strategies conducive to successful outcomes, The market for managed accounts, Successful financial wellness strategies, Asset retention at the time of a distributable event, Participant experience in a PEP environment, Balancing demand and available resources, Relationships with other teams (Account management, relationship management, conversion/implementation, distribution), Other topics suggested in the registration process.
12:15 p.m.	Buffet Luncheon

1:00 p.m.	Breakout Sessions Breakout 5 - Testing Before They Tell You Track: Participant Digital Experience Description: Great digital experiences are validated with real participants, not assumed. This session surveys usability testing practices across the industry – from moderated sessions and A/B usability testing to analytics-driven iteration – and discusses how teams build testing into the product cycle on realistic budgets and timelines. Moderator: Location: Breakout 6 - Speaking to One, at Scale: Customization and Hyper-personalization Track: Participant Communication Description: Participants increasingly expect communications tailored to their situation, yet personalization at scale raises questions of data, cost, and diminishing returns. This session explores segmentation strategies, dynamic content, and the line between helpful personalization and intrusive complexity. Moderator: Location: Breakout 7 - Where Counselors and Educators Spend Their Hours Track: Participant Education & Counseling Description: Education and counseling teams constantly balance dedicated support for larger plans against shared-resource models that serve many. This session examines how providers allocate counselor time, triage participant demand, and measure whether resources are deployed where they create the most value. Moderator: Location: Breakout 8 - From Accumulation to Income: Advanced Conversations: Retirement Counseling and Income Planning Track: Participant Contact Center Description: As participants approach and enter retirement, the conversation shifts from saving to drawing down. This session explores how contact centers equip staff for advanced retirement counseling and income-planning discussions, including the training, tools, and boundaries that distinguish education from advice. Moderator: Location:
2:10 p.m.	Transition Break
2:15 p.m.	General Session: Preparing for Old Age: Where to Draw the Line
	Description: Drawing on the Center for Retirement Research's work, this session steps back to the national picture: how much of Americans' retirement security should rest with employers and their plans, and how much with Social Security and other public programs? The presentation frames the policy backdrop against which every participant-experience decision is ultimately made. Presenter: Center for Retirement Research Location:
3:15 p.m.	Transition Break
3:20 p.m.	Next Steps and Closing: Charting a Course and Plan of Action for 2027
	The Steering Committee synthesizes the day’s discussions into concrete priorities, working-group commitments, and a roadmap for the Participant Experience Roundtable in 2027. Moderator: Location:
4:20 p.m.	Adjourn

Click date to open Agenda

6:30 p.m.

Pre-Event Dinner at ReelHouse East Boston, 6 New Street, Boston, MA

8:00 a.m.	Continental Breakfast Buffet
8:15 a.m.	Welcome and Introduction Steering Committee Chair: Location:
8:30 a.m.	GENERAL SESSION: Participant Engagement Beyond Automatic Enrollment Location:
	This opening panel examines what meaningful engagement looks like once automatic enrollment has done its work of getting participants into the plan. Panelists explore engagement on three fronts – financial wellness, retirement plan decision-making, and account security – and consider how providers can move participants from passive enrollment to active ownership of their financial futures. Moderator: TBA Panelists: TBA Location:
9:45 a.m.	TRANSITION BREAK
9:50 a.m.	Breakout Sessions Breakout 1 – Mapping the Moments That Matter Track: Participant Digital Experience Description: Participants interact with their plan at a handful of pivotal moments. This session identifies the three participant journeys that most shape the participant experience and dissects where friction, drop-off, and delight occur. Discussion covers how providers prioritize design investment across these journeys and how they measure improvement over time. Moderator: Location: Breakout 2 – Communicating Through Service Provider Transitions Track: Participant Communication Description: Plan transitions are among the highest anxiety moments in the participant’s experience. This session explores how service providers communicate mapping strategies, in-kind transfers, and blackout periods in ways that satisfy compliance requirements while keeping participants informed and confident. Attendees compare templates, timing practices, and lessons learned from recent conversions. Moderator: Location: Breakout 3 – Live, Recorded, and What Actually Works Track: Participant Education & Counseling Description: Online education takes many forms, and each demands its own definition of success. This session compares the reach, engagement, and outcome metrics of live webinars against on-demand content and asks how providers decide which format to deploy for which topic and audience. Moderator: Location: Breakout 4 - The Human and the Machine on the Line Track: Participant Contact Center Description: AI is reshaping the contact center, from call summarization and agent assistance to fully automated participant interactions. This session examines where AI adds value in participant conversations, where human counselors remain essential, and how providers manage accuracy, confidentiality, trust, and compliance as these tools mature. Moderator: Location:
11:00 a.m.	General Session: Peer discussion of trending topics
	A member-driven discussion of the questions on everyone’s mind. Attendees select from the topics below and share candidly what is – and isn’t – working across their organizations. Proposed topics: The Retirement Income conversation, Loans, hardship withdrawals, emergency withdrawals, Plan sponsor adoption of automatic enrollment, automatic increases, and re-enrollment strategies conducive to successful outcomes, The market for managed accounts, Successful financial wellness strategies, Asset retention at the time of a distributable event, Participant experience in a PEP environment, Balancing demand and available resources, Relationships with other teams (Account management, relationship management, conversion/implementation, distribution), Other topics suggested in the registration process.
12:15 p.m.	Buffet Luncheon

1:00 p.m.	Breakout Sessions Breakout 5 - Testing Before They Tell You Track: Participant Digital Experience Description: Great digital experiences are validated with real participants, not assumed. This session surveys usability testing practices across the industry – from moderated sessions and A/B usability testing to analytics-driven iteration – and discusses how teams build testing into the product cycle on realistic budgets and timelines. Moderator: Location: Breakout 6 - Speaking to One, at Scale: Customization and Hyper-personalization Track: Participant Communication Description: Participants increasingly expect communications tailored to their situation, yet personalization at scale raises questions of data, cost, and diminishing returns. This session explores segmentation strategies, dynamic content, and the line between helpful personalization and intrusive complexity. Moderator: Location: Breakout 7 - Where Counselors and Educators Spend Their Hours Track: Participant Education & Counseling Description: Education and counseling teams constantly balance dedicated support for larger plans against shared-resource models that serve many. This session examines how providers allocate counselor time, triage participant demand, and measure whether resources are deployed where they create the most value. Moderator: Location: Breakout 8 - From Accumulation to Income: Advanced Conversations: Retirement Counseling and Income Planning Track: Participant Contact Center Description: As participants approach and enter retirement, the conversation shifts from saving to drawing down. This session explores how contact centers equip staff for advanced retirement counseling and income-planning discussions, including the training, tools, and boundaries that distinguish education from advice. Moderator: Location:
2:10 p.m.	Transition Break
2:15 p.m.	General Session: Preparing for Old Age: Where to Draw the Line
	Description: Drawing on the Center for Retirement Research's work, this session steps back to the national picture: how much of Americans' retirement security should rest with employers and their plans, and how much with Social Security and other public programs? The presentation frames the policy backdrop against which every participant-experience decision is ultimately made. Presenter: Center for Retirement Research Location:
3:15 p.m.	Transition Break
3:20 p.m.	Next Steps and Closing: Charting a Course and Plan of Action for 2027
	The Steering Committee synthesizes the day’s discussions into concrete priorities, working-group commitments, and a roadmap for the Participant Experience Roundtable in 2027. Moderator: Location:
4:20 p.m.	Adjourn

2026 Annual Meeting of the Participant Experience Roundtable

VENUE

AGENDA

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