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October 18 – 20, 2026 · MARJCC

The

Program

Two and a half days of plenaries, department tracks and electives — built around Kehillah 2.0.

Everyone joins the plenaries and meals. Department sessions bring together peers who do the same work at different JCCs. Electives are yours to choose — you'll pick one per round before the conference. Times and rooms may still shift slightly.

Day 1 · 11:30 AM – 7:30 PM

Sunday, October 18

Opening

  1. 11:30 AM
    to 1:00 PM
    Registration

    Registration, Check-in & Lunch

    Main Lobby

    Check-in, materials pickup · Fuel Up & Connect (Lunch + Exhibitor Booths)

  2. 11:45 AM
    to 12:30 PM
    Networking

    New Professionals Orientation With Mark Young and Joy Brand-Richerson

    For new professionals and first-time PROCON attendees. Meet Mark and each other, get the lay of the land, and learn how to make the most of the next two and a half days before the Opening Plenary.

  3. 1:15 PM
    to 2:15 PM
    Plenary

    Opening Plenary Session

    Theater

    Rabbi Daniel Septimus opens SE PROCON 2026 with the question behind the whole conference: what does community mean in 2026, and what does it ask of the professionals who build it? From membership to meaning, from programming for people to building with them, this session sets the shared language for Kehillah 2.0 that the next two and a half days will put to work.

  4. 2:30 PM
    to 3:30 PM
    Department

    Peer Track Sessions - A

    Various Rooms

    HR · Finance · Development · Sports · Early Childhood · Youth & Family · Membership · Marketing · Adults · + more

  5. 3:45 PM
    to 4:45 PM
    Elective

    Electives — A

    Choose one of 5
    • Customer Service
      Audrey Edwards, Joy Brand-Richardson
    • Reimagining Perfection
      Annie Keith
    • Your J's Culture – Is it Real?
      Jay Jacobs
    • To Understand Israel, We Must Understand The Middle East
      Avi Melamed
    • Bless Our Workforce
      Mark S. Young
  6. 5:00 PM
    to 5:20 PM
    Break

    Networking Coffee Break with Our Sponsors (working title)

    Gym
  7. 5:30 PM
    to 6:15 PM
    Special

    Bamachol Show

    Plaza

    Special performance · Artistic celebration of Jewish identity

  8. 6:30 PM
    to 7:30 PM
    Social

    Welcome Dinner

    Plaza

    Tables by region or work area · Networking among participants

Day 2 · 7:45 AM – 7:00 PM

Monday, October 19

Reimagining Community

  1. 7:45 AM
    to 8:15 AM
    Special

    Morning Wellness BreakOptional

    Meaningful meditation to start your day.

  2. 8:00 AM
    to 9:15 AM
    Meal

    Breakfast

  3. 9:30 AM
    to 10:45 AM
    Plenary

    Psychologists Panel About New Parental Styles and How to Manage Bulldozer Parents

    Theater

    A conversation with Edith Shiro, Reina Chocron, Jael Toledo, and Mariam Dum

  4. 11:00 AM
    to 12:00 PM
    Department

    Peer Track Sessions - B

    Various Rooms

    HR · Finance · Development · Sports · Early Childhood · Youth & Family · Membership · Marketing · Adults · + more

  5. 12:00 PM
    to 1:00 PM
    Meal

    Fuel Up & Connect (Expo and Dining Hall)

    Gym
  6. 1:15 PM
    to 2:15 PM
    Plenary

    More Human, Not Less By Amanda Loveland

    Theater

    There is a quiet fear underneath most of the AI conversations in our sector right now: that bringing this technology into a community organization will make it feel less personal, less warm, less like the place people show up to be known. Amanda takes that fear head on, because the truth is the opposite of what most people expect. The right AI does not replace the human work at a JCC. It gives your staff their hours back, the hours currently disappearing into the inbox, the spreadsheet and the report nobody enjoys writing, so they can spend that time on the member, the program, the relationship. Human connection is the product. Everything good a JCC does starts there, and the technology only matters to the degree it protects that. Grounded in real work, not hype, this session's strongest proof points are what real JCCs are already doing and what is working across the country. It closes with where this is heading next: the shift from using AI as a smarter search box to building agents that actually do work alongside your team, the frontier most JCCs have not crossed yet.

  7. 2:30 PM
    to 3:30 PM
    Elective

    Electives — B

    Choose one of 5
    • Cross-Functional Communication: Working Better Together
      Joy Brand-Richardson, Dror Gershoni, JCC CEOs
    • Reimagining Authenticity: Leading as Your Real Self
      Nicole ErdfrochtKatz
    • Neurodiversity 101: What Every Department Needs to Know
      Sandra ChabermanDance Room 1
    • How To Get To The Next Professional Level
      Alan Sataloff, Paul Frishman
    • Seven Lenses, One Mission: Judaism in Practice at Your JCC
      Veronica Maravakin
  8. 3:45 PM
    to 4:45 PM
    Experiential

    Scavenger Hunt Around the J

    Various Rooms
  9. 5:30 PM
    to 7:00 PM
    Happy Hour

    Happy Hour — Serena Rooftop

    Serena Rooftop

    Rooftop networking · Cocktails and panoramic views. Take the rest of the night off and enjoy the South Florida evening

Day 3 · 7:45 AM – 1:30 PM

Tuesday, October 20

Strategy & Closing

  1. 7:45 AM
    to 8:15 AM
    Special

    Morning Wellness BreakOptional

    Meaningful meditation to start your day.

  2. 8:00 AM
    to 9:00 AM
    Meal

    Breakfast

  3. 9:15 AM
    to 10:15 AM
    Elective

    Electives - C

    Choose one of 5
    • The Path You Chose
      Fanny Hanono

      Whatever Path You Take, Do It Wholeheartedly Fanny Hanono thought she was going to become a lawyer. Instead, her path led her to warehouses, automotive parts, entrepreneurship, and eventually building and leading a successful business. In this session, Fanny shares why success doesn’t have to follow the path you originally planned. Whether your choice is building a career, raising a family, starting a business, or changing direction entirely, Fanny believes what matters is owning that choice and doing it wholeheartedly. She’ll share lessons from her own unexpected journey and why it’s never too late to decide that a different path is the right one.

    • More Mental Peace
      Stephanie Essenfeld
    • From AI Pressure to Business Value: How to Scale AI Across Customer Conversations
      Matthew Pottala, RingCentral

      Deploying AI is no longer the goal—scaling it across your unified communications solution to drive actual business value is. In this session, we cut through the noise to show you how seamlessly embedding AI into your existing communications stack enhances customer interactions at every stage of the journey. See RingCentral’s latest AI-powered innovations in action and learn how agentic AI can help your team streamline operations, empower employees, and turn conversational data into smarter decisions—all within one unified platform.

    • Building Business in a Community
      Lenny Krayzelburg
    • The Jewish Fight for America
      Gabriel Groisman
  4. 10:30 AM
    to 11:15 AM
    Department

    Peer Track Sessions - C

    Various Rooms

    HR · Finance · Development · Sports · Early Childhood · Youth & Family · Membership · Marketing · Adults · + more

  5. 11:30 AM
    to 12:30 PM
    Closing

    Closing Keynote: Abundant Leadership with Michelle Poler

    Plaza

    In this data-driven, story-rich keynote — grounