What Is Workday Rising
Workday Rising is the annual customer and partner conference for Workday, the cloud-based enterprise software platform that serves finance, human resources, and workforce management functions for large and mid-sized organizations worldwide. The event brings together more than 15,000 Workday customers, implementation partners, technology integrators, and Workday employees for several days of product education, networking, and strategic planning.
Based on the tracking data, Workday Rising 2026 has recorded 5,526 attendees and 14 organizations in the current cycle, with 9,564 historical attendees tracked across past editions — reflecting the conference's consistent draw as the flagship event in the Workday ecosystem.
The conference holds a central place in the Workday customer calendar for a simple reason: it is the primary venue where Workday announces upcoming product capabilities, previews roadmap items, and delivers the deep technical and functional training that customers need to get full value from the platform. Major enhancements to Workday HCM (Human Capital Management), Workday Financial Management, Workday Adaptive Planning, and the company's expanding portfolio of AI-powered features are routinely timed to coincide with the conference.
Workday Rising 2026 is expected to return to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas in October — consistent with the conference's established pattern of Las Vegas in alternating years alongside its North America road show. The event format combines main stage keynotes, executive-delivered product briefings, partner expo, and a dense schedule of customer-led breakout sessions covering implementation experiences, configuration best practices, and business impact case studies.
The conference's growing emphasis on artificial intelligence reflects a platform-wide strategic shift: Workday has been embedding AI capabilities across its product suite under the Workday AI brand, and Rising 2026 is expected to be the most AI-focused edition of the conference to date.
Who's Coming to Workday Rising
The Workday Rising audience is predominantly enterprise — the majority of attendees come from organizations with thousands of employees or more that use Workday as their system of record for HR and/or finance operations.
Human resources leaders make up the largest functional segment: CHROs, HR directors, HR business partners, and HR technology managers attend to understand new platform capabilities, network with peers at comparable organizations, and benchmark their Workday configurations. Finance leaders — CFOs, controllers, financial planning and analysis (FP&A) managers, and financial systems administrators — form a substantial second segment, particularly as Workday Financial Management and Workday Adaptive Planning continue to expand their market footprint.
IT and systems integration professionals attend in significant numbers: Workday administrators, integration developers, and enterprise architects who maintain the technical backbone of their organizations' Workday deployments. Implementation and consulting partners — including the major systems integrators such as Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, Alight, and dozens of boutique Workday implementation firms — bring large delegations that combine customer-facing relationship management with internal certification and training objectives.
Attendee job function data reflects this professional concentration:
- Professional — 70%
- Founders and Management — 7%
- Sales and Marketing — 6%
- Other functions include Engineering, Product, Design, and more.
From a seniority perspective, the audience skews toward experienced practitioners and senior decision-makers:
- Professional — 67%
- VP and Director — 25%
- C-Suite — 8%
Includes executives from Fortune 500 companies and innovative startups.
Geographic concentration skews heavily toward North America, but international attendance from Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America reflects Workday's global customer base.
The attendee base spans a wide range of industries, with the strongest representation from:
- Software — 15%
- Finance — 10%
- Management Consulting — 9%
Other industries represented include Retail, Healthcare, Finance, and more.
Want to know which companies are exhibiting? Lensmor tracks exhibitor profiles, booth data, and product categories for Workday Rising and 1,000+ other trade shows. Explore Workday Rising exhibitors on Lensmor →
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Confirmed Speakers / Key Sessions at Workday Rising
Workday Rising's main stage keynotes are delivered by Workday's executive leadership team and represent the company's most visible annual communications to its customer base.
Executive Keynotes. Workday's CEO, President, and functional product leaders deliver multi-session keynotes covering company strategy, competitive positioning, and the major product announcements for the coming year. The AI keynote session has become a centerpiece of the conference as Workday accelerates integration of machine learning across its platform.
Key Theme Areas for 2026:
Customer Keynotes. Some of the most valuable sessions at Rising are delivered by Workday customers sharing honest assessments of their implementation journeys, measurable business outcomes, and lessons learned. These peer-led sessions consistently rank among the most attended.
Workday Certification and Training. The conference offers Workday-certified training sessions and exam opportunities for functional consultants and administrators seeking to advance or refresh credentials.
Sponsors and Exhibitors at Workday Rising
The partner expo at Workday Rising features a structured ecosystem of Workday-certified implementation partners and technology integration partners. Exhibitors are organized roughly by category: global systems integrators, regional implementation partners, software vendors with certified Workday integrations, and managed services providers specializing in Workday operations.
Global systems integrators (Accenture, Deloitte, Mercer, Alight, IBM, and others) maintain the largest presences on the expo floor, reflecting their central role in Workday implementation projects. Technology partners exhibiting typically offer integrations that extend Workday capabilities: payroll providers, benefits administration vendors, recruitment technology companies, learning management system providers, document management tools, and workforce analytics platforms.
