Plan Your Medium Day 2023 Lineup

Announcing the schedule of 200+ sessions for our community-led conference on August 12

Brittany Jezouit

Published in

The Medium Blog

14 min readAug 3, 2023

We’ve just published the schedule of sessions for Medium Day—and holy moly, there are a lot of them.

Medium Day is our first-ever virtual conference, happening on Saturday, August 12 (less than two weeks away!). It’s a celebration of our community, of storytelling, of big ideas. We hope you’ll join thousands of attendees around the world and tune in—you’ll get to meet writers, hear insights from experts, and connect with a community of people who share a passion for human stories.

The full schedule, with over 200 sessions, can be found at the bottom of our event page, MediumDay.com. We’re continuing to add more sessions, so refer to the website for the most up-to-date info.

My advice: Think of this less like a traditional conference and more like a music festival. You can pick and choose your lineup based on what you’re most interested in, jump to different sessions, and choose your own adventure. We call it the Law of Two Clicks: If you find you’re not drawn in by a session, you’re only two clicks away from something else. On our event page, you can sort by tag(s) to find topics you’re most interested in, and there’s a handy button that lets you automatically add it to your calendar.

You don’t need to register for each session individually (we love a streamlined approach!) — just register here to gain access to all events throughout the day. Want to attend more than one session at once? Well, we don’t have a time-turner solution for that (yet), but we’ll record all sessions and share them after the event.

Here are just a few highlights I’m looking forward to. (Note: The times below are EDT, but the time shown on our Hopin schedule is automatically adjusted to your individual timezone).

Welcome To Medium Day! with Medium staff (9:00 AM-9:25 AM ET)
How To Find Your Voice As A Writer And Artist with Liza Donnelly, a writer and cartoonist for The New Yorker (10:00 AM-10:30 AM ET)
Is AI Really The Future?, a panel with Brandeis Marshall, Kenya Oduor, Ph.D., and Dr. C - Data & AI · Diversity · Wellness; moderated by Adrienne Gibbs (10:00 AM-10:55 AM ET)
“She’s Not Strategic” — The Bias-Based Issue Holding Women Back From Leadership with Jess Iandiorio (10:30 AM-11:00 AM ET)
Building For 300 Languages: Behind Wikipedia’s Recent Redesign with Alex Hollender, Jan Drewniak, and Olga Vasileva, the team behind Wikipedia’s recent redesign; moderated by Helena Zhang (11:00 AM-11:45 AM ET)
Medium Keynote Address with Tony Stubblebine, including an open Q&A (12:00 PM-1:30 PM)
How to Make Radical Candor Just Work and Work Justly with Kim Scott, author of Just Work and Radical Candor (1:30 PM-2:00 PM ET)
Do Nothing: How To Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, And Underliving with journalist Celeste Headlee (1:30 PM-2:15 PM ET)
From Blog To Book: How These Medium Writers Made That Journey with Kaki Okumura, Benjamin Sledge, and Julio Vincent Gambuto; moderated by Harris Sockel (2:00 PM-2:50 PM ET)
How The Media Gets Trans Coverage Wrong with Julia Serano, Jude Ellison S. Doyle, and Devon Price; moderated by Katherine Cross (4:00 PM-4:50 PM ET)
Against Enshittification: A Plan To Seize The Means Of Computation, Kill The Platforms, And Restore The Old, Good Internet with Cory Doctorow (7:00 PM-7:30 PM ET)

Below, you’ll find a version of the schedule organized by topic or track: Writing & Storytelling, Technology & AI, Spotlight on Stories & Publications, All about Medium, Culture & Society, Business & Work, Design, Identity & Representation, and Self-Improvement & Ideas.

Let us know what your can’t-miss session pick is in the comments. See you at Medium Day!

