SHIFT AGENDA

Join fellow SHIFT attendees on Opal Sol’s North Pool Event Lawn every morning before breakfast for a revitalizing yoga session with the one and only Beth Cannon!

Grab some brain food and network with your fellow conference attendees. Breakfast is complimentary and will be out and available in the Opal Ballroom until 9:00 AM. Sponsored by LineLeader.

SHIFT Host Kathy Ligon will preview the second conference day as well as share fundraising numbers from our 3rd Annual BOOST Auction!

Join Certified Leadership Coach Tom Wood for an introduction of fundamental leadership truths including his staple Leadership Sprint themes of 'Serving and Loving,' 'A and A+ Game,' and referring to your 'Mirror Friend.' Plus, a special announcement!

The public funding landscape for early education keeps shifting, and private preschool owners are feeling it from every direction — state budget pressures, evolving subsidy policies, and growing public pre-K investment that's reshaping the competitive landscape. In this timely session, the Early Care and Education Consortium (ECEC) breaks down the biggest trends shaping public investment in early education. Learn how national and state-level decisions are driving those shifts, where new opportunities may emerge, and how to prepare your program for financial shifts. Whether you're navigating subsidy changes or advocating for increased support, this session will help you plan with confidence and strategy.

Take 30 minutes to have a good stretch or refill your SHIFT water bottle before the next session.

Panelists: Wei-Li Chong, WIN Consulting; John LaBreche, Ardent Preschools; Clark Peterson, Northstar Preschools; and Amanda Sinkler, The Discovery Preschools

Strong relationships are the foundation of every successful early education business. Join a panel of leading childcare CEOs as they share the proven strategies they use to build trust with families, strengthen team culture, and create experiences that keep both enrolled and engaged. From communication and recognition to onboarding, retention, and community-building, you'll hear practical ideas that can be implemented immediately to improve loyalty, reduce turnover, and foster lasting connections with the people who matter most.

Hear how the BOOST It Forward Fund made an impact in 2026 and renew your pledge for 2027 to help us continue creating meaningful support and stability for early educators.

Find out which industry leaders you’ll have the chance to hear from in our afternoon breakout sessions. You’ll be able to choose from engaging topics in three powerful tracks: GROW, LEAD, and GLOW.

Head across the Skyway Bridge to the Opal Ballroom for a re-energizing (and complimentary) lunch and free time for networking! Sponsored by Order.co.

GROW Breakout: “Tuition is a Strategy: Turning Pricing into a Growth Flywheel” – David Long & Vanessa Vaughn
A great pricing strategy funds great educators, program quality, family experience, and future growth. Discover how to set prices that reflect your market position, support reinvestment, and keep your schools financially healthy without losing sight of affordability, enrollment, or the mission that brought you into early education.

LEAD Breakout: “Who's Managing HR? How Childcare Owners Can Hire, Lead & Hold HR Accountable Without Being an HR Expert” – Tameenah Collins
Most childcare owners assume "someone is handling HR" because someone runs payroll, posts jobs, or completes onboarding. But those are HR tasks, not an HR function. So, do you have HR, or just someone doing HR stuff? In this breakout, you'll learn to lead the people who lead your people. Tameenah will cover who should really own HR, whether your current person is truly qualified, what to demand in reporting and compliance, and how to build an HR scorecard. Because you don't have to know HR to manage HR but you must know what good HR looks like.

GLOW Breakout: “Sealing the Leaks: An Empire Builder’s Guide to Enrollment and Retention” – Martha Mazor
When enrollment slows, most schools double down on the front door: more leads, more tours, more marketing. But growth isn’t just about getting more families in—it’s about making sure they don’t quietly slip back out. In this session, you’ll learn how to seal the most common leaks in your enrollment and retention funnel, from slow inquiry follow-up and missed conversion opportunities to the early warning signs of family churn. You’ll leave with a practical follow-up cadence, strategies to increase tour-to-enrollment conversion, and a simple weekly scorecard to help you protect enrollment and keep growth on track.

Take a 30-minute brain break before the next sessions.

GROW Breakout: “The Enrollment Operating System: Best Practices for Every Stage of the Funnel” - Sasha Reiss
Enrollment has softened across the industry. Converting families takes more work than ever and there's no new budget to do it with. So how do you do more with less? Automation. Done right, automation is the difference between a funnel that leaks and a system that converts. It acts as a guardrail of accountability for your team. It creates delightful, intentional experiences for families. And it frees your staff for the highest-leverage work: selling and supporting families. We'll cover best practices for every stage of the funnel, real use cases, and frameworks you can apply to your own system.

LEAD Breakout: “Why Families Drive Past Five Other Centers to Get to Yours” – Aleta Mechtel
Every tour sounds the same. Strong curriculum. Clean building. Safe environment. When every center says the same thing, price becomes the only difference a family can see. The strongest centers never let it get there. This session will break down the real difference between customer service and experience. You'll see how leadership, culture, and execution close that gap, during the first phone call and the tour, when most families decide to enroll, and you'll leave with a ready-to-use AI prompt that interviews you, then builds your training script and rollout calendar, personalized for your own team.

GLOW Breakout: “Out-Execute Your Invisible Competitors: Winning Inquiries in a Changing Childcare Market” - Ruth Ann Rose
The pool of families searching for care isn’t getting bigger—and traditional competitors aren’t the only ones competing for enrollment. Today’s families are turning to AI for answers, piecing together care with grandparents and flexible schedules, and making decisions long before they ever contact your school. At the same time, the vague “no” reasons sitting in your CRM may be masking important patterns in why families choose not to enroll. In this session, Ruth Ann Rose will help you identify the new forces competing for enrollment, strengthen your visibility in AI search, and turn your CRM data into actionable insights that drive more inquiries and better conversions.

Before returning to the main ballroom for our keynote speaker, make sure to stop in the Pre-Function for an afternoon pick-me-up of wine, beer and a snack. Sponsored by Better Beans Branding.

What can early education leaders on opposite sides of the Atlantic learn from one another? This year’s keynote session will explore the similarities and differences shaping early education across Europe, the United States, and Canada. From market trends, investment strategies, and operating models to workforce challenges, curriculum, regulation, and M&A activity, industry leaders will get an overview of what's working, what's changing, and what the future holds for providers across regions.

SHIFT’s final evening reception will have you wastin’ away again in Margaritaville as the Opal Sol Pool Deck transforms into a festive tropical paradise. Throw on your best resort wear and join us for one final sunset celebration complete with tropical cocktails, island bites, and breezy beachfront tunes. Sponsored by Procare Solutions.