LabMan (still short for Academic Lab Management Conference), is a national conference for computer lab managers and other IT professionals involved in the management and support of computer labs, computer classrooms, and other technology-driven teaching/learning spaces. Held annually and usually hosted by a college or university, LabMan has become a tradition attended by a relatively small audience, usually between 150 and 300 attendees. Beyond this, LabMan has become a community of professionals who collaborate beyond the conference to discuss and troubleshoot similar issues, find solutions to shared problems, and explore innovative ideas for enhancing management of academic endpoints.
LabMan 2026: The Regional Symposium at VCU This year we're transitioning to a regionally focused model. We have condensed our program into a 1.5 day schedule to better support our local community of academic IT professionals. This new structure prioritizes accessibility: it allows you to drive to Richmond on Day 1 and return home on the evening of Day 2.
Share Your Expertise in a New Format: We understand that your time is valuable. This year, we are introducing 15 minute lightning rounds alongside our traditional sessions. These concise presentations offer a low-barrier platform to showcase your current projects, technical solutions, or workflow improvements without the preparation required for a full hour talk. Want to present? Head over to https://lmn.sh/cfp to submit a presenation idea.
The year was 2000. Computer labs were becoming more and more complex to manage, with users demanding additional application software, more CPU speed, more memory, more hard disk space, more printer paper. It was a never-ending cycle for many. A few computer lab managers got the idea to get together and talk about those issues. So that's what they did! The very first LabMan was hosted at Wayne State University as an inexpensive, informal, and friendly conference designed for people responsible for the maintenance of computer labs in colleges, universities, K-12 schools/districts, and libraries.
The conference has also focused on many topics beyond managing computer labs including wireless support, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), classroom support, innovation spaces,and print management just to name a few. While the scope of the conference remains largely focused on the core of computer lab management, there are other tracks to help provide professional from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines engage and learn new skills.
So far 21 schools have hosted LabMan all over the continental US. Here is a list of those schools from most recent to least. Some schools have hosted more than once. If you're interested in hosting LabMan at your school, please reach out to us at [email protected].
*The 2020 conference was rescheduled several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.