One of my favorite parts of attending a conference is the week leading up to the event. The conference details are loaded into the app (NCE 2024!) and I make time to look through the schedule, the structure, the speakers and all that will be available. This moment can also be overwhelming when you see how many incredible opportunities we will have to learn. As I look forward to this year's National Conference on Education and blogging my experiences alongside so many great leaders, here are some elements I'm excited about and hope you are as well.

THEMES
The sessions this year are divided up into the following themes:
– Live Well, Lead Well
– Redesigning Learning
– School Environment and Culture
– School Safety, Finances and Operations
– Transformational Leading and Learning

It is my hope to attend sessions from each of these themes, as they all resonate with my daily work and my goals as a leader.

SPECIFIC CONTENT
There are two specific areas of content that I am seeking out as I comb through the session offerings: AI and principal pipeline/ leadership development.

I want to learn even more about AI and what I need to know as an educational leader on behalf of my district. The information and new learning around AI is coming fast and furious and I feel like I'm on a treadmill just trying to catch up! If you are like me, you will be excited to hear that there will be a number of AI-related sessions offered this year.

I also want to hear how other districts are building principal pipelines and developing future leaders. I have worked through a Wallace Foundation grant around this topic in the past and I look forward to hearing what they are doing in this area today.

CONNECTIONS
My final hope is that I will renew connections with leaders I have met at past NCE conferences, through my AASA work, and through my professional travels, and that I will make new connections. Conferences are not just a time for our academic learning, but for the personal connections that help us know we are not doing this work alone. Being a leader can often feel isolating, so I find it critical for my own wellbeing to have a group of colleagues I can turn to for professional advice during the good and challenging times. I look forward to connecting with you all here in my beautiful city [normally beautiful but experience more rain this week than we usually get in a year so please bring SUNSHINE!], San Diego, next week!