Events
The 13th Annual USM Conference Is Coming to USC: November 6–8, 2026
Three days of speakers, workshops, and sangat with Sikh students from across the country, hosted at the University of Southern California. Here's what to expect and how to register.
If you are a Sikh college student on the West Coast (or willing to fly in), there is one weekend this fall worth blocking off: November 6–8, 2026, when United Sikh Movement brings its 13th annual conference to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
This is the conference USM has been running, in one form or another, since a few students first got Southern California SSAs in a room together. Today it is where students from across the country come to hear from speakers, learn in workshops, and find sangat beyond their own campus.
Register for the West Coast Conference →
What happens at the conference
The weekend is built around three things students keep telling us they need more of:
- Speakers who have walked the path. Sikh professionals, founders, and community leaders who talk honestly about careers, identity, and what they wish they had known at your age.
- Workshops you actually use. Practical sessions you can take back to your classes, your career search, and your SSA.
- Sangat. Three days with Sikh students who get it — the part people remember most.
Last year's Inter-SSA Conferences brought together 300+ students across three regions (110 on the West Coast alone) and 23 speakers. The West Coast Conference is the flagship of that series.
Who should come
- Any Sikh college student. You do not need to be on an SSA board, and your campus does not need to have an SSA at all.
- SSA board members who want to trade playbooks with chapters that have already figured out the thing you are stuck on.
- Students who feel a little disconnected from Sikhi or from the Sikh community on campus. Many people tell us this was the weekend that changed that.
Pricing and housing
Tickets are tiered: the earlier you register, the less you pay, and prices step up as the event gets closer. If you are arranging your own housing, there is a lower no-hotel ticket available the whole time. The current price is always shown on the conference page.
If you are coming with friends from your campus, register together so you can be matched for housing.
Why a Sikh student conference matters
Most Sikh students are one of a handful of Sikhs in their lecture hall, their internship, or their dorm. That is not a problem to fix, but it does mean that the conversations that matter most — how to carry your Sikhi into a demanding career, how to keep your kes in a field where no one else does, how to lead an SSA without burning out — often happen alone.
A conference puts those conversations in one room. Students leave with mentors they can text, friends at other schools, and ideas for their own chapter. That is also why USM exists: we are the largest Sikh student network in America, with 40 active chapters, and the conference is where the whole network shows up at once.
How to register
- Go to the West Coast Conference page.
- Fill out the registration form (it takes a few minutes).
- Read the media consent and liability waiver on that page before the event.
Questions about the weekend? Contact the USM team — we are all volunteers and former students ourselves, and we are happy to help.