Client Connections 2026 Sneak Peek — Virtual Speed Dating to Snag Freelance Work
That sound you hear is ASJA getting gears in motion to launch Client Connections 2026 — A Virtual Event! (CC26), which takes place on Thursday April 23, and Friday April 24, 2026.
Part of ASJA’s annual conference April 20-24, 2026, Client Connections is the organization’s signature networking event, where top-tier digital and print editors, content marketing agencies and literary agents meet with ASJA professional members looking to forge new working relationships and land freelance assignments. In 2026, both the conference and Client Connections will take place online–a format that allows the maximum number of ASJA members to participate.
As one of the three Client Connections co-chairs working with a team of terrific volunteers, I can tell you that our upcoming “speed dating” sessions will be fantastic, and also a little different than in the past.
Articles, Agents, and Other Success Stories from Past Client Connections
If you’re thinking I’m just cheerleading for Client Connections, allow me to share a few testimonials.
In 2024, ASJA member Jaclyn Greenberg received assignments from both AARP and Costco Connection after pitching the magazines’ editors during Client Connections 2024. This spring, Greenberg signed with a book agent after pitching a book proposal to three agents at Client Connections 2025. “The third agent offered to meet with me over Zoom to help me with my proposal,” she said. “I was shocked when she offered to work with me and sent a contract later that day.” That agent is now shopping around Greenberg’s book idea.
At Client Connections 2025, ASJA member Emily Dalamangas met with the editor overseeing branded content for ADWEEK, a publication that had been on her wish list. Said Dalamangas: “I have since written seven sponsored articles for them.”
My two tireless Client Connections Co-Chairs, KJ Bannan and Cari Shane, have their own success stories.
According to Bannan: “CC25 netted me about $17,000 so far from outlets that weren’t even on my radar. I was also able to deepen connections with existing editors.”
Shane has participated in Client Connections since 2018, and it’s changed the trajectory of her freelance journalism career. That first meeting landed her articles with LeapsMag (now Upworthy), Discover and EatingWell magazines. “The articles I wrote for each of those outlets became a rolling stone that continues to roll, turning into articles for Smithsonian, Scientific American, National Geographic and more.,” Shane said.
What’s In Store for Client Connections 2026
So, what can you expect from Client Connections 2026?
This time, the event will begin after the conclusion of the conference and run for two consecutive days, April 23 and 24. Each day will consist of one, three–hour session, from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern time. Clients — the editors and agents — will meet virtually with each writer for nine minutes, with a one-minute break between meetings and a 10-minute break at the top of each hour. We’ll be using the Airmeet virtual platform, which we debuted in 2024 and which has received gold stars from members. (For an explanation of how client meetings worked on the Airmeet platform for CC2024, read here.)
Registration for Client Connections 2026 will begin Dec. 1 and continue through April 12.
As in the past, we’ll hold a lottery for ASJA professional members to list in priority order which clients they’d like to meet. The lottery will take place April 5 to 12. This year, we will keep Client Connections registration open during the lottery, which gives professional members an extra week to sign up than they had in the past. By April 16, registrants will be notified of their meeting schedule. Client Connections 2026 is $79 when bundled with conference registration and $139 without.
Help the Client Connections Crew Find Clients
The Client Connections co-chairs and volunteers are updating our massive database of editors and agents from print and digital publications, trade magazines and literary agencies, content marketing firms and companies with their own content departments, hospitals and associations.
Our goal is to bring ASJA professional members “speed dating” opportunities with more than 50 editors and agents, as we did for Client Connections 2024, when clients included The New York Times, Costco Connection, Weill Cornell Medicine, Smithsonian Magazine, Stonesong Literary and Gotham Ghostwriters.
If you know of any editors or agents you’d like us to invite (or any we’ve invited in the past that you think we shouldn’t invite again), please tell us here. If you’d like to volunteer for Client Connections, either in the months before the event or during it, use the same link to let us know.
We’ll provide periodic updates here, in the ASJA Weekly, and on ASJA’s Facebook page. We’re excited about what’s to come!
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Richard Eisenberg is an ASJA board member and co-chair of Client Connections. He has co-chaired the ASJA Awards and calls himself an “unretired” journalist and podcaster.