Childcare Business Summit

2015 Child Care & Early Childhood Education Business Summit

Thursday, December 3, 2015

at the Wyndham Virginia Crossings Hotel & Conference Center

Glen Allen, VA

Participant Toolbox

Registration, Coffee and Breakfast Assortment

8:15 - 8:45

9:20 - 10:35

Human Resources (HR) Hot Tips. Interviewing, hiring, orientation, performance reviews and building an enthusiastic culture are among the 10 keys for creating a high quality program in which people want to work, kids want to come play and learn, and about which parents tell their friends. Download presentation.

Elizabeth “Libby” Dishner, Cresco Strategy, LLC

How’s the Weather in Your Center? Creating a Healthy Organizational Climate. Learn how to measure a program’s organizational climate and how the results can be used to identify where things are going well and where changes are needed. Participants in this session will learn about the important relationship between organizational climate and quality of work life, as well as how to begin the process of improving the morale and commitment of employees. Download presentation.

Jill Bella, Ed.D., McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at NLU

Risk Management: Strategies to Support Business Continuity & Safety. For early childhood providers, risk management practices need to support business continuity and safety. It is critical to have in place strategies designed to protect your property, enhance your transportation practices, and to provide a safe environment. This workshop will provide a risk manager’s overview of what some of these risk strategies should be to help maintain a well-rounded risk management program at your center.

Michael A. Swain, Markel Insurance Company

The VA Shared Services Network. The Virginia Shared Services Network is an easy-to-use website offering many tools and services to help child care centers, family child care homes and after school programs manage their programs more cost-effectively and efficiently. It’s more than a website that offers discounts, although discounts are a click away. The website contains resources related to program administration, human resources, marketing, a library of early childhood reference materials, licensing regulations, as well as classroom resources. We call it “child care in a box” – this workshop is an introduction to the site and the resources that can help you offer a high quality program! Download presentation.

Handout: VA Shared Services Network Flyer.

Jodi Roberts, Child Care Aware of Virginia

10:45 - 12:00

Follow the Money: Cash Flow & Strategic Economic Decisions. Budgets are tight and operating a child care business has never been more challenging or time consuming. This workshop is designed to assist small businesses with cash flow planning and includes numerous hot tips to help make smart business decisions in the competitive child care market. Download presentation and cash flow spreadsheet.

Handout: Managing Cash Flow

Celia Broadus, CPA, Accounting Strategies to Solutions, LLC

When the Chair Doesn’t Fit: How Physical Setting Impacts Organizational Climate. Early care and education programs are specifically designed to meet the needs of children, and as a result, the needs of adults are not often addressed. Creating environments that don’t serve both children and adults can be detrimental to everyone involved. This session focuses on physical setting, one of ten dimensions of organizational climate. Building on ideas from one another, along with a photo gallery, participants will have the opportunity to re-think their environments in a way that will improve staff morale. Download presentation.

Jill Bella, Ed.D., McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at NLU

Educator vs. Entrepreneurial Leader? How to Leverage your Skills to Obtain the Center Results you Want! There is no question that center directors wear multiple hats, but none more important than leader! This workshop shows how effective leadership integrates the role of leader, manager and educator to create high quality settings, provides examples of how center directors have used their traits and skillsets to promote high-functioning organizations and includes an exercise that mirrors and reinforces the integration of the leader, manager, and educator roles. Achieving synergy is easy after this workshop! Download presentation.

Nedra Sims Fears, Fears Consulting and Training

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Sharon Veatch, Executive Director, Child Care Aware of Virginia
Barbara A. Newlin, Director, Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Development Virginia Department of Social Services

8:45 - 9:10

Winning Business Operating Tips. Virginia's Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) -- What are they? Where are they? How they can help. Download presentation.

Lauren M. Small, Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center

All Things Professional! Professional Development & Technical Assistance Opportunities in Virginia. This workshop will provide an overview of the online, distance learning, statewide training and technical assistance programs and opportunities available in your community. Child Care Aware of Virginia’s professional development services offer a multitude of avenues to obtain the training child care professionals need to build and maintain high quality programs. Our online Training Academy is designed to help early childhood professionals complete annual training requirements and acquire required hours for those seeking a Child Development Associate (CDA)
credential, renewal or in-service training. Course offerings are available in a variety of engaging topics designed specifically for the early childhood professional. Download presentation.

Handout: Training Opportunities

Peggy Watkins, Child Care Aware of Virginia

Marketing Your Program: Strategies & Tools to Increase Enrollment. The world of marketing is changing very fast for child care programs. How do you keep up? This workshop will help small businesses understand the latest marketing strategies for early childhood programs. We promise not to confuse and to explain the importance of websites, social media and Google in your marketing activities. Full enrollment is the goal; marketing is the pathway! Download presentation.

Lauren M. Small, Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center

Click here for our lunch speakers and afternoon sessions!