Writing & Storytelling

Make Your Memoir Pop! (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
30 Years As A Professional Writer: Ask Me Anything! (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
How To Keep Your Head Up As A “Non-Native” Writer (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
The Poetry Approach: A Creative Pathway To Transform Your Life (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
Women Writing About Midlife (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
How To Find Your Voice As A Writer And Artist (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
My Journey From A Shy Non-Native Speaker To A Confident English Writer (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
The Write Stuff: Writing On Medium And The Writing Cooperative Q&A (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
How To Spot Great Clients For Your Writing On Talent Markets (For Beginners) (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
Think Pieces Vs. Reality: It’s Not Just Instagram That Makes Everything Look Shiny (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
Writing About Midlife: Author Panel (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
How To Write Personal Essays When English Is Your Second Language (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Photography Is More Than A Pretty Picture (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Controversy, Honesty And Truth: 3 Values That Are Important In Writing (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Use Real Life Emotion In Your Writing (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Honoring My Truth: The Price Of Family Approval (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Turning Your Subject Matter Expertise Into A Writing Niche (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
Should You Write Under A Pen Name? (And Why I Killed Mine) (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Fiction (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
Creative Courage And Vulnerability: How To Take Risks And Be Authentic With Your Writing And Creativity (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
Creative Poetry Writing With Sam! (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
Memoir Writing: Memories Are Made of … Mush (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
Writing to inspire an audience of creative thinkers (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
Roz Warren Tells You Why Your Title Sucks, Why Your Introduction is Too Damn Long, and Why You Need to Shape and Structure Your Work (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
From Blog To Book: How These Medium Writers Made That Journey (2:00 PM-2:50 PM)
How To Write About Your Trauma Without Re-Traumatizing Yourself (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Editing Poetry: Perspectives From Editors and Poets (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Writing The Bones: Structuring Compelling Creative Nonfiction (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
Writing With Impact: Creating Copy That Sticks (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
If Family Doesn’t Kill You — You May be Making Them Up (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
How I Left Hollywood And Found My Writing Voice (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
Roz Warren, Writing Coach, is here to help you. (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
Why Young People Should Write Memoirs (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
Clarify The Vision Of Your Novel By Answering Two Questions (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
Know Yourself (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
From 800 Words to 80,000: Short Humor Writers on Becoming Authors (4:00 PM-4:30 PM)
Finding Your Voice: How To Develop A Writing Style That Reflects Your Personality (4:00 PM-4:30 PM)
Making A Comic In 30 Mins: A Live Demo (4:00 PM-4:30 PM)
Writing Satire With Specificity (4:30 PM-5:00 PM)
What I Learned From 50 Years Of Story Telling And Consequential Strangers (4:30 PM-5:00 PM)
The DNA Of Your Best Writing Is In Your Failed Articles (4:30 PM-5:00 PM)
Stuff Writers Write That Makes Editors (and Readers) Cringe (4:30 PM-5:00 PM)
Why Poetry Should Feel Like a Punch to the Gut (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
Make A Promise In Your First Chapter: How-To Tips And Q&A For The Writing Life (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
No More Cat Stories: How To Stop Writing For Clicks (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
The Many Purposes Of Blog Posts (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
Things To Know When Writing About Mental Health (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
What Telling My Clients’ Stories Taught Me About Telling My Own: Reflections of a Death Penalty Lawyer (5:30 PM-6:00 PM)
Creating A Landing Spot For Independent Book Authors (5:30 PM-6:00 PM)
How To Write Your Story (6:00 PM-6:30 PM)
Turning Trauma Into Stories For Fun, Fame, And Money (6:00 PM-6:30 PM)
Poetry as the Mathematics of Meaning-A Poet from Scribe (6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
Writing The Memoir: Tips And Tricks (7:00 PM-7:30 PM)
You Don’t Need To Be An Expert To Tell The Story (7:00 PM-7:30 PM)
F**K Words: The Art of Comedic Storytelling (7:00 PM-7:30 PM)
Finding Inspiration For Your Memoirs and Personal Essays (7:00 PM-7:30 PM)
Editors Want You To Succeed (7:30 PM-8:00 PM)
You Should Write A Children’s Book (7:30 PM-8:00 PM)
Having Your Work Stolen: Violation Or Validation? (8:30 PM-9:00 PM)
The Perks Of Getting Personal (8:30 PM-9:00 PM)

