General Sessions
Who Would You Be Without Your Title?
Wednesday, December 2
8:50 AM–9:50 AM
Who are you when your grades, job, achievements, and labels are stripped away? In this thought-provoking keynote, Duncan challenges participants to discover who they are beyond what they do. Through powerful stories and practical resilience strategies, they’ll learn how to overcome setbacks, build unshakable confidence, and reconnect with the version of themselves that adversity can’t take away.
Speakers:
- Duncan Kirkwood
Handout:
The Language of Optimism
Wednesday, December 2
10:10 AM–11:10 AM
Join best-selling author and optimism expert Case Kenny for an interactive keynote exploring how the words you use actively shape what you attract in life. Through a blend of neuroscience, linguistics, and psychology, you’ll discover how language influences motivation, resilience, and the way your brain interprets what’s possible.
Leading with Purpose, Empowering Change
Wednesday, December 2
11:10 AM–12:00 PM
Alameda County will showcase a peer-to-peer strategic planning model that replaces traditional consultant-led and top-down approaches with an inclusive, internally driven process. By engaging staff, partners, and clients through structured town hall meetings, the department gathered diverse perspectives, encouraged candid feedback, and built shared ownership of organizational priorities.
Be Your Own Hero: Leading Through Accountability, Resilience & Opportunity
Thursday, December 3
8:45 AM–9:45 PM
Every person in probation work, whether carrying a badge, a caseload, or a budget spreadsheet, is in the business of second chances. This general session moves through one man’s real journey from pain to purpose and translates that journey into a practical framework the entire room can use immediately: for the youth and adults they serve, and for themselves.
The Funny Thing about Stress
Friday, December 4
8:40 AM–9:55 AM
Keeping our sense of humor, our sanity and our health in our
challenging world of Probation!
We all know that we should manage our stress, but we don’t
necessarily know why or how! It’s Kay Frances to the STRESS-cue!
She literally wrote the book on stress! With this energetic,
upbeat presentation, attendees laugh while they learn without
straining their brains.
Kay combines her background as a professional standup comedian with her expertise in wellness and stress management to give fun, funny and lively presentations.