Thursday, January 22, 2026
The 2025 Leadership Summit
The SECA Leadership Summit is a one-day event held on Thursday. Educators from across the country will visit various off-site early childhood centers and end with an afternoon discussion. Please note that this event is partially off-site, meaning you will not be able to attend any workshop sessions from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm during the SECA conference. Leadership Summit will begin with tours that will leave at 9:00 am and conclude around 1:00 pm. Upon returning to the conference site, participants will conclude the day with an afternoon tea and table discussions about effective leadership with an amazing group of SECA FOSSILS. Space is limited, so please register early.
Friday, January 23, 2026
Friday Keynote Speaker
Assess Your Quest
Beth Cannon
Assess Your Quest
Find your WOW as you focus on your WHY. We take a trip to the foundation of our joy and passion for children, teaching, and learning. The practice of using your voice, power, and influence to draw attention to and address the needs of a team is the key to creating safety, belonging, and unity at your school. You'll discover that your job may, in fact, be a calling that you are meant to fulfill and lives you are intended to impact.
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​Meet Beth
Beth Cannon is known for her unique and effective approach to equipping and empowering early education leaders and teams. A sought-after speaker, coach, and consultant, Beth is the creator of a variety of strategy development and training programs and has delivered thousands of transformational keynotes and workshops for conferences, retreats, and schools.
Beth has dual roles in the ECE world:
• A keynote speaker, trainer and coach for ECE professionals through Beth Cannon Speaks and Leader’s Lounge Solutions, and a registered ECE trainer through several states.
• The owner of 12 Stretch-n-Grow franchises – an international children’s motor development and enrichment provider that directly serves childcare centers – and has built the largest, most successful business in the history of the company. She’s the author and creator of the Children’s Fitness Instructor Certification Program, curriculum developer, and the Director of Corporate Training, having trained hundreds of business owners worldwide.
With a bachelor’s degree in communications and education from the University of Texas at Arlington, Beth’s certifications in business, fitness, and education cover her office wall three times over.
Just for Students Lunch
The Power of Once Upon a Time!
Lisa Maddox Vinson
(Student registration REQUIRED)
Embrace the magic of children's books and fill the classroom with excitement for reading! Stories empower children to understand diverse perspectives and emotions, ignite curiosity, and nurture a lifelong love of reading. Positive early experiences shape lifelong reading habits. Early Childhood Educators will savor every page! Let’s honor the stories that inspire, connect, and transform young minds. Here’s to making reading the most cherished part of your day!
Friday Luncheon Speaker
Your Voice Matters
Audrey Rowland
(additional registration fee)
Shifting Attitudes Toward Childhood: Understanding, Not Managing
This keynote challenges us to reexamine how our cultural norms and expectations shape the early childhood experience. Too often, societal pressures push educators and families toward “managing” children’s behaviors—seeking compliance, efficiency, or order—rather than understanding the developmental needs and natural expressions of childhood.
Through stories, research, and reflection, participants will explore how children’s behaviors are not problems to be controlled but communication to be understood. We will uncover how adult-centered expectations can unintentionally silence children’s voices, diminish play, and stifle curiosity, while child-centered approaches foster resilience, empathy, and authentic learning.
Attendees will leave with strategies for shifting their lens: moving from control to connection, from quick fixes to long-term growth, and from reactive responses to reflective practices. This keynote inspires educators, leaders, and families to create environments where children are not managed, but respected—so that every child’s experience of early childhood is rooted in joy, safety, and possibility.
Meet Audrey Rowland
Audrey Rowland has over 20 years of experience as an early childhood professional. Drawing from her expertise as a teacher, administrator, and parent, Audrey founded Green Space Learning in Fort Worth, Texas, to provide resources and professional development for early educators, administrators, parents, and policy-makers.
She and her team conduct in-person trainings and workshops for parents of young children and early childhood educators, develop and construct natural outdoor playspaces, and provide consultation to develop age-appropriate indoor environments for early childhood centers.
Green Space Nature Preschools serve families in the Fort Worth area and provide nature-based, outdoor learning for infants – kindergarten.
Audrey firmly believes in the importance of play in children's development – playing to learn. Through play, children are capable and competent to construct their own knowledge of the world around them.
Audrey serves as the President of the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children. Audrey earned a MS from the University of North Texas in Child Development and Family Studies and an MBA from Texas Woman’s University.