Technology & AI

Is Editing AI-Generated Copy The Future For Writers? (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
Is AI Really The Future? (10:00 AM-10:55 AM)
Building Humane Operating System On Digital Devices (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
Staying Awake In A Hallucinatory World (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
Defying Apple’s Product Designers: Mechanical Not Magic Keyboard For Me! (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
Writing Copy That Sticks: Copywriter Vs. ChatGPT (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Algorithmic Thinking Has Killed The True Gift of Writing (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Unveiling The Paradox: When Modern Finance Theory Meets Modern Data Science (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
The Future Of Augmented Reality (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
Learning by Blogging: How To Stay Up-To-Date With Tech Trends Through Writing (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
GPT Is An Unreliable Information Store (4:30 PM-5:00 PM)
60 Years Of AI: A Brief Look Into The History Of Artificial Intelligence (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
Is ChatGPT Lossy Compression Or Creative Expansion? (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
Fighting Bias…With Bias (5:30 PM-6:00 PM)
The Power Of Technical Writing: Fueling Career Growth In Data And Engineering (6:00 PM-6:30 PM)
Empowering Young People In Tech Journalism (7:00 PM-7:30 PM)
More Human Than Human: Writing That Stands Out In The AI World (7:30 PM-8:00 PM)
Embracing The Impostor: Shaping Our Creative Identity In The Age Of Generative AI (8:30 PM-9:00 PM)

Spotlight on Stories & Publications

What Nobody Taught You About Loneliness (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
The Write Stuff: Writing On Medium And The Writing Cooperative Q&A (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
My Journey With Scribe And Medium (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
Q&A With Authors From The Pragmatic Bookshelf (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Aging Positively: Spreading The Message Of Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age Through Podcasting (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age — Finding Community In A Publication (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
You Anthem: Olympic Failures to American HerStory (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
You Ask. I Answer. Will Be Wild (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Learn How To Edit And Submit Your Stories To Middle-Pause — The Pub On A Mission (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
Poetry Is Personal: Growing Your Writing Through The Scribe Community (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
Aegis Of Scribe (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
Care And Feeding Of The Comedy Community At MuddyUm (4:30 PM-5:00 PM)
Real Time Satire Feedback! (6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
Medium’s Mega Mash-Up (7:30 PM-8:00 PM)
MuddYum Wants to Be Your Funny Functional Family (8:00 PM-8:30 PM)

All about Medium

Welcome To Medium Day! (9:00 AM-9:25 AM)
How Medium Curation Evaluates Stories for Boost (9:30 AM-9:55 AM)
How To Grow A Following On Medium (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
How To Use Medium To Build A Writing Portfolio (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
Is AI Really The Future? (10:00 AM-10:55 AM)
Lead Gen: How A Top Management Consultant Shares His Ideas (And Builds His Business) On Medium (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
How To Succeed As An Academic On Medium (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
How To Start A Successful Publication On Medium (11:00 AM-11:55 AM)
Medium Keynote Address (feat. Tony Stubblebine) (12:00 PM-1:30 PM)
The Professors Are In: How Medium Can Help Academics Spread Their Ideas and Build Their Followings (2:00 PM-2:45 PM)
From Blog To Book: How These Medium Writers Made That Journey (2:00 PM-2:50 PM)
Making Money On Medium: Facts, Myths & Misconceptions (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
Building And Maintaining Your Audience (8:00 PM-8:30 PM)
Making Money On Medium: Facts, Myths & Misconceptions (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)

