Keynote speaker Sir Ken Robinson is known around the world for his inspiring views on ways to teach children differently.  He believes the pursuit of standardization has led education systems to kill creativity - ignoring hundreds of other valid and valuable ways of learning.  We share his belief that we must adapt our education system to consider the whole child.  This conference is about how we can create an educational experience that leaves politics behind and embraces the children we hold dear. 

Keynote speaker Bill Strickland is the President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation and its subsidiaries, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, and Bidwell Training Center.  Strickland is nationally recognized as a visionary leader who authentically delivers educational and cultural opportunities to students and adults within an organizational culture that fosters innovation, creativity, responsibility and integrity.

Our children are facing a world where change happens at a speed that none of us has experienced before. Children will need to be resourceful and confident and ready to create.  We cannot educate them based on what was.  Instead we need to rise to the challenge to educate them to embrace a world that is beyond our ability to envision.  This is new territory, territory that will require the best of all of us.  Let's support our children - they hold the future.

The conference will take place on April 23rd and 24th, 2012 at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Programming will include a variety of presentations and workshops running in 6 different rooms over the course of the two days, a future of learning expo, “birds of a feather” networking sessions (where small groups with specific interests meet), and keynote presentations by Sir Ken Robinson and Bill Strickland.

Bringing together a community of thought leaders, educators, and concerned parents, this is a conference you cannot afford to miss.