Making Momentum Matter

Making Momentum Matter:
Supporting Staff After Professional Conferences

 

When educators return from a professional conference, the energy in the building can feel electric. New ideas, favorite speakers, and notes scribbled in the margins of session handouts fill the air with possibility. Teachers may come back ready to rearrange their classrooms, start a new family engagement initiative, or advocate for a fresh approach to curriculum planning.

 

As a program leader, that kind of enthusiasm is a gift. It’s also a moment that calls for care, guidance, and strategy. The right support can help translate all that inspiration into lasting impact for children, families, and the teaching team.

 

Name the Moment

 

Start by recognizing what this energy represents. Conferences are rare opportunities for educators to step outside their daily routines, learn from peers, and see the larger field at work. Returning to the familiar rhythm of the classroom can feel both exciting and overwhelming. A simple acknowledgment, “I can tell this conference gave you a lot to think about,” goes a long way.

 

Naming the moment honors their professional growth and invites conversation. It tells staff you notice their excitement and see them as evolving professionals, not just implementers of daily routines.

 

Make Space for Reflection

 

Before jumping to action, build in reflection. It can be tempting to immediately start “doing,” but the real learning happens when ideas are processed and connected to context. Try inviting staff to share:

 

• • What resonated most strongly for you?
• • Which sessions or speakers challenged your thinking?
• • What aligns with what we’re already doing well?

 

You might facilitate a short debrief meeting or even a “conference café”—a casual gathering where teachers bring one idea to share with peers. Encourage everyone to listen for themes and connections to your program’s philosophy or goals. This turns individual learning into shared professional dialogue.

 

Connect Ideas to Core Values

 

Not every new idea fits every program, and that’s okay. Your role as a leader is to help staff discern what aligns with your program’s mission, culture, and priorities. Frame conversations around your shared “why.”

 

If your program emphasizes relationships, inclusion, or play-based learning, use those anchors as filters. Ask questions like, How does this idea deepen relationships? How does it support inclusion or authentic play? By grounding innovation in values, you help staff integrate what’s most relevant, and avoid “initiative overload.”

 

Support Small Steps and Pilot Thinking

 

Momentum doesn’t have to mean massive change. In fact, small, focused experiments are often more sustainable. Encourage teachers to choose one or two actionable ideas to test in their classrooms.

 

For example:

 

• • A new documentation approach tried for two weeks
• • A morning meeting structure inspired by a session on belonging
• • A single environment tweak, like rearranging materials for greater child independence

 

Encourage pilot thinking: Try, observe, reflect, adjust. This mindset helps educators stay curious without pressure for perfection. You can model it by checking in later: “What did you notice after trying that?” or “What might you adjust next time?”

 

Protect Time for Implementation

 

Back in the bustle of daily operations, conference ideas can quickly fade. Protecting small windows of time to plan, collaborate, or follow up helps sustain the learning.

 

Consider scheduling a post-conference reflection block during a staff meeting or dedicate a professional development day to “bringing ideas home.” Even 20 minutes for teachers to revisit their notes or share an artifact can keep new learning visible and relevant.

 

Some leaders create a shared space, such as a bulletin board, digital folder, or staff newsletter section, where returning educators can post highlights, resources, or takeaways. Over time, these become collective archives of professional growth.

 

Turn Inspiration into Shared Practice

 

One of the most powerful ways to sustain momentum is to connect individual learning to team goals. Ask:

 

• • How could this idea strengthen our family partnerships?
• • How does it complement our curriculum planning or assessment systems?
• • Could we test this strategy in one classroom and share results with others?

 

When staff see that their new learning contributes to program-wide improvement, they feel valued and empowered. The excitement becomes collective rather than isolated.

 

Keep the Conversation Going

 

Professional learning isn’t a one-time event. Use your next round of classroom visits or coaching conversations to check in:

 

• • “I remember you mentioned a new approach to transitions—how’s that feeling now that you’ve tried it?”
• • “You said you wanted to learn more about loose parts—want to co-plan a way to introduce them next month?”

 

These small, intentional follow-ups communicate that professional growth matters every day, not only during conference season.

 

Celebrate Learning Publicly

 

Share the ripple effects of professional learning with your community. Highlight photos or quotes in newsletters, staff spotlights, or family updates:

 

• • “After attending the NAEYC conference, our toddler teachers redesigned their soft play area to support climbing confidence and coordination.”
• • “Inspired by a keynote on belonging, our preschool team created new family welcome rituals.”

 

Public celebration reinforces a culture where professional growth is visible, valued, and connected to children’s experiences.

 

Plan Ahead for Next Time

 

As you close this conference cycle, take note of what worked well in supporting returning staff—and what could make the process smoother next year. Consider:

 

• • Building a short reflection form into your travel process
• • Creating a system for staff who attended to mentor colleagues who didn’t
• • Budgeting time and funds for implementation, not just attendance

 

By viewing conferences as the beginning of a professional learning cycle, not the end, you transform them from one-off events into catalysts for ongoing growth.

 

Leaders Need Momentum, Too

 

The same principles apply to you, too. Leadership often means holding space for everyone else’s learning while your own insights sit patiently in a notebook. Take time to nurture your own post-conference momentum with the same intention you offer your team. Revisit your notes, reflect on what inspired you, and identify one or two actions that align with your program’s broader vision. Schedule time for your own professional reflection, connect with peers who fuel your thinking, and celebrate the small shifts you make as a leader. Modeling reflective growth not only sustains your energy; it gives your team permission to do the same.

 

Making It Stick

 

Professional conferences can ignite energy, but it’s what happens afterward that determines whether that spark becomes a steady flame. When leaders create space for reflection, connect new learning to core values, and sustain momentum through small, meaningful actions, they strengthen both individual practice and collective culture.

 

John Dewey once wrote, “We do not learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.” The same holds true for professional growth. Reflection transforms new information into insight, and insight into intentional practice. What supports children’s learning also supports educators: curiosity, trust, time to explore, and space to reflect.

 

When leaders model and protect that space, they affirm that adult learning is not a side note to program quality, it’s the foundation of it. Every note taken, every conversation inspired, and every classroom change that follows is a sign of a program that learns together.

 

Momentum matters most when it’s shared.

 

 

 

Christine Murray is an Early Childhood Education Specialist with Becker’s Education Team.
As an educator, coach and leader, Christine is inspired by the curiosity, joy and wonder that children so generously model for us. She earned her M.A. in Innovative Early Childhood Education at the University of Colorado Denver and loves collaborating with and supporting others in the field. Grounded in relationships and guided by empathy, Christine is always learning, connecting and creating.