2021 SHIFT Orange County: A Recap

Thank you to all of our amazing 2021 attendees who made their way to the west coast for our fourth annual SHIFT Childcare Leaders Conference in Newport Beach, CA last week! Childcare operators from 147 businesses operating in 32 states across the U.S. as well as internationally came together to learn from, engage with and collaborate alongside early education providers and stakeholders.

We kicked off the conference with a nautical-themed welcome reception featuring live sand sculpting artists, nautical photo booth props, and a ‘Sail-ebrate Good Times at SHIFT’ selfie wall. (Check out the action in our photos below!)

This year’s event featured themed contents days including Workforce Wednesday, Thriving Thursday and Future Forward Friday. Wednesday kicked off with a state of the industry overview from EY-Parthenon’s Phil Vaccaro, online hiring insights from Indeed.com’s Travis Stiba, and a ‘My Team is Rocking It!’ panel highlighting four childcare business owners who are excelling in staff recruitment and retention. Breakouts included insights on attracting staff with competitive benefits, breaking down your online ad strategy, managing change through effective leadership and much more. We wrapped up Workforce Wednesday with a powerhouse keynote from Delivering Happiness CEO Jenn Lim and a signing of her new book, Beyond Happiness.

Kathy Ligon kicked off our Thriving Thursday content with her one-of-a-kind financial insights and a surprise reveal… the HINGE team has been working on a digital application behind the scenes which will launch in January 2022! Introducing Framework—an online platform that will show how your school compares to financially healthy schools your size and help you discover ways to maximize the value of your business!

Molly Hichens continued Thursday’s profit-building content with insights on how to effectively build staff—the biggest barrier for owners needing to grow their bottom line in the current climate. Morning main stage wrapped up with an insightful financial panel sharing strategies on what led them to strong financial health and growth during the pandemic. Breakouts included ways to increase the value of your school, strategies for recession proofing, creating wealth through your real estate, and much more.

Thursday content concluded with a sit-down conversation between Kathy and Early Care and Education Consortium Executive Director (say that five times fast!) Radha Mohan. Radha gave some incredible insights on legislation and funding currently being pushed through Congress and its potential effects on the early education industry as well as the importance of childcare business owners getting involved in the process. See how you can get involved here.

Future Forward Friday hosted two amazing main stage presentations with the one and only Thad Joiner taking the stage to tell attendees why they should zig while everyone else is zagging and a final panel discussion on growth, grants and advocacy.

While content is always king at our SHIFT events, attendees do get to enjoy much more including morning yoga sessions, 30-minute breaks, 5-minute massages at lunch, extended (and complimentary) social hours, an interactive mobile app, and free promo goodies like this year’s notebook/pen set and ring light as well as our always popular SHIFT water bottles.

Take a moment to relive the week via the amazing photos from OC Event Photos below!