Senior Living Innovation Forum 2026

The Senior Living Innovation Forum (SLIF) is an invite-only retreat for executive leadership from senior living providers and a selected group of industry vendors. Founded in 2015 and run by Influence Group, it holds a fall and a spring retreat, each at a different resort, combining talks and roundtables with pre-scheduled one-on-one vendor meetings.

Senior Living Innovation Forum 2026 on Amelia Island

The fall Senior Living Innovation Forum (SLIF) runs November 1–3, 2026 at the Omni Amelia Island Resort & Spa on Amelia Island, Florida. Registration and orientation open at 11 a.m. on Sunday, and the program ends with a brunch late on Tuesday morning.

What it is

SLIF is not a trade show, and its organiser says so: it bills the forum as "The Opposite of a Trade Show." It is an invite-only retreat, which the organiser describes as "open to executive leadership from the nation's top senior living providers and industry vendors," and the fall page puts the group at "just 225 industry leaders." Influence Group runs it. The forum moves to a different resort each time; the retreat after this one is in Pasadena, California, in June 2027.

How it works

• Attending: registration is complimentary for qualified senior housing executives, who request an invitation. It covers two nights' accommodation (Sunday and Monday), meals from Sunday dinner through Tuesday, and the whole program. Cancellation fees apply within four weeks of the event unless a replacement from the same organisation is sent.
• Vendors: they take part as partners. Executives review the partner list ahead of time and book pre-planned 20-minute one-on-one sourcing meetings with only the ones they want to meet.
• Content: TED-style innovation talks, fireside chats and small roundtable discussions rather than back-to-back panels.
• Spouses may come along and can be registered for the Monday night party once the attendee portal opens; guest fees apply. The dress code is casual throughout.

The 2026 program

Topics listed for the fall retreat include robotics in senior living, competing or cooperating with aging in place, end-of-life care as a strategic priority, capital and ownership models, the sales and residency journey, sustainability, the coming Gen X resident, dining as "food as medicine," and regulatory change. Speakers on the agenda include Conchy Bretos of Mia Senior Living, Stuart Hamilton of Amba, Sandy Todd Webster and Colin Milner of the International Council on Active Aging, Zackory Erickson of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotic Caregiving and Human Interaction Lab, Sarah Thomas of AgeTech Capital and Dr. Judith H. Lichtman of Yale.

Schedule

• Sunday, November 1: registration from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with afternoon outings (a cocktail crawl through downtown Amelia Island, a pirate-ship cruise, a pickleball social), a 6:15 p.m. welcome reception and dinner with the live band Young@Heart.
• Monday, November 2: a 6:30 a.m. run/walk, talks from 8 a.m. alternating with sourcing meetings, afternoon roundtables, and a Casino Royale dinner party in the evening.
• Tuesday, November 3: breakfast, talks and a last round of sourcing meetings, closing with the Bon Voyage Brunch at 11:15 a.m.