2023 Baseball Career Conference
Nashville, Tennessee - December 3-4th, 2023

This conference is your chance to meet Scouts, Agents, Player Personnel, Media, and Management in MLB careers. In the process, you'll learn how to advance your career at all levels of baseball! 

What are the Baseball Winter Meetings*?

The Baseball Winter Meetings* is an annual event, held each December, in which representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 minor league baseball affiliates convene for three days to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees include league executives, team owners, general managers, team scouts, visitors from baseball-playing countries, and trade show exhibitors. The 2023 Baseball Winter Meetings* will take place Dec. 3-6th, in Nashville, Tennessee.
*SMWW's Career Conference is not affiliated or in any way connected with MLB, Minor League Baseball, or the Baseball Winter Meetings.

What is the SMWW Baseball Career Conference?

The SMWW day-long career conference offers unique panel discussions and question-answer periods designed to start or advance your career in the business of baseball. The day will be split up into diverse speaker panels; including scouting, Analytics, marketing, management, media, public relations, digital video editing, athlete representation, broadcasting, and sports career strategies. The Welcome Reception and Networking Lunch offer attendees to network within the business side of baseball.

Why should you attend?

Simply put, if you work in baseball or want to work in baseball, this is a must-attend event!
Our annual SMWW Baseball Career Conference provides people of all ages with a desire to work in the MLB, minor league baseball, and collegiate baseball, insight and exposure they can't get anywhere else. This event puts you in the heart of the baseball universe. Baseball Winter Meetings* are not open to the public, however, the SMWW Baseball Career Conference will give you the opportunity to ask questions of Agents, Scouts, Analysts, Media and Player Personnel including:

• Network with baseball executives at the major league, minor league, and collegiate level
• Career guidance from the well-known major league, minor league, and collegiate level executives
• Insights on who is doing the hiring and what you need to know to get hired
• Connect with sports career-minded individuals
• Mentors who have been where you are and want to assist you with your career
• Insider information about changes in the industry that put your career on the fast track
• Strategies to catapult your career to the next level
  
  *SMWW's Career Conference is not affiliated or in any way connected with MLB, Minor League Baseball, or the Baseball Winter Meetings.

Who Should Attend?

Anyone 18 years or older working on the business side of baseball, wanting to work in baseball, or baseball fans wanting to learn about the inner workings of the game. (17 and younger may attend with an adult upon request.) This includes executives and staff at the major league and minor league level, MLB employees, scouts, agents, baseball writers and bloggers, baseball-related manufacturers and equipment companies, current, and former professional players, etc.

Where

The 2023 Winter Meetings will take place in Nashville, Tennessee. The SMWW Baseball Career Conference will be hosted in the Inn at Opryland hotel.

Closest Airport: Nashville International Airport (BNA)

2023 Schedule of Events

This schedule is tentative and subject to change.

Sunday, December 3rd
           12 noon - 2pm CST - Registration Opens Inn at the Opryland Hotel Atrium

2:00pm CST - Bus* loads for Welcome Reception at First Horizons Ballpark - home of the Nashville Sounds AAA team.
2:30pm CST - Bus* leaves Inn at the Opryland Hotel for First Horizons Ballpark
*A tour bus is available to sign up for to get transported to the Welcome Reception. It is a $10, non-refundable, fee to reserve your seat. More information is available upon registration. The tour bus will depart at 2:30 pm CST. This is a one way bus. After the Welcome Reception you are in downtown Nashville... Enjoy!
3 pm - 5:30 pm CST - Baseball Career Conference Welcome Reception 
At First Horizons Park, home of the Nashville Sounds AAA team. An optional tour of the stadium will be available between 3-4 pm CST (Included with registration.) 
Network with fellow attendees, Nashville Sounds Staff and SMWW Faculty & Staff.
6pm - Enjoy Downtown Nashville

Monday, December 4th 

8:30 am - Registration Opens Inn at the Opryland Hotel Atrium
9am - 5 pm CST - All-day Baseball Career Conference with exciting and informative panels is at the Inn at the Opryland Hotel Atrium

12 - 1 pm CST - The Baseball Career Conference Networking Lunch at the Inn at the Opryland Donnelson Room

5:30 pm - 12 midnight CST - The legendary networking at the Winter Meetings.  (Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center). You are on your own, but our SMWW Staff and Faculty will be available to support and assist you.

