Pre-Conference Info June 8, 2026 9:00-4:30 PM

Enhance your conference experience by attending a pre-conference session on June 8. These sessions are available for an additional fee. Pre-conference options include:

(1) The Core of Site Operations: Building the Right Team with Dr. Desiree-Del-Zio Walker, Member rate: $275 per person | Non-member rate: $300 per person

Site Directors and middle managers operate at the critical intersection of strategy and service delivery. They translate vision into daily practice while supporting staff, children, and families while navigating operational realities that are not always visible to executive leadership.

This six-hour leadership retreat provides a structured opportunity for reflection, alignment, and professional growth. Designed as a collaborative regrouping space, the session invites participants to step away from daily demands and engage in thoughtful dialogue about the opportunities and challenges unique to mid-level leadership roles.

Grounded in principles of trust, psychological safety, and productive conflict, the session focuses on moving beyond artificial harmony to cultivate honest conversations that strengthen teams and improve outcomes. Participants will reflect on their leadership practices, explore strategies for supporting direct service staff, and identify ways to elevate field-based insights that inform organizational decision-making.

Through guided discussion, reflective exercises, and peer learning, participants will deepen their leadership capacity while strengthening the connection between frontline operations and organizational strategy. The ultimate goal is to support healthier teams, stronger programs, and better outcomes for staff, children, and families.

Session Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will:

• Reflect on the unique role of site directors and middle managers as connectors between leadership strategy and frontline practice
• Examine common operational challenges and identify opportunities to strengthen communication and alignment across organizational levels
• Develop strategies for supporting the growth, resilience, and professional development of direct service staff
• Practice approaches for fostering trust, psychological safety, and productive dialogue within teams
• Identify ways to surface field-based insights, successes, and needs to inform upper management awareness and decision-making

Dr. Del-Zio brings extensive experience in organizational leadership, systems improvement, and federal oversight. Her background includes operations management, regional leadership, evaluation and monitoring, program design, and service with the Office of Head Start Federal Monitoring contract, where she facilitated or managed approximately 400 federal reviews. As CEO and Principal Consultant of D.E.&C. Consulting, she has coached over one hundred agencies, including Head Start programs, nonprofits, and other mission-driven organizations.

(2) Let’s Play! for Twos and Threes with Krista Murphy and Michelle Galindo, Member rate: $275 per person | Non-member rate: $300 per person

Let’s Play! for Twos and Threes will ignite your understanding of what play is, why it is essential for children’s healthy growth and development, and how to build your day around child-directed play for two- and three-year-olds. We will explore the magic of open-ended materials, how to set up your environment for success (including how to manage clean up time without losing your mind!), and how schema theory can help you make sense of challenging play behaviors like dumping or throwing.

This full-day workshop uses interactive strategies that actively engage participants and includes time to reflect, connect, share, and—of course—to play. You’ll leave with a workbook packed with resources and research to inspire your practice, a loose-parts starter kit, and family handouts to support families as partners in helping children grow and learn through play.

The Let’s Play! series—Let’s Play! for Twos and Threes, Let’s Play! for Preschool, and Let’s Play! for TK—was developed by WestEd. WestEd’s Center for Early Childhood brings 60 years of experience delivering engaging, research-based professional learning for educators working with infants and young children. Workshops feature hands-on experiences, opportunities for sharing ideas with peers, and practical ideas you can use right away.