Looking back at the 2026 COUNTER Conference

This year was the third annual COUNTER Conference, and it was the biggest and best yet. With more than 470 registered attendees, up from 277 last year, it was clear that our community is more engaged than ever. The survey feedback was particularly encouraging, with 88% of respondents rating the conference as “very good” or “excellent,” and 83% noting they would recommend the event to their colleagues.

What made COUNTER conference 2026 special?

Our focus on timely, high-interest topics was a big factor in the success of this year’s conference. Our sessions on Artificial Intelligence really resonated. In our survey, 82% of respondents highlighted our choice of topics and the quality of our speakers as being the reason they attended. We also received wonderful feedback on our accessible, digital-first approach. By mixing longer, deep-dive presentations with faster-paced flash sessions, we were able to keep the afternoon dynamic and accessible across time zones.

There’s always something to learn!

While the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, we are always looking to improve. We’ve heard your constructive thoughts loud and clear:

• Pacing: Many of you felt the flash presentations moved a bit too quickly to fully digest the technical details. We are considering adjusting the format for next year. We may move to fewer, slightly longer sessions or implement a one-slide-only rule to keep things focused.
• Logistics: We’ve previously used Zoom Large Meeting, which means people can over-ride our settings to turn their cameras and microphones on. We plan to move to a webinar-style setup for 2027 to minimise those potential interruptions.

What’s next?

The energy at this year’s conference was palpable, especially around the future of AI. We’ve heard your calls for continued coverage on AI’s impact on usage metrics, zero-click phenomena, and practical library use cases. We are already looking forward to digging into these topics and more in our future events!

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, shared their insights, and contributed to such a valuable conversation. And thank you to our Education Committee for their guidance. If you missed any part of the event, please keep an eye out for our recording links. Members have access already, and we’ll be making the videos available to everyone when we open registration for the 2027 Conference. We can’t wait to see what the next year brings!