HomeDadCon 2022: Keynotes Set for Phoenix At-Home Fathers Event

This HomeDadCon 2022 article originally ran in January. It was updated July 25.

Tickets are moving and hotel rooms are quickly booking up for HomeDadCon 2022, the annual conference to help at-home fathers hone their parenting skills, bond with one another, and get a little R&R.

Main speakers for the Sept. 29 through Oct. 2, 2022, conference in Phoenix have also been announced. This marks the first time the event will take place in the U.S. Southwest after being held primarily in the Great Plains, Midwest or Southeast regions.

The National At-Home Dad Network (NAHDN) event is for stay- and work-at-home fathers who embrace parenting as their most important job. It allows them to network with other active and involved dads, learn from experts about various parenting and social issues, and take a brief respite from parenting duties.

HomeDadCon 2022 keynote speakers

The scheduled keynote presenters will be:

• Catherine Pearlman, a licensed clinical social worker, author and owner of The Family Coach parenting consultancy. She will speak on the responsibility, safety and etiquette involved in giving your child his first cell phone
• Matt Lofy and Shaun Ditty of The Dadass Podcast will talk about why it is OK to not be OK.
• Author and pastor Tim Wright will discuss how rights of passage offer strategic pathways for leading and empowering our kids into adulthood.
• Musician, vlogger and former fatherhood case manager Jorge Narvaez. He will talk about thinking about being a father not just for the present but for the future.
• Parenting coach Dustin Bruley will discuss practical and positive co-parenting.
• The Bro Dad blogger David Pidnacet will offer a talk titled “Embrace ‘The Suck’ and Wipe Some Butts!”

Breakout topics at past conventions ranged from dealing with picky eaters to teaching children about sexual consent. Outreach or social activities, such as attending a sporting event, are often part of the program.

Ticket, hotel information

A ticket to the three-day HomeDadCon 2022 costs $195. It includes access to all event programs, a convention eve party, three meals and a T-shirt. Discounted hotel reservations are available through August 29 at The Residence Inn by Marriott Phoenix Downtown, which doubles as the event venue. The cost is $169 a night for double occupancy.

+ Buy a ticket for HomeDadCon 2022 +

One change to HomeDadCon 2022 is you will need to be a member of the NAHDN to attend. In the past, the $35 annual fee to the organization was rolled into the conference ticket.

“The reason for the change is operational. We are working at becoming more than a convention,” NAHDN President Jonathan Heisey-Grove wrote in response to emailed questions from City Dads Group. “We offer more than just an annual event now, and there are operating costs associated with running the organization. So we are severing the association of the membership with the convention and making it a calendar year membership.”

The nonprofit National At-Home Dad Network is dedicated to providing advocacy, community, education, and support for families where fathers are their children’s primary caregivers. Its stated purpose is to empower fathers and champion a culture that recognizes them as competent parents.

In the past few years, the organization has added parenting webinars and podcasts to its website. It has also recorded some of the past HomeDadCon sessions, some of which will be made available only to dues-paying members, wrote Heisey-Grove. He noted those members will also have voting rights at the nonprofit’s annual meeting.

“There is also some small swag that we are going to offer, and who knows what kind of special deals we’ll have in the future,” he also wrote.

(DISCLOSURE: City Dads Group has been and is a long-time sponsor and partner with The National At-Home Dad Network for the at-home dads convention.)