Tuesday, December 5th

8 am - 10 am CST - The Optional Baseball Industry Network Meet Up. (Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center) The Baseball Industry Network has over 34,000 members. This is a LinkedIn networking group open to individuals working in and/or connected to the baseball industry and you are invited! Bring your business cards and practice your networking skills. The group covers the full gamut of people working throughout the game. 

Scholarships

SMWW will award a limited amount of full and partial scholarships for each SMWW Career Conference. You must be 18 years or older to be considered. If interested, fill out an application and submit your resume and a one-page letter explaining why you should receive a scholarship to StudentServices@smww.com. 

Scholarships do not include lodging or airfare. Those who have completed an SMWW Training Program will be given preference. 

Why Nashville in December?

Nashville offers a ton of sports exposure as the city hosts NFL, NHL, and MLS franchises, along with multiple NCAA Universities. Plus, Nashville is the home of country music and a fantastic cultural hub!

Networking Opportunities: One of the advantages of this conference is the ability to network within the industry with fellow baseball-minded individuals. Some work for a team or baseball organization, some own baseball academies or schools, a few are college students who want to get ahead before graduation, others work full-time in another industry but want to switch careers or scout on the side, while some are looking to break into the industry.  All have a PASSION for baseball. Following their presentations, most speakers chat one-on-one with attendees. Most attendees come alone and find lifetime friends with a love of the game! Many return year after year!

SMWW’s Industry Leading Courses Featured In:

2023 Featured Speakers
*Speakers are subject to change.

 
John Boggs
MLB Agent
 
Dave Roberts
LA Dodgers Manager
 
Kent Qualls
Baltimore Orioles Director of Minor League Operations
 
Evan Green
CAA Player Agent and Dir of Arbitration
 
Elvis Martinez
Tampa Bay Rays Communications & Player Relations
 
Dan Evans
Former LA Dodgers GM & former Toronto Blue Jays Scout
 
Kevin Goldstein
Minnesota Twins Special Assistant, Player Personnel
 
Maury Brown
Senior Contributor Forbes Sports Money
 
Hank Jones
Former LA Dodgers Scout
 
Dan Szymborski
Senior writer for FanGraphs & contributor to ESPN
 
Kelley Franco Throop
Partner at Franco and Associates
 
Ari Kaplan
Scoutables Founder & Baseball Analytics Leader
 
Dan Duquette
Former Baltimore Orioles General Manager
 
Oscar Suarez
MLBPA Agent, SMWW Faculty
 
Trey Rose
Assistant, Baseball Operations, Pittsburgh Pirates (SMWW alum)
 
Lynn Lashbrook
President & Founder of SMWW. Certified Sports Agent. Former NCAA Athletic Director.

Past Speakers

Speakers vary from year to year:

More about the Baseball Winter Meetings*

For those of you who have never experienced the Baseball Winter Meetings*, it is fascinating!  This event is the major baseball event of the year. GMs, player agents, executives, managers, and yes, a few players all attend. It's an event worth attending if you are looking to network, and report on the signings and trades that go down, or for fans to feel the energy and excitement. Where else can you have Tommy Lasorda, Bill James, Mike Rizzo, Scott Boras, Bob DuPuy, Billy Beane, Harold Reynolds, Lynn Lashbrook, Dan Evans, and Bobby Cox all within 20 feet of each other? (As reported by Maury Brown) There are also trainers, scouts, media, reps from the leagues, ESPN, Baseball America, MLB Network, MLB.com...it is a plethora of baseball who's who. Attending the SMWW Baseball Conference and walking around will be enough for most of you. 
_{*Note: SMWW's Career Conference is not affiliated or in any way connected with MLB, Minor League Baseball, or the Baseball Winter Meetings.} 

Internships

SMWW offers sports internship opportunities throughout the year in both our Portland, Oregon, and Gloucester, England offices. Visit this page for more information. SMWW conducts interviews at SMWW Career Conferences.

Download a Copy of the
2022 Baseball Program Here

Note: Speakers are not guaranteed and will change. The closer we get to the date, the more speakers will know their team meeting schedules.