Culture & Society

The Highs And Lows Of Remote Work Abroad (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
How Ancient Civilizational Wisdom Can Guide Us In Modern Times (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
Writing About Movies For Fun And Profit (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
What Nobody Taught You About Loneliness (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
Writing Deep: Philosophy, Religion, And Spirituality On Medium With The Taoist Online Staff (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
What You Need to Know Before Visiting Sicily, by Two Sicilians (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Leaving Religion, Finding Spirituality (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
AMA: Survival & Storytelling (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Writing About Faith In A Post-Christian World (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
The Battle For The Soul of Islam (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
How Tarot Cards Can Help You Tap Into Your Creativity (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Africa’s Intellectual Legacy to the World (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Set Up Or Set Back? The Supreme Court’s Decision On Affirmative Action In Higher Ed (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
The Future Of Media (4:30 PM-5:00 PM)
Running a Music Publication (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
The Great White North & Other Lies: Lessons from Canada to defend American equality & democracy (5:30 PM-6:00 PM)
Finding The Meaning of Life As An Ex-Christian (6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
Co-Parenting In The Age of Narcissism: Ask Me Anything (7:00 PM-7:30 PM)
What I Learned From Writing A Book About Climate Change (8:00 PM-8:30 PM)
World War One — The forgotten boys from Ceylon (8:00 PM-8:30 PM)
How We Can All Help Children in Crisis in our Community (8:30 PM-9:00 PM)

Business & Work

Dream, Build, And Succeed: Accelerate Your Startup’s Path To Product-Market Fit (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
Lead Gen: How A Top Management Consultant Shares His Ideas (And Builds His Business) On Medium (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
“She’s Not Strategic” — The Bias-Based Issue Holding Women Back From Leadership (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
Creating A “Permissionless” Organization (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Up Your Corporate Ladder — how to accelerate your career (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
How to Make Radical Candor Just Work and Work Justly (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
Buckle Up! This Is The Future Of Work, And Here’s How To Prepare (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
My Journey To Becoming A Data Analyst At 34 (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Product Management Beyond Conventional Frameworks (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
What They Don’t Tell You In B-School (AKA: What It’s Really Like To Start Your Own Business) (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
The Career Toolkit AMA (4:00 PM-4:30 PM)
Fundraising? Ditch The Pitch Deck Template (4:00 PM-4:30 PM)
The 5 Indicators Of Healthy Sales-Marketing Alignment (4:30 PM-5:00 PM)
How to Have Difficult Conversations: Skills For Managing Conflict And Disagreement (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
Applying The Power Of Storytelling To Business (5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
7 Habits for Highly Unemployed People (& Others!) (5:30 PM-6:00 PM)
Everything About Startups and Venture: From An Ex-Softbank Investor And Y-Combinator Founder (6:00 PM-6:30 PM)
Moving Beyond Founder Sales (6:00 PM-6:30 PM)
WTF Is Product Strategy? (6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
Diapers and Deadlines: Hidden Synergy Between Parenting and Management (6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
Against Enshittification: A Plan To Seize The Means Of Computation, Kill The Platforms, And Restore The Old, Good Internet (7:00 PM-7:30 PM)
3 Things Writers Can Learn From Startup Founders For 10x Growth (7:00 PM-7:30 PM)
What Would They Do? A Framework For Leveling Up In Your Career (8:00 PM-8:30 PM)
How To Make Career Decisions (From An Ex-MBB Consultant, Softbank Investor, and Y-Combinator Founder) (8:00 PM-8:30 PM)
The Importance Of A Mentor (8:00 PM-8:30 PM)
How To Create Your Own Luck — From A Founder Who Raised Millions (8:30 PM-9:00 PM)

Design

The UX Of YouTube Advertising (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
5 Questions You Should Ask Before Launching Your Website (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
What We Get Wrong About Minimalism (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
How To Name Design Tokens In A Design System (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Questions History Can Answer About UX Design (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
Read, Write, Design: A Designer’s Path To Excellence (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
Why Do Users Prefer Certain Design? Insights From The Landscape Theory (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
3 Reasons Designers Should Write (6:00 PM-6:30 PM)
Design For Good: How To Become A Better Designer By Helping Others (8:00 PM-8:30 PM)

