If your district has an AI task force, a working group, or draft guidance developed, you’ve already done something a lot of districts haven’t: you started. But starting isn’t the hard part. The hard part is what comes next.
Michigan Virtual has spent the past year talking with district leaders, ISD coaches, and tech directors about where they’re stuck with AI. Clear patterns have emerged. It’s rarely “we don’t know what AI is” anymore. It’s “we have a policy, a pilot, or a committee, and we don’t know how to turn that into something real across curriculum, operations, and the community.” Leaders are often unsure whether their district is ahead, behind, or right on pace with peers doing the same work. That gap between starting and scaling is what Beyond the Summit Implementor’s Symposiums are designed to bridge.
A working day, not a conference
Beyond the Summit is a series of regional events built for teams, not individuals. Rather than a lineup of speakers, the day is structured around working sessions designed to address real challenges through experimentation and collective problem-solving, with teams building and troubleshooting alongside peers who are wrestling with the same questions.
The day moves through four domains that map to the real decisions districts are making right now:
- Policy & Oversight — governance, guardrails, and responsible-use frameworks
- Curriculum & Instruction — classroom-level implementation that actually accelerates learning
- Operations & Advanced Integration — using AI to support the systems behind the scenes
- Students & Community — communication, trust-building, and student voice in the process
Who it’s for
This isn’t an introductory session. It’s built for district teams that already have some AI infrastructure in motion and want a structured way to move from “we’ve started” to “we’re implementing well.” ISD coaches and tech directors attending individually are also welcome. Events are intentionally kept small, roughly 100 to 150 people, to keep the working format genuinely collaborative rather than a large-scale conference.
Why this matters now
AI implementation decisions are moving fast, and the districts that benefit most are the ones treating this as an ongoing strategic effort, not a one-time policy or program. Getting time with other district leaders who are a few steps ahead, or wrestling with the exact same rollout questions, is one of the fastest ways to avoid costly missteps and figure out what’s actually working in practice.
The details
Beyond the AI Summit is $1,000 per district team or $200 per individual attendee, with three regional dates:
- North — Monday, October 26, 2026, at Treetops Resort, Gaylord
- West — November 18, 2026, at Kalamazoo Valley Community College
- Southeast — Spring 2027 (Date/Location TBD)
Registration is open to all district available at https://michiganvirtual.org/ai/summit.