Meet Our 2027 Speakers & Explore the Sessions

Big Ideas. Practical Strategies. Expert Advice for Small Schools.

26+ sessions. Four focus areas. Four days designed for small school leaders like you.

Explore the topics and speakers below. Our full day-by-day schedule is coming soon!

📣 Marketing & Communications

Tell your school's story, reach the right families, and make every marketing effort count.

Big Impact. Small School: Why Experience Is Your Greatest Competitive Advantage

Dr David Willows | [YELLOWCAR]

Discover how designing more personal, intentional experiences for students, families, and employees can strengthen your school's reputation, community, and long-term sustainability. Includes insights from more than 30,000 reflections on the school experience.

Scroll-Worthy: Maximizing Your School’s Impact on Social Media

Andrea Gribble | #socialschools4edu

Discover what's working on school social media right now, from Instagram Reels to weekly feature posts. Get inspiration from real school examples and simple ideas for showcasing your students and staff.

AI for Admission: Prompts That Actually Work

Brendan Schneider | SchneiderB Media

Skip the AI hype and get copy-and-paste prompts designed specifically for the everyday work of admissions and marketing professionals.

Breaking the “Whac-A-Mole” Cycle: Proactive communication strategies for when you’re feeling perpetually reactive

Lisa Leidy | Square Spot Studio

Tired of putting out communications fires? Explore ways to repurpose content across audiences, engage brand ambassadors, and make print and digital communications work together so your small team can do more without sacrificing quality.

How AI and Audience Intelligence Can Help Small Schools Do More With Less

Andrew Esparza | Kingdom Analytics

Combine AI with insights into what motivates families and donors. Explore practical workflows, prompts, and audience strategies that can help personalize communications and strengthen enrollment and fundraising efforts.

The Website Redesign Nobody Warned You About: A Realistic Timeline and Budget Guide for Small Schools

Tara Claeys | Design TLC

Find out what a school website redesign actually takes—from realistic timelines and budget ranges to hidden costs, content preparation, and approvals. Leave with a clearer roadmap for planning your next redesign.

Reaching the Right Audience: Persona-Based Marketing Using LinkedIn Ads

Alexandra Pratt | Enroll Media Group

Learn how to move beyond basic demographics and use LinkedIn's professional targeting options to reach prospective families. Explore how Microsoft Ads can reinforce your messaging when parents begin researching schools.

The Dos and Don’ts of AI in Video Marketing for Schools

Joe Monzo | Monzo Media

Explore where AI can save time in video brainstorming, production, editing, and repurposing—and where schools should avoid using it. Learn how to make thoughtful choices without chasing every new tool.

Optimized and Unmistakable: Writing School Websites for AI Search and Real Families

Emily Cretella | Cursive Content

Learn how to structure website content for AI-powered search without losing what makes your school distinctive. Bring a page from your own website and explore ways to make it clearer, more discoverable, and more compelling to families.

That Human Touch of Creativity: How Design Connects Your School To Families

Madison Carr | Creative Chameleon

Explore how creativity and thoughtful design can do more than promote your school—they can strengthen relationships and deepen community connections. Leave with fresh ideas for your school's marketing and design.

#YouDoItBetterThanAI | Making AI Work for You with Trey Boden

Trey Boden | Roar

Use AI to speed up content creation without losing your school's personality. Learn how to develop a School Voice Guide, create foundational files, and build a people-centered AI workflow for better first drafts.

Beyond the Welcome Letter: Turn Your Head of School Page into an Enrollment Asset

Dale Seabury | Seabury Consulting

Turn an often-overlooked website page into a powerful opportunity to build trust with prospective families. Explore personal storytelling, proof points, and scannable content that make your Head of School page more engaging.

🎒 Enrollment & Admissions

Understand how families make decisions, strengthen enrollment, and build lasting relationships.

Doing It All: Running a One-Person Admission and Marketing Office

Dana Nelson-Isaacs and Laurie Ehrlich | DNI Consulting

Managing admissions and marketing on your own? Learn how to prioritize high-impact activities, build a realistic enrollment funnel, segment audiences, and create repeatable workflows that help you spend less time reacting.

