Monday, December 7

5:30 – 7:00 pm
Welcome Reception & Registration
Sponsored by OnCourse Learning
Kick off the conference with appetizers, drinks and great company! Connect with fellow attendees, catch up with familiar faces and make new connections as we come together for the start of a great conference.

Tuesday, December 8

8:00 – 8:30 am 
Registration & Breakfast

8:30 – 9:45 am
Welcome & Introductions

9:45 – 10:00 am
Break

10:00 – 11:00 am
Nationally Speaking Speaker Showcase

11:00 – 11:30 am
Supervisor to Leader, David Ciullo, Career Management Associates
What leadership skills will matter most in 2027, and are we preparing supervisors for what’s ahead? Drawing on CMA’s firsthand experience, this fast-paced, engaging session explores emerging leadership challenges, questions traditional approaches, and highlights what actually works. From accountability and coaching to communication, employee engagement, and developing future leaders, we’ll share practical strategies that make a difference. Walk away with fresh perspectives, actionable tips, and practical leadership development approaches and resources that your association can bring to member banks to strengthen their leaders and build stronger teams.

11:30 am – Noon
Know Me, Like Me, Trust Me Online: Building a Personal Brand You Can Be Proud of in the Digital Age, Eric Cook
Your reputation travels faster and farther in today’s digital world, and the way you show up online has never mattered more. This session blends practical strategy with hands-on learning to help you build a personal brand that reflects your values, demonstrates your expertise, and strengthens relationships across your community. We’ll break down how to use social platforms confidently and compliantly, how to create content that resonates, and how to engage in ways that feel genuine instead of forced. Along the way, interactive exercises will let you put ideas into practice, test new approaches, and see what works for your style. You’ll leave with clarity, confidence, and a personal branding framework you can use to deepen connections with prospects, customers, colleagues, and peers.

Noon – 1:00 pm
Lunch

1:00 – 2:00 pm
Show & Share
Closed Session – Association Staff Only
Hear directly from your peers as they showcase successful initiatives making an impact at their associations. Through short, presentation-style success stories, you’ll discover fresh ideas, lessons learned and creative approaches that may spark inspiration for your own programs and events.

2:00 – 3:00 pm
Roundtable Networking Activity
Closed Session – Association Staff Only
Connect with fellow education professionals during interactive roundtable discussions designed for sharing ideas, experiences and best practices. For each round, choose the topic that interests you most, exchange perspectives with your peers, and learn what’s working at other associations. Walk away with fresh ideas and practical takeaways you can bring back to your organization.

Wednesday, December 9

8:30 – 9:00 am                     
Breakfast

9:00 am – 9:30 am
Midwest Speakers Bureau Speaker Showcase
Marc Koehler
Marc Koehler helps banking leaders build teams that communicate clearly, make sound decisions under pressure and stay aligned through change. A former U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine Officer, business executive and leadership expert, Marc draws on experience leading 110 sailors aboard a $1 billion nuclear submarine, where accountability, trust and managing risk were essential to every mission.
After his Navy service, Marc brought those lessons to Honeywell and later served as an interim CEO and COO for distressed companies, helping organizations return to profitability. His experience connects leadership principles with the realities of running a business, strengthening teams and delivering results in uncertain conditions.
Through his Fast Attack Leadership message, Marc gives bankers practical tools to navigate changing regulations, technological disruption and evolving customer expectations. He shows leaders how to empower employees to take ownership, raise concerns early and make confident decisions while protecting client trust. His financial services audiences have included American Business Bank, Challenge Financial Services, Sackett Financial and ABDO. American Business Bank praised his engaging delivery and actionable strategies, while Sackett Financial reported that his keynote was the highest rated in its conference’s history.

Dima Ghawi
Dima Ghawi helps banking professionals break through limitations, embrace change and lead with confidence. Drawing on her personal journey of escaping confinement, crossing continents and building a new life, she challenges audiences to overcome the fear of failure, judgment and perfection that can hold them back from reaching their potential.
Dima brings two decades of corporate experience with IBM, Merrill Lynch and Intuit, where she led global teams and developed future leaders. Her financial services background and international perspective inform her approach to helping banking leaders strengthen communication, engage employees across generations and build a culture where people feel empowered to contribute and grow.
For banking audiences, Dima connects personal courage with professional growth. Her presentations encourage attendees to navigate change with greater confidence, take ownership of their development and recognize opportunities to lead at every stage of their careers.
Dima is the author of the award winning memoir Breaking Vases, which received the Writer’s Digest 2018 Grand Prize Award, Best Indie Book Award, Readers’ Favorite Award, National Indie Excellence Award and Nautilus Book Award.

9:30 – 10:30 am
Roundtable Networking Activity
Closed Session – Association Staff Only
Continue the conversation with a fresh round of interactive discussions! Choose from a new selection of topics that interests you most, connect with fellow education professionals, and exchange ideas, experiences and best practices. Walk away with even more fresh ideas and practical takeaways you can bring back to your organization.

10:30 – 10:45 am 
Break

10:45 am – Noon
AI in Action: Practical Opportunities for Banking Education Leaders, Ben Udell
How can AI help banking education teams work more effectively and better support their members? You’ll learn about AI adoption across banking, followed by practical video demonstrations tailored to banking and association work. Examples will explore evaluating speakers, developing agendas, creating promotional materials, analyzing attendee information and evaluations, and identifying sponsorship opportunities.

Guided discussions will give participants time to exchange ideas and consider how their associations can bring relevant AI education and adoption support to bankers at different stages of learning. Attendees will leave with practical applications for their own work and ideas for strengthening their educational programming.

 Noon – 1:00 pm
Lunch

1:00 – 2:00 pm 
Industry Panel
Get an insider’s perspective on today’s meetings and events industry. Panelists will share helpful insights, emerging trends, and practical tips to consider as you plan and enhance your future events.
Panelists include: Katie Muck, SKB Meeting Partners; Josh Valerio, Inspire Solutions; Kyle Lourie, ALHI Luxury Global Sales. 

2:00 – 3:00 pm
What’s Your Value? And Does Anyone Know It? How to Become an Indispensable Partner to Your Customers, Colleagues and Members, Joe Micallef
Everyone wants to be valued, but how effectively do we demonstrate our value to those we serve? Community bankers, bank leaders and State Banking Associations often promote their products, services, experience and expertise—but are they clearly communicating why they matter? In this engaging and interactive session, former bank CEO, author and Bank Coach Joe Micallef challenges participants to rethink their value proposition by focusing on the challenges they solve, the opportunities they create and the positive outcomes they deliver. Discover how to move beyond generic promises, communicate your value through compelling success stories, and become a more trusted and indispensable partner. Because being valuable isn’t enough—your customers, colleagues and members need to recognize, experience and remember your value!

3:00 – 3:15 pm
Break

3:15 pm
Speaker Share
Closed Session – Association Staff Only
Tap into the collective knowledge of your peers and discover speakers worth knowing. Attendees will share speaker recommendations across a variety of topics and events, giving everyone a chance to add fresh ideas to their list for future programming.

6:00 pm
Group Dinner at Hotel and reveal of next year’s destination.
Join us for a fun evening as we celebrate the connections, conversations and ideas shared throughout the conference. Enjoy dinner with your peers, take part in a fun activity and stick around for the exciting reveal of where we’re headed in 2027!