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How to make the most of your Workday Rising 2026 experience
Workday Rising is one of those events where the challenge is not finding something to do. It is deciding what deserves your time.
From October 12–15, the Workday community will come together in Las Vegas for four days of keynotes, sessions, labs, demos, customer stories, and conversations across The Venetian Resort and Caesars Forum.
That is a lot to fit into four days.
The good news? Getting the most out of Workday Rising does not mean trying to do everything. A little planning, a few good questions, and some room for the unexpected can make a much bigger difference.
What are the 7 most important things to think about to get the most out of your Workday Rising 2026 week?
1. Decide what questions you need to answer before you build your agenda
Firstly, think about what you want to know by the time you leave Las Vegas. Pick two or three questions that matter most to your organization. Then use them to decide which sessions, demos, and conversations deserve a place on your calendar.
It is easy to start scrolling through the session catalog and mentally filling every open slot. Resist the urge, at least for a minute.
Maybe you are trying to get more from the Workday products you already have. Maybe AI is high on the agenda, but you are still working out where it can make a practical difference. You could be rethinking finance and planning, preparing for what is next in benefits, looking at your ongoing support model, or figuring out how to simplify a process that has become more complicated than it needs to be.
It is much easier to come home with something useful when you know what you went looking for.
2. Start building your shortlist of sessions to register for now, but leave spaces for spontaneous conversations and meeting with peers
Once session registration opens, attendees will need to sign up for the sessions they want to attend. Having a shortlist ready ahead of time can make that process much easier.
The Workday Rising Session Catalog is already live, which means you can start exploring the sessions you may want to attend, even though dates and times have not yet been announced.
As you start browsing, look for a mix of Workday product updates, practical guidance, and real customer experiences. Hearing what is coming is important. Hearing how another organization actually approached a challenge can make it much easier to picture what comes next for your own team.
Strada will be part of two sessions this year. One will feature Port Houston and its journey from more than 15 legacy systems toward a unified Workday environment. The other will feature Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and explore Benefits Administration, including lessons from its experience working with Strada, as well as considerations for organizations looking ahead to Workday Wellness.
In other words, come for the technology. Stay for the “how did you actually do that?” questions.
And once you start filling your calendar, leave a little space open. Some of the best conversations at Rising happen because a session sparks a question, someone introduces you to a peer, or you see something in a demo that you want to explore further.
3. Make time for conversations that are smaller than a breakout session
A packed ballroom is great for hearing a big idea. It is not always the best place to ask the very specific question that has been sitting on your team’s to-do list for six months.
That is where smaller conversations can be some of the most valuable time at Rising.
Workday's Braindates are designed around exactly that idea, connecting attendees with peers and experts for conversations based on shared topics and questions.
Strada experts will be hosting Braindates throughout the week across areas including HR, finance, planning, AI, innovation, benefits, payroll, and ongoing Workday optimization.
Our advice to get the most out of Workday braindates with Strada experts
Have a real and specific question in mind, such as:
- “Here is the process my team is still doing manually. What could we do differently?”
- “We have been live for three years, and this part still feels harder than it should. What have you seen other teams do?”
Do not ask generic questions that don't help build conversations, such as:
- “Tell me about AI.”
- “How should we optimize Workday?”
Specific questions tend to lead to much better conversations.
4. Treat the Expo like a working session focused on getting the most clarified answer to your organizations scenario or idea
If there is something you want to see, ask to see it. If you are evaluating an idea, bring the scenario from your own organization. If you have a question about how something would work with your current Workday environment, ask that instead of sitting through a generic overview.
Go with a purpose, otherwise the Expo can quickly become a lot of booths, a lot of conversations, and a bag that somehow gets heavier every hour.
At the Strada booth, we are organizing our experts and demos around four areas:
- HR, Payroll & Benefits
- AI & Innovation
- Optimize & Operate
- and Finance & Planning.
That means you can come by with the problem you are trying to solve and get pointed toward the right conversation.
And yes, our live, custom T-shirt press experience is coming back too. We will not pretend that is not also a perfectly valid reason to stop by.
5. Find somewhere to step out of the noise without stepping away from Rising
Four days at a conference is a lot. Your brain, your feet, and probably your inbox will all remind you of that. One of the smartest things you can put on your agenda is somewhere to reset.
This year, Strada is taking over the Palazzo Prestige Lounge on the 23rd floor as the Strada Lounge. Think of it as a home base during Rising.
Stop in to work between meetings, meet with colleagues or customers, grab lunch outside the conference walls, have a conversation with one of our experts, or simply take a break from the show floor for a bit.
We will also be hosting keynote watch parties in the Lounge, so you can catch some of Rising’s biggest moments without giving up your seat, your coffee, or a little extra breathing room.
And on Tuesday and Wednesday, we will host a series of 30-minute workshops designed for smaller, more focused conversations. Topics will cover areas such as AI readiness, workforce planning, healthcare, public sector finance, talent, ongoing Workday support, Workday Extend, and making Workday work for mid-sized organizations.
6. Remember the people parts of Rising that do not look like “learning”
Make time to catch up with people you know, meet people you do not, and participate in some of the things happening outside the traditional session schedule.
If your preferred form of networking happens to involve running shoes, Strada will once again be supporting the Workday Rising 5K Fun Run & Walk.
Whether you are running for a personal best, walking with colleagues, or simply there for the medal, it is a fun way to start the day and connect with the Workday community outside the conference halls.
If running at a conference sounds slightly unhinged to you, that is also fair. There will be plenty of other ways to find us throughout the week.
The point is to leave a little space in your calendar for the conversations, connections, and experiences you cannot plan in advance.
7. Before you leave Las Vegas, decide what are the next steps or questions to answer next
Revisit the sessions that stood out, compare notes with your team, and identify the ideas worth putting into practice. This can be difficult, by Thursday, your notes app may be a questionable combination of session takeaways, screenshots, names, product ideas, and sentences that made perfect sense when you typed them.
Before you head home from Workday Rising make sure to debrief and ask these questions:
- What are the three things worth bringing back to your team?
- Who do you need to reconnect with?
- What deserves a closer look?
- What can you actually act on?
And if one of those questions or next steps involves figuring out what an idea could look like in your own Workday environment, keep the conversation going with us after Rising.
Because the goal is not just to get the most out of four days in Las Vegas, It is to get the most out of your Workday long after you get home.
Here is your Strada shortlist for Workday Rising 2026
- Visit the Strada booth for demos and conversations across HR, payroll, benefits, AI, innovation, finance, planning, and ongoing optimization.
- Get a custom Strada T-shirt while you are there.
- Catch our Workday Rising sessions featuring Port Houston and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.
- Book a Braindate with one of our Workday experts.
- Visit the Strada Lounge at the Palazzo Prestige Lounge for meetings, lunch, expert conversations, and a place to recharge.
- Join a keynote watch party in the Strada Lounge and catch some of Rising’s biggest moments with us.
- Reserve a seat at a Strada workshop for a smaller, focused conversation on some of the biggest topics facing Workday teams.
- Join us at the Workday Rising 5K Fun Run & Walk if you are willing to put a few extra miles on your conference shoes.
