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Workshops
Returning this year!
These six workshops will provide a deep dive into their topics and valuable resources to take back to your team and community.CEUs are available for all six sessions!
"Beyond the Binder: Serious Fun for Serious Readiness" with Joe Tibbs and Matthew Gallardo
Monday, May 11 | 12:30 – 2:45 PM
*2 hours of Emergency Preparedness Credits
Emergency preparedness is too important to remain trapped in dusty binders and “check-the-box” drills. To truly build resilient organizations, staff must be engaged, challenged, and motivated to practice their roles in ways that stick. This workshop explores how gamified training approaches can transform preparedness education from passive to participatory, creating meaningful learning that improves organizational readiness.
Participants will learn why gamification is a valuable strategy for long-term care and healthcare organizations: it reinforces critical concepts, fosters teamwork, and reduces training fatigue. We will review specific elements of gamified learning—ranging from interactive tabletop exercises and scenario-based challenges to escape-room style activities and infection prevention simulations—that can be adapted to fit organizational needs and resources.
The session will include a live demonstration of a gamified training activity currently deployed in the field, offering attendees a chance to see firsthand how creativity and play drive serious outcomes in emergency management. Building on that example, we will walk through practical steps for designing, implementing, and evaluating similar trainings in participants’ own organizations.
By the end of the workshop, attendees will understand not only the “why” but also the “how” of gamified preparedness education, leaving with tangible strategies to elevate their training programs, engage staff at every level, and strengthen their organization’s ability to respond effectively in emergencies.
Sponsored by:
Emergency preparedness is too important to remain trapped in dusty binders and “check-the-box” drills. To truly build resilient organizations, staff must be engaged, challenged, and motivated to practice their roles in ways that stick. This workshop explores how gamified training approaches can transform preparedness education from passive to participatory, creating meaningful learning that improves organizational readiness.
Participants will learn why gamification is a valuable strategy for long-term care and healthcare organizations: it reinforces critical concepts, fosters teamwork, and reduces training fatigue. We will review specific elements of gamified learning—ranging from interactive tabletop exercises and scenario-based challenges to escape-room style activities and infection prevention simulations—that can be adapted to fit organizational needs and resources.
The session will include a live demonstration of a gamified training activity currently deployed in the field, offering attendees a chance to see firsthand how creativity and play drive serious outcomes in emergency management. Building on that example, we will walk through practical steps for designing, implementing, and evaluating similar trainings in participants’ own organizations.
By the end of the workshop, attendees will understand not only the “why” but also the “how” of gamified preparedness education, leaving with tangible strategies to elevate their training programs, engage staff at every level, and strengthen their organization’s ability to respond effectively in emergencies.
Sponsored by:
"Designing the Future of Aging Services: The Power of an Innovations Lab" with Garry Pezzano, Nick Patel, Dr. Karen Hirschman, Lori Cohen, and Katie Griffith
Monday, May 11 | 3:00 PM – 5:15 PM
Aging services providers are naturally innovative. They’ve got to be in order to manage the business of meeting the needs of older adults, inclusive of their care, social activities, and varied life interests. Layer that with challenging regulatory requirements and financial pressures; finding better, cheaper, faster ways of doing things is essential. And we can’t forget the personal experience expectations as a major contributor to customer and staff loyalty.Trying new things is innovating, as is making modifications and adjustments to existing methods. You do that on a regular basis. But are you leveraging your innovative and creative efforts to make lasting and meaningful improvements? You would if had an Innovations Lab.
An Innovations Lab can be as simple as having a disciplined approach to developing, testing, vetting, adopting and implementing a change or improvement. It can also be as expansive as a highly sophisticated space for testing and research. Or it can be something in between.
The real point is that unless you approach your innovation endeavors deliberately, no matter how big or small, you will likely not realize maximum benefit from your efforts. An earnest innovations effort includes evidence of improvement, a means of ensuring user adoption, a way to replicate it, and, most importantly, sustainability.
Participants will learn from experts how they can harness their creativity and naturally occurring innovative endeavors for optimal success by creating an Innovations Lab.
Sponsored by:
"AI for Senior Care Professionals: Productivity Without the Overwhelm " with Alexandra Samuel
Tuesday, May 12 | 12:30 PM – 2:45 PM
Get more done with less stress, thanks to AI. In this workshop, you’ll get hands-on with the accessible, effective and energizing AI approaches that Alexandra Samuel shares in her stories for The Wall Street Journal and the Harvard Business Review—adapted specifically for senior care settings. You’ll learn how to use AI to get real-time feedback on plans and decisions, so you can anticipate both resident needs and organizational requirements; simple tactics for customizing AI so that you can use it effectively on tasks ranging from drafting proposals to checking policies; and how to use AI as your own personal coach and tutor—for building your AI know-how, or extending your core professional skills.Sponsored by:
"Spokesperson Workshop: How to Deliver Messages in Today’s Media Landscape" with Mike Gross and Katie Andreano
Tuesday, May 12 | 3:00 PM – 5:15 PM
During this two-hour workshop session, designed for an organization’s top leaders and marketing/communication professionals, participants will learn proven methods to handle the challenges of today’s evolving communications landscape – in and outside of media engagements.
This session will showcase real-world examples of effective spokespersons making the most of opportunities, and attendees will learn practical, proven techniques to maximize every spokesperson moment. The changing media environment, paired with the way news consumers absorb information in today’s attention-deficit age, is forcing those in positions to represent their organizations to think and act differently if they want to capitalize on news coverage.
