2018 Business Summit Snapshot

Focusing on Success: Approaching Child Care with New Energy:  A snapshot of our 3rd Annual Child Care and Early Childhood Business Summit

This year our business summit took place on June 1st at the Four Points by Sheraton in Richmond, VA. We had over 150 early childhood professionals join us from all over the state and were delighted to offer many new sessions, as well as a few popular ‘old favs’ that were worth repeating. We started the day off with a networking breakfast and a welcome from our Executive Director, Angela Wirt.

 

 

 

 

We continued the morning with our keynote speaker, Vernon Mason, who gave a wonderful speech on Praising and Rewarding Staff at Little to No Cost.  One of our attendees described him as “absolutely uplifting, entertaining, and engaging”- and we have to agree! He had the whole room laughing and provided plenty of information for center directors and owners to put into action that very same day!

                    

Our first breakout consisted of sessions on managing employment relationships, partnering with state programs for high quality care, making strategic economic decisions, enhancing parent engagement with social media, and learning risk management strategies. Our second breakout included topics on staff training, building a positive workplace culture, and recognizing and using quality support systems. Our third breakout continued with offering sessions on getting the most out of your staff, effectively marketing your program with technology, and preventing early childhood preschool expulsions. We even had a two-part session on how to prepare your child care program for an active shooter situation, because as we all know, you can never be too prepared. Our workshops were led by amazing presenters from around the state. If you lost your program or couldn’t make it this year and would like to learn more about our amazing presenters, click here

 

 

 

 

In addition to our breakout sessions, we had a number of early childhood oriented vendors set up throughout the event. In addition to our breakout sessions, we had a number of early childhood oriented vendors set up throughout the event. During lunch we offered another chance to network and also acknowledged our 2018 Heart of Service Winner, Sonja Brennan and all of our amazing nominees. Haven’t heard about it our Heart of Service, Lifetime Achievement Awards? You can learn more here and in case you missed this year’s awards video, click here

We are so thankful for all of our amazing presenters, vendors, and attendees for making it such a great day. We would also like to give a special thank you to The Virginia Department of Social Services, Kaplan, and all of our sponsors! Without you we wouldn’t have been able to make this day possible.

 

 

 

 

We concluded the day with another chance for everyone to network and had a fun raffle session. Almost everyone went home with something! Some items included books, toys, classroom materials, gift cards, and even a kindle! We are happy to report that over 98% of attendees said they would come back next year and we certainly hope that if you’re reading this, we’ll see you next year too!