The only convention dedicated to trading card conservation, restoration, and grading education. Year 2. The Call for Papers is open: we want to hear what you've learned.
Year 1 happened on June 19, 2026 in Las Vegas: expert panels, a live restoration workshop, a grading clinic, and a trade night that ran late. It was intentionally small and personal. Year 2 moves to Austin and grows the program, and this time the lineup is built from community proposals, not just the organizers' contact list.
Below are the tracks we're programming for 2027, with examples of sessions that would fit. Treat the examples as prompts, not a menu. If you've done something the community hasn't seen and it belongs on a bench, a microscope, or a spreadsheet, propose it.
Three formats. Panels are assembled by the organizers from accepted speakers, so don't propose one; propose the talk you'd give on it.
| Format | Length | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Talk | 30 min + Q&A 50 min available for deep dives | A focused technique, a case study, a body of research, a business or ethics topic. Slides, or a live demo on real cards under a camera. Tell us on the form if you need the longer slot or plan to work live. |
| Lightning Talk | 10 min | One tool, one trick, one result, one warning. Great for first-time speakers. |
| Hands-On Workshop | 90 min | Attendees work on practice cards under your guidance. Tell us what supplies you need and the max group size you can teach. Workshops run on day one and slots are limited. |
You do this for clients or for your own inventory and you have results, numbers, and scars to show for it.
Current or former grading-company staff, authenticators, and anyone who inspects cards for a living.
Paper, book, photo, and museum conservators. Your discipline solved many of our problems decades ago.
You ran a real experiment on the wiki or in Discord and you have data. Even a failed experiment is a good talk.
You buy, fix, and sell at volume, or you run a shop and see what walks through the door.
Never spoken before? Propose a lightning talk. We'll help you shape it. The community is friendly and the room is small.
The CFP opens over a year ahead of the event on purpose. This is a one-person operation and speakers get the time they need. Remaining dates are filled in as they're locked.
September 2026. Speaker portal is live; official announcement goes out late September.
TBD Late proposals considered only if slots remain.
Proposals reviewed by the organizing team and community reviewers. We may reach out with questions.
TBD Accept, waitlist, or decline, with feedback where we can.
TBD Full program announced on CardConservation.com.
Early–mid November 2027. Austin, Texas. Two days.
Details are being finalized. What we can say now:
Accepted speakers attend the full convention at no charge.
Sessions may be recorded and published to the CCC video library. You'll be asked to opt in or out when you submit.
Workshop and demo presenters should list what they need. We'll confirm what the venue and organizers can provide.
Your session and links are featured on the convention page, the wiki, and our social channels before and after the event.
Yes. Up to three. Submit your strongest one first.
Yes. Some of the most useful sessions come from hobbyists who documented one thing carefully. Lightning talks and case studies exist for exactly this.
You can talk about how you use it, with honest results and comparisons. A talk that exists to sell the product will be declined. Sponsor and vendor opportunities are separate, so email us about those.
Only if you propose a demo or workshop. Talks can use photos, video, and slides. If you demo live, bring backup cards.
Yes for 2027. We are not planning remote sessions.
Submit it. No technique is off the table. Like a security conference, we'd rather the community understand how every method works, including trimming, recoloring, and re-backing, than pretend they don't exist. Knowing how it's done is how graders, buyers, and restorers learn to spot it. Show your work, be honest about what it is, and let the room decide.
The organizing team plus invited reviewers from the Cardboard Alchemists community. Reviewers will not review proposals they have a conflict with.
Email giovanni@pokemastercenter.com or ask in the Discord.
Proposals are submitted through our speaker portal at talks.cardconservation.com. A complete proposal includes: