The Conference Is Over – Now What?

May 29, 2025

This document may be printed, photocopied, and disseminated freely with attribution. All content is the property of the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.

EXTENDING THE LIFE OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL LEARNING


Professional learning opportunities, specifically workshops and conferences, are among the most exciting places to be as an early childhood education and care leader. The chance to step away from your day-to-day work, reflect deeply on your growth and the state of the profession, and learn from many diverse individuals is stimulating and dynamic. It can also bring unique challenges, namely, what do you do when it's over?


You may feel overwhelmed, inspired, or fatigued. These are all normal. But once you've unpacked your bags and gotten a good night's sleep, you'll want to capitalize on all you took away from your professional development experience. Using the ideas below, you can ensure that your insights and learnings continue growing beyond the days you attended the conference. Instead of gathering dust, you'll gather momentum.


ORGANIZE YOURSELF


You’ve likely come out of this experience with much more than you entered it with: intangibles, like ideas, wonderings, a-ha moments, and likely many tangibles like notes, flyers, brochures, and branded gifts! It can feel like an overwhelming amount of “stuff.” Dedicate time to sort through it all. Determine what you want to keep, and put things where they belong. Organize these items according to your intended use. Here are some suggestions for how that might look: 


  • Notes: You likely took many notes, and you may have them in a multi-media format (something scribbled on a post-it, perhaps, or a photo of a slide). Bring all of the information you want to remember to a central location. You may like to type up everything into a document. You could have a folder on your computer for professional development containing a Word document for each conference and workshop you attend. Or you can group items by function. For example, all your notes on compliance may go with your previous professional development on licensing and compliance. Whatever the system, ensure your new learnings quickly join the rest of your information and knowledge.
  • Promotional materials: Water bottles, notepads, and product samples. The list goes on. Sort through those things and put them where they need to go. For example, my McCormick Institute for Early Childhood tote is stored with my reusable grocery bags, and my Leadership Connections 2026 boat is in my desk drawer, ready to squeeze in a stressful moment.
  • Connection materials: These are the business cards you may have collected. Any brochures or handouts for organizations you want to follow also belong here. You'll want them together to use them for the next step. 


REFLECT AND CONNECT


You'll want to think deeply about all the information you took in. It likely all seemed vital and exciting in the moment, and much of it still is. But now that you're out of the excitement and long days that come with conferences, determine the most helpful information. Make a list of what you want to keep front-of-mind.


And once that’s done, remember the little stack of connection materials you made? Go through them! This is one of my favorite parts about a professional development experience – you've met wonderful people and don't want that professional bond to end. Whatever social networks you use, jump on and connect! Maybe it's following Michelle Kang on LinkedIn after her remarks at the Colloquium or browsing the new MIEC website. Was there a presenter you couldn't stop thinking about? Find them and send them a message – tell them how exciting it was to sit in their session. You'll never know when these professional acquaintances will have a meaningful impact on your growth.


DEBRIEF WITH COLLEAGUES


A colleague once said that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. If your colleagues did not have a chance to join you in this experience, bring the experience to them. Schedule a lunch-and-learn with your staff to share the knowledge you gained with them. Use this as an accountability checkpoint for yourself. You can discuss any actionable changes you're considering with them so they know what to look for. Make it exciting! Show the photos you took, and display the additional materials presenters posted in the conference app (for example, the LC25 App or here for Android phones).


If you were able to attend with colleagues, schedule a separate debrief with that group. Share what you learned with one another. Someone may have a perspective from a workshop you hadn't considered. This helps maintain accountability and lets you process all your learnings.


TAKE SUSTAINABLE ACTION


You likely want to do so much based on all the learning you did. Start immediately by taking one small action. It can be as small as emailing your local legislator and discussing the importance of quality early-childhood learning experiences for all children. Maybe you want to purchase a copy of Dan Wuori's book to put in your site’s professional development library. Was there a Professional Learning offering that you wanted to recommend to a colleague?


Extend your learning onward


The most crucial step to take is to keep the momentum going. Your energy and enthusiasm about what you've learned may not always be as high as it is right after a conference. Use this opportunity to plan intentional experiences for your future self. You may want to research and register for other workshops related to the informative sessions you attended. You could schedule regular reflective sessions for your leadership practice and check in with how you're applying those actionable steps from above. It could be as simple as marking your calendar for Leadership Connections 2026. Whatever your next step is, your look to the future will propel your professional development onward while keeping you connected to the knowledge you've gained.

Natalia Ambrozek, B.S., is a Quality Assessment Coordinator at the McCormick Institute for Early Childhood at National Louis University. Natalia earned a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education with a concentration in French at DePaul University and has since completed her ESL endorsement. Previously, Natalia taught for over 10 years in Chicago in Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms and has experience as an Assistant Director. Natalia is also part of the leadership team for the Illinois Southland chapter of NAEYC and an alumnus of the Maria Whelan Leadership Institute.