Wired to Enroll: What Behavioral Science Reveals About How Families Choose Schools

Trevor Waddington | Truth Tree

Discover the behavioral science behind how families choose schools—often before they realize they're deciding. Leave with practical actions you can use to strengthen your school's enrollment experience.

The 2026 State of the Independent School Enrollment Industry: Trends, Insights, and Implications for Small Schools

Allison Davis | E3n

Explore findings from the latest State of the Independent School Enrollment Industry Report, including enrollment demand, staffing, marketing, and trends specific to small schools. Learn how to use the report's interactive dashboard to inform decisions.

Building a Culture of Student Retention

Miriam Stein + Laurie Ehrlich | Thrive Hive

Retention is everyone's responsibility. Explore practical strategies for involving educators, students, and parents, strengthening relationships, and addressing predictable attrition at key transition points.

Before the Application, Beyond the Award: Making Financial Aid an Enrollment Strategy

Alisa Evans | Mission Enrollment

Explore how financial aid shapes families' decisions long before they apply and after they enroll. Learn how to improve communication, handoffs, and decision-making throughout the financial aid journey.

Transitional Grade Enrollment Growth: Fill the Gaps in Specific Grade Levels

Karl Boehm | Spiral Marketing

Turn empty seats in transitional grades into a focused enrollment opportunity. Work through a Gap Calculator, family persona, and messaging strategy to build a plan for attracting students to specific grade levels.

💰 Fundraising & Advancement

Strengthen donor engagement, make better use of your resources, and build a more effective advancement program.

How Can We Engage Trustees in the Work of Advancement?

Barbara Barron | Barbara Barron Consulting

Help your trustees move from good intentions to meaningful advancement involvement. Explore practical approaches to board engagement and training based on a recent board engagement study.

AI 2027: Fundraising Smarter with a Small Team

Bobby Hunter, Zac Gilbert | Orr Group

Find practical AI applications for donor research, communications, acknowledgments, and stewardship. Discover tools and workflows suited to one- or two-person development teams, with attention to protecting donor data.

Tips and Tricks for Managing Fundraising Data

Adam Hotchkiss | LeadershipOne Technologies

Make your fundraising data work harder for your school. Learn which information matters, how to collect and organize it, and how to use it to strengthen fundraising decisions.

🌟 Leadership & Operations 

Build stronger teams, strengthen relationships, and find ways to lead effectively—even when you're juggling it all. Find smarter ways to manage resources, support your team, and create new opportunities for your school.

When You're the Whole System: Follow-Through When No One's Checking

Susanne Carpenter | Carpenter Leadership Consulting

Why do important strategic plans get buried beneath everyday emergencies? Learn how to create accountability, protect time, and keep meaningful projects moving. Leave with a one-page tool and a next step.

Making a Better Plan for Building Relationships

Rebecca Malotke-Meslin | Pleasantly Aggressive

Build relationships with greater intention—without losing authenticity. Explore how to identify the people who matter most to your goals and create a manageable plan for connecting with them.

Leadership is Hard; How Do We Keep Showing Up Every Day Being Our Best?

Edward Hollinger | The Hollinger Group

School leadership is demanding. Explore strategies for staying centered, finding joy, and reconnecting with purpose while navigating difficult decisions, relationships, and responsibilities.

The Head Can’t Do It Alone: Building a Leadership Team That Sustains Your School and You

Barbara Beachley | ISM

Learn how an empowered senior leadership team can protect Head of School well-being, strengthen faculty culture, and improve the student experience.

Beyond Tuition: Turning Auxiliary Programs into Levers for Revenue, Enrollment, and Community

Karen McCann McClelland | SPARC

Discover how camps, enrichment, facility rentals, and other auxiliary programs can generate revenue and strengthen community connections. Leave with an assessment tool and framework for identifying opportunities worth pursuing.

Protected, Not Available: Delegation and Boundaries for Tech Teams

Leigh Toomey | LeadHERship Educational Solutions

When every technology request feels urgent, how can your team focus on its most important work? Explore practical ways to delegate, set boundaries, and protect staff time without sacrificing support.