Staying Sharp in the Chaos

Wednesday, 9:00 AM EST

The scope keeps expanding. The team still needs direction. Leadership wants more output. And the AI landscape is moving faster than anyone can fully keep up with. For a lot of technical leaders, somewhere along the way the job quietly shifted from leading to just keeping up. Decisions get made from whatever state you happen to be in when the next thing lands — and it's been costing you focus, clarity, and probably sleep.

Most leadership training addresses what to do. Less often does it address the skill of staying clear-headed while you're doing it — under real pressure, in real time, with a team and boss looking to you for answers. This full-day workshop is built around that gap. You'll work through real pressure situations — the kind you actually face — and develop practical skills for staying grounded when they spike, so you can lead with steadiness instead of reaction. You'll learn as much from the honest conversations in the room as from the content itself.

You'll leave with skills you can use in those moments — the ones you already know need them. More of your best thinking available when it matters most. The kind of leader you already know you can be, more of the time. Getting more done with less of the grind that's been wearing you down

Who's Accountable When AI Wrote the Code?

Thursday, 9:30 AM EST

You've basically stopped writing significant amounts of code. AI does it — you check it, direct it, and sign off on it. The leverage is real and so is the uneasy feeling that comes with it. You're now responsible for output you didn't fully produce, at a volume you can't fully review, while leadership pushes for more speed. And nobody — not your org, not the industry — has figured out yet who's actually on the hook when something goes wrong.

Here's the honest truth: nobody has a clean answer yet — not your organization, not the industry, not the people writing the frameworks. So this session doesn't pretend to have one either. Instead, we'll pool what's actually working for people in the room, surface what's already helping teams stay more on top of it, and build something more useful than a handed-down answer. You'll also develop the skill to become calmer and more clearheaded when you're buried in pull requests and competing demands — and when something does go wrong. You'll leave with concrete approaches for navigating the gray zone and more practical ways to handle the pressure of leading when the rules are still being written.

Leading When You Don't Have the Answers

Thursday, 11:00 AM EST

A few months ago you had a decent handle on what your team was building — or you were building it yourself. Knowing things is how you got here, and it still matters. But everything your team touches is moving faster than your ability to fully audit it, and the output is coming faster than anyone can fully evaluate. Some days that's exhilarating. Other days your team looks to you for answers — and you're not sure you're the right person to ask anymore.
This session gives you practical skills to stay functional and credible when the answer isn't there yet — not as a workaround, but as something you can build and rely on. You can use them in the 90 seconds before you walk into a conversation, or in the moment someone asks you something you can't answer yet.

Through real scenarios and honest conversation with the people around you, you'll leave with something steadier than certainty — the ability to lead clearly in the moment, even when the answer comes later.

Delegation Without Guilt: How to Hand Off Work and Actually Let It Go

Thursday, 4:00 PM EST

AI has increased what your team can produce. Which means more output to review, more decisions to make, more places where everything runs through you. The leverage is real — and so is the growing pile of work that was supposed to be off your plate. Part of that is systems. But a bigger part is the pull to just do it yourself — because it's faster, because it's easier than explaining it, because if something goes wrong you want to have been the one who touched it last. That pull is costing you. Not just time — the kind of work you actually want to be doing, and the headspace to do it well.

This is a working session — you'll work through real delegation situations, yours or someone else's, and learn as much from the people in the room as from the content. You'll leave with the skills to hand off work with trust, clarity, and accountability — one concrete delegation you've been avoiding, with a plan to execute in upcoming week, and the foundation to keep building on it. Less bouncing back to your desk. More of your time on the work that only you can do. The kind of leader whose team actually runs without them in every conversation.

Saying No Well: How Pushing Back Can Move Your Team Forward

Thursday, 5:30 PM EST

As a Tech Leader, you’re expected to deliver, support your team, and respond to stakeholders — often all at once. But if everything is a yes, your priorities disappear. This interactive workshop gives you the practical skills to say “no” with clarity, confidence, and respect. You’ll learn how to use William Ury’s Positive No framework to assert boundaries without damaging relationships — whether you're pushing back on a teammate’s last-minute request, a product manager’s scope creep, or a VP’s unrealistic timeline.

You’ll also practice two key FLOW skills that make it easier to say no when the pressure’s on: how to Let It Go—releasing guilt, fear, or the urge to over-explain—and how to Focus with Breath to stay calm and grounded before high-stakes conversations. Through real-world scenarios and hands-on practice, you’ll walk away with language you can use immediately—and the confidence to say no in a way that protects your time, clarifies priorities, and actually helps your team succeed.

From Chaos to Chill: Bringing Order to Life Outside of Work

Friday, 3:00 PM EST

Does your life feel like non stop motion with never a moment to chill, as if you're always reacting to shifting priorities? You’re not alone, and it’s time to bring your A-game beyond the code. In this groomed talk, you'll learn how to use similar concepts—roadmaps, backlogs, and more—from your professional life in analogous ways to bring order to your everyday life.

Discover how to transform chaos into clarity by prioritizing tasks like a pro, tackling personal goals with laser focus, and making “fire drills” far less frequent. You’ll also learn how to let go—yes, it’s a skill, not just a mindset—and drop some of the mental clutter that keeps you spinning. Through relatable examples, humor, no-nonsense strategies, and real-world letting go practices, you’ll walk away with tools to get your life dialed in, reduce stress, achieve what truly matters—and still have time for a beer with friends. No debugging required!