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Supporting Family Child Care Providers: The Role of Technical Assistance in Managing Mixed-Age Groups

By Yvonne Williams • October 7, 2025
by yvonne williams “The idea of mixed-age groups, the notion of a blended family that’s born out of a family childcare program where you are around people… you learn from the older [children], and you get to interact with younger” (Williams, 2023, pp. 75-76). Family Child Care (FCC) programs are unique in their ability to care for children of varied ages in the same learning environments. Research has noted that blending children of different ages, including siblings, and using a home-based child care supports the development of building social skills and the ability to self-regulate; together they are key for preparing for school (e.g., Porter et.al., 2010; Williams, 2023). These arrangements create environments where children naturally support and learn from one another throughout the day, enriching the overall learning atmosphere and building critical foundations for future learning. The ability to offer mixed-age group care and education offers families a number of advantages: siblings remain together in one familiar setting, parents and the provider are able to sustain a long-term partnership, and families gain a sense of extended support by developing rich relationships with other children and families in the program. Mixed-age environments naturally allow older children to take on leadership roles. Younger children benefit from this by observing and learning new skills. All children gain from interacting with peers at various developmental stages, while also experiencing continuity of care with the provider. Since the FCC provider remains both educator and caregiver for many years, they also experience important benefits: deeper relationships with children, less pressure to constantly enroll and onboard new families, and a stronger sense of community with families. The capacity to offer care to mixed age groups is anchored in the FCC environment, a cornerstone of quality in home-based care. I saw this firsthand in my own research, which identified three foundational pillars for effective FCC programs: the provider, the business, and the environment. (Williams, 2023). An intentionally structured environment that safely accommodates mixed ages is often foundational to high-quality family child care, not an afterthought. Although there are many benefits to mixed-age groups, managing mixed-age groups presents unique challenges for FCC providers. These include balancing the developmental needs of children at different stages, ensuring appropriate supervision, and creating an inclusive learning environment that caters to all age groups. Providers often report that the organizational structure of FCC settings, such as mixed-age groups and balancing multiple roles, can be perceived as challenges when implementing responsive feeding and other evidence-based practices. Technical Assistants (TA) play a vital role in supporting FCC providers by offering personalized strategies and resources to address the complexities of mixed-age group settings. The most helpful technical assistance comes when people ask many questions instead of being told what to do. This helps them learn, try things out, and grow independently. I recently returned from leading a Transformative Technical Assistance (TTA) institute in New York, where a colleague and I provided training to specialists who coach both family child care and center-based programs. At our TTA Institute , we emphasize that TAs should ask insightful questions instead of immediately giving answers. This approach nudges providers into deeper thinking and gives them ownership, allowing them to uncover strategies that truly matter to them and stick over time. Below are three broad topics related to mixed-age groups, reframed as open-ended questions to help providers think deeply, act with intention, and create solutions tailored to their own programs. When asking your questions, make sure to frame open-ended questions in ways that will help the provider reflect on their practice, explore possibilities, adapt what they do, and grow stronger rather than simply accept someone else’s fixed advice. Here are three areas that include questions that may be helpful when supporting family child care professionals: Implementing Developmentally Appropriate Practices To help a provider explore ways to support their routines and interactions to meet the diverse developmental stages of children in mixed-age groups, you might ask: In what parts of your daily schedule do you see infants’ developmental needs being limited by the group dynamics or materials used? This is especially helpful when working with a provider who cares for infants along with older children. How might you adapt daily transitions or caregiving routines (feeding, diapering/toileting, naps) so that infants’ developmental needs are better honored, while also supporting the older children in the same mixed-age group? Enhancing Classroom Management To brainstorm strategies to maintain a harmonious and productive environment that accommodates various age groups, you might ask: In what ways could you change your interactions, routines, or choice of materials so that infants experience less stress and fewer behavioral challenges, while older children remain engaged and valued every day? How might you design the physical layout or daily schedule so infants have freedom to explore safely, and older children can participate in age-appropriate activities without causing overload or disruption? Promoting Inclusive Practices To examine practices that ensure that all children, regardless of age or ability, have access to meaningful learning experiences, you might ask: How might you adapt your daily routines and caregiving interactions so that every infant, regardless of ability or background, feels included, valued, and has opportunities to explore and learn? What changes could you make to the materials, space, and interactions in your infant room so that infants at different developmental stages, with varied needs, or who speak other languages can all participate meaningfully? By embedding these strategies that lead to rich dialogue and discovery, Technical Assistants help providers create learning environments that are both engaging and responsive, ones that truly foster growth and development for all children. As the landscape of early childhood education continues to evolve, ongoing support through TA remains essential in promoting the success and sustainability of Family Child Care programs. References Porter, T., Paulsell, D., Del Grosso, P., Avellar, S., Haas, R., & Vuong, L. (2010). A review of the literature on home-based child care: Implications for future directions, Princeton, N.J.: Mathematica Policy Research Report . Williams, Y. S. (2023). Exploring attitudes of four groups of stakeholders toward family childcare and recommending best practices to promote positive experiences (Doctoral dissertation). National Louis University.
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