The expo floor is a practical research environment for organizations considering implementation partners, evaluating technology add-ons, or benchmarking their current vendor ecosystem against alternatives.
Organizations interested in exhibiting or sponsoring Workday Rising can download the sponsor packet for detailed information on available sponsorship tiers, booth packages, and audience reach. If the sponsor packet is not yet available, inquiries can be submitted and organizers will follow up directly when materials are ready.
Lensmor provides real-time exhibitor intelligence for Workday Rising, including company profiles, product categories, and booth locations. Access the full exhibitor list →
Why You Should Attend Workday Rising
Direct access to Workday's product roadmap. Rising is where Workday previews features that will roll out over the next 12–18 months. Attending — particularly the product keynotes and functional track sessions — is the most efficient way for HR and finance technology leaders to plan their internal roadmaps, training programs, and change management timelines.
Peer-to-peer learning from organizations like yours. Customer-led sessions at Rising provide candid insight into how organizations at comparable scale and complexity have tackled challenges that your team likely faces. This peer validation is difficult to replicate through any other channel.
Partner and vendor evaluation. The expo floor compresses a multi-month vendor evaluation process into a few hours. Evaluating implementation partners or technology add-ons benefits enormously from in-person comparison across multiple vendors in a concentrated environment.
Workday network and support relationships. Rising provides direct access to Workday product managers, customer success managers, and technical architects — relationships that can meaningfully improve how you receive support and influence the platform's direction. Many Workday customers cite the relationship-building value of Rising as a primary reason for annual attendance.
Career development for HR and finance technology professionals. Certification opportunities, training sessions, and the credential signal of active Workday Rising participation carry weight in a job market where Workday experience is in high demand.
Travel & Logistics
Venue. Mandalay Bay Convention Center, 3950 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119. The convention center connects directly to the Mandalay Bay and Delano resort hotels via indoor walkways.
Getting There. Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) is approximately 5 miles from Mandalay Bay. The southernmost point of the Strip, Mandalay Bay is a standard rideshare or taxi destination. The Las Vegas Monorail does not extend to Mandalay Bay — rideshare is the practical transport option.
Where to Stay. Workday typically negotiates room blocks at Mandalay Bay and adjacent properties. Book within the official block to access conference rates and stay connected to the event's social ecosystem. Overflow options include MGM Grand, Park MGM, and Vdara, all within 10–15 minutes on foot or a short rideshare.
Registration. Workday Rising registration is managed through the Workday events portal. Early registration discounts are typically available several months before the event. Workday customers with active contracts should verify whether their agreement includes complimentary conference passes — many enterprise contracts include Rising attendance entitlements.
Practical Notes. October in Las Vegas offers pleasant weather (highs around 75°F / 24°C) compared to the summer heat. Evening networking events and dinners on the Strip are comfortable in light layers. The conference social program typically includes a large evening event at an off-site Las Vegas venue — one of Rising's most attended social moments.
FAQs
Q: Who should attend Workday Rising from my organization?
A: The highest-value attendees are Workday system administrators and configuration leads, HR and finance technology managers responsible for the platform, senior HR and finance business stakeholders involved in roadmap decisions, and any implementation partner resources managing the account. Budget for 2–4 attendees from different functional perspectives to maximize the coverage of relevant sessions.
Q: Is Workday Rising only for HR or also for finance teams?
A: Both. Workday Rising serves the full Workday customer base, which includes both HCM and Financial Management customers. Finance-focused content has expanded significantly in recent years as Workday Financial Management and Adaptive Planning have grown. Teams using Workday for finance will find dedicated tracks, product demos, and peer sessions directly relevant to their use cases.
Q: How do I access the session recordings after the event?
A: Workday publishes session recordings through the Workday Community portal for registered customers. Access requires a valid Workday Community account, which Workday customers and partners receive as part of their agreements.
Q: What is Workday Extend and should I attend sessions on it?
A: Workday Extend is Workday's platform for building custom applications that run natively within the Workday ecosystem. If your organization has complex workflow needs beyond standard Workday configuration, Extend sessions at Rising are valuable for evaluating whether custom development is appropriate for your requirements.
Q: How does Workday Rising differ from regional Workday events?
A: Workday Rising is the global flagship event — the only conference where the full product roadmap is unveiled and the entire Workday leadership team presents. Regional Workday events (Rising North America road show, Rising Europe) offer similar community programming but with lower scale and without the major product announcements. Rising Las Vegas is the essential event if you attend only one.
Q: How do I find the right implementation partners on the expo floor?
A: Define your evaluation criteria before arriving — implementation experience in your industry, geographic coverage, team size, and specialization in HCM versus Financial Management. Tools like Lensmor help you research exhibitors before arriving — you can filter by industry, company size, and product category to build a target list.
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