Identity & Representation

The One Thing That Matters Most To Every Woman In The World (9:30 AM-10:00 AM)
Women Writing About Midlife (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
Invisible Identities: How Multiracial Experience Is Changing Our Sense Of Identity And Belonging (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
“She’s Not Strategic” — The Bias-Based Issue Holding Women Back From Leadership (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
What Matters Most To Every Woman In The United States (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
Racial Equity, Allyship, And Inclusion: The Basics (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
Using My Medium Blog As My Transgender Journal (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
Global “Voices”: The Other Type Of Diversity The World Also Needs (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
How My Rare Autoimmune Condition Made Me A Writer And Medium Poet (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
Unifying Voices For Climate Change: Bridging Generational And Racial Divides Through Conversations (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
The Sacred Journey Of The Divine Feminine (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Creating Gender Inclusive Schools: How To Support Transgender and Nonbinary Students And Make School Better For Everyone (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Trans Identities And The Personal Touch (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Dealing With Adult ADHD Through Humor (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Heritage as Hook: How Two Asian American Writers Explore Identity on Medium (3:00 PM-3:30 PM)
Electric Unknowing: Gender Transition, 25 Years Later (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
How the Media Gets Trans Coverage Wrong (4:00 PM-4:50 PM)
How Mental Illness Affects My Writing (5:30 PM-6:00 PM)
The Implications Of Racist Micro and Macroaggressions (6:00 PM-6:30 PM)
Start A Fight, Start A Fire, Start A Blog: Modern Muckracking And Autistic Activism (6:00 PM-6:30 PM)
Balancing privacy while writing deeply personal stories on Medium as a woman (7:30 PM-8:00 PM)
Bi Myself: Coming Out Late In Life (8:30 PM-9:00 PM)

Self-Improvement & Ideas

The Cure For Too Much Thinking (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
Achieving Work-Life Balance With The “Soft Girl” Lifestyle (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
The Practicing Human — Low-Tech Alternatives To Modern Living (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
Unlock Your Potential With Keystone Habits (10:00 AM-10:30 AM)
The Keys To Living A Life Of Less Stress And More Success (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
Are You Ever Too Old To Try Something New? (10:30 AM-11:00 AM)
The Pros And Cons Of A Serious Illness As A Data Scientist And Researcher (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
The Unlearning Project — Reframing Worth & Value (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Balancing Act: How To Learn To Trust Yourself (11:00 AM-11:30 AM)
Why CBT Doesn’t Work, And What Actually Does (11:30 AM-12:00 PM)
Dealing With Mental Health Issues As An IT Professional (1:30 PM-2:00 PM)
A Mini Therapy Session For Relationship Content Enjoyers (2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Do You Speak “Data” But Struggle To Speak “Feelings”? Master The Language Of Emotional Intimacy (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Using Mischief To Make Real Change For The Better (2:30 PM-3:00 PM)
The Science Of Happiness (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
Use This Simple Intimacy Concept To Attract People To You (3:30 PM-4:00 PM)
My OCD Stole My Writing From Me (4:00 PM-4:30 PM)
ZEN-PROV! Using Improv To Find Zen And Cope With Life’s Challenges (4:00 PM-4:30 PM)
Merely Bystanders: The Psychology of Courage & Inaction (4:30 PM-5:00 PM)
The Key To Success And Happiness: Look In, Not Out (5:30 PM-6:00 PM)
Laziness Is Not The Issue: How To Unlock Your Motivation (6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
How To Find The Love Of Your Life (7:30 PM-8:00 PM)
Can Humor Help In Health Or Mental Health Articles? (7:30 PM-8:00 PM)
Empower Your Magical Self With A “Soul-Lit” (7:30 PM-8:00 PM)
Creativity And Mental Health: How To Respect Your Needs, Ignore The Hustle Culture Bros And Build A Creator Journey That Fulfills You (7:30 PM-8:00 PM)
How To Become The Person You Want To Be (8:30 PM-9:00 PM)
What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vagus (8:30 PM-9:00 PM)

Register for these sessions (and more!) at MediumDay.com.