CEO and Senior Staff Retreat
Education

7.25 CAE Credits

Monday, November 16

8:30 – 9:00 AM — Welcome, Introductions & Opening Discussion
Connect with fellow association executives, establish priorities for the retreat, and identify the leadership challenges and opportunities shaping the conversation.

9:00 – 11:00 AM — Reading the Environment: What's Shaping Associations Now and Next (CAE 2.00)

Association leaders are navigating rapid changes in technology, the economy, workforce expectations, member needs, regulation and the broader operating environment. Using the PESTLE framework — Political, Economic, Sociocultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental — participants will explore the forces most likely to affect associations over the next three to five years.

Through facilitated discussion and small-group work, participants will identify key trends, consider their implications for associations, and explore how leaders can distinguish short-term disruption from longer-term change.

11:00 – 11:45 AM — Leadership Exchange: Preparing for What's Ahead
Take the conversation outside for a facilitated peer discussion focused on a practical question: What capabilities, tools and approaches will association leaders and boards need to successfully navigate the environment ahead?

Participants will consider areas such as organizational agility, governance, decision-making, technology, member engagement and strategic leadership.

11:45 AM – 12:45 PM— Networking Lunch

12:45 – 3:45 PM — From Trends to Action: Building a Future-Ready Association (CAE 3.00)

Turn the morning’s environmental scan into practical organizational action. Participants will explore how emerging trends are affecting their own associations and identify where their organizations may need to build capacity, sharpen existing approaches or rethink established practices.

The session moves through three connected components:

• Association Synthesis: Building on the morning discussion, participants will identify the tools, capabilities and areas of focus that association leaders and boards will need to strengthen to successfully navigate the years ahead.
• Organizational Inventory: Participants will bring the conversation back to their own organizations, reflecting with peers on what their association may need to build, sharpen or let go of in response to a changing environment.
• Peer Cases: Association executives will share real leadership and organizational challenges they are actively navigating. Through small-group discussion and peer counsel, participants will explore possible approaches, identify common themes and take away ideas they can apply within their own organizations.

3:45 – 4:00 PM — Day 1 Wrap Up / Parking Lot Items for Day 2

4:00 – 6:00 PM — Relax and Recharge

6:00 – 8:30 PM — Reception and Dinner

Tuesday, November 17

9:00 – 10:00 AM — Deep Dive Session 2 (CAE 1.00)

10:15 – 11:30 AM — Working the Real Work: Peer Counsel on Live Challenges (CAE 1.25)

The retreat concludes by bringing the conversation directly to participants’ organizations. In small peer groups, each executive will have an opportunity to raise a current organizational or leadership challenge and receive focused perspectives from fellow association leaders.

The session will close with a facilitated discussion of common themes, practical takeaways and ideas participants can carry back to their organizations.

11:30 AM — Wrap Up and Close

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