The workshop will include a message-writing component with guidance on how to craft messages that resonate with key audiences. We’ll talk about how to prepare for those moments and how to deliver those messages with a sound-bite mentality. We will also show how a spokesperson can remain goal-oriented – selfish even – when engaging in interviews. Additionally, attendees will learn how to avoid the dreaded “ambush interview” reporting trap and never feel caught off-guard or fearful of media interest again. Together, participants will have opportunities to exercise in these techniques through mock interviews (volunteers only) through small-group learning and feedback.
Lastly, we will review how these spokesperson techniques apply to other situations beyond media interactions, including town-hall-style gatherings, employee forums and other settings. Leaving this workshop, spokespersons, and those who help prepare spokespersons for media engagement, will feel more confident and prepared for high-stakes media encounters.
This session will showcase real-world examples of effective spokespersons making the most of opportunities, and attendees will learn practical, proven techniques to maximize every spokesperson moment. The changing media environment, paired with the way news consumers absorb information in today’s attention-deficit age, is forcing those in positions to represent their organizations to think and act differently if they want to capitalize on news coverage.
The workshop will include a message-writing component with guidance on how to craft messages that resonate with key audiences. We’ll talk about how to prepare for those moments and how to deliver those messages with a sound-bite mentality. We will also show how a spokesperson can remain goal-oriented – selfish even – when engaging in interviews. Additionally, attendees will learn how to avoid the dreaded “ambush interview” reporting trap and never feel caught off-guard or fearful of media interest again. Together, participants will have opportunities to exercise in these techniques through mock interviews (volunteers only) through small-group learning and feedback.
Lastly, we will review how these spokesperson techniques apply to other situations beyond media interactions, including town-hall-style gatherings, employee forums and other settings. Leaving this workshop, spokespersons, and those who help prepare spokespersons for media engagement, will feel more confident and prepared for high-stakes media encounters.
"2026 LeadingAge PA Government Affairs Workshop: Advocacy Insights & Shaping Our Policy Future Together" with Chuck Quinnan, Austin Cawley and Anna Warheit
Wednesday, May 13 | 8:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Join the LeadingAge PA Government Affairs (GA) team for an interactive policy workshop and engaging update on the latest legislative and regulatory priorities impacting aging services in Pennsylvania. Learn how we’re amplifying members’ voices across the aging services ecosystem and ensuring policymakers understand the supports and solutions providers need to provide access to and deliver exceptional care for older Pennsylvanians.
This session will bring you up to speed on the most pressing policy developments from Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., and what they mean for your organization and the people you serve. As the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s current legislative session comes to a close at the end of this year, we will be engaging in direct dialogue with attendees to garner real-time input on the issues that matter most. Feedback from the workshop will be used along with input from LeadingAge PA’s member-led Public Policy Committee to help develop the association’s advocacy priorities for the 2027-2028 state legislative session.
Through a guided discussion with your peers we’ll explore the most pressing challenges you’re currently facing, as well as opportunities for needed change and reform. We’ll examine how the shifting political landscape continues to influence advocacy efforts, particularly as we look ahead to the 2026 general election. While the environment for policy change remains complex, this moment also presents new opportunities to strengthen our collective voice and vision for the future.
Advocacy is most effective when we work together. The GA team will share practical strategies to help you engage with lawmakers, tell your story, and make your voice heard in meaningful ways. Together, we can drive progress toward a stronger, more sustainable system of care that meets the needs of Pennsylvania’s older adults and those who serve them.
Join us to be part of an interactive conversation that not only updates you on key policy developments but also empowers you to help shape what’s next for aging services in our Commonwealth. Let’s build a unified and forward-looking vision—one that ensures quality, stability, access, and innovation for years to come.
"Your Role in Their Crisis (Part I) & Active Shooter: Are You Ready? (Part II)" with Louis Bianco and Bubba Fatula
Wednesday, May 13 | 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
*3 hours of Emergency Preparedness CreditsThe first hour of this workshop is designed to educate attendees on how to navigate crisis situations through exploring the many stages (pre, actual, post) of a crisis, what a crisis and look like, and also the importance of our own self-assessment and introspection. We are often taught how to assess those that we care for as human service workers. However, little time or attention is paid to assessing ourselves. Self-assessment and the other tools involved in this process are best learned proactively, prior to the moments in which de-escalation is necessary. The reality is that the behaviors, thought processes, and emotional composition of both the person/people helping someone in crisis and the person/people experiencing crisis are equally important. However, as professionals, our self-understanding and awareness is of the utmost importance, as we cannot expect those we serve to have the same knowledge and skillsets we have. With the usage of education, simulation, and discussion, the attendees will learn about basic signs of crisis escalation and the skills to assist in the maintenance and de-escalation of a crisis. The group will learn basic information that will aid them in exploring themselves, learning more about their own possible biases, triggers, and responses to high-intensity distress. We will also engage in a crisis de-escalation simulation or two, utilizing what we have learned in the training and putting it into action. We will debrief said simulation with the group. Having accurate knowledge of ourselves, as well as those in need, offers us the best chance to safely manage crises for all parties involved.
The second 2 hours of this workshop are meant to empower those in attendance to train their brain to tell their body what to do if they are ever involved in an active shooter event. What we say (as a business, school, church…etc.) matters in the time of a crisis because…words matter. Words can help save lives or jeopardize them. Seconds are precious in the time of a crisis. Knowing when to use certain verbiage (and when not to), is vital. Unfortunately, we are being trained the wrong way! We are using old training and outdated verbiage, and it is putting us at serious risk. Everyone should have a “you plan.” A You Plan one that counts on “you” to be your greatest resource in the time of a crisis. The audience will be trained that they have (3) options in the time of an active shooter event…RUN-HIDE-FIGHT! I will break down each of these options and explain when to use them. Lastly, this is not a doom-and-gloom workshop; it is meant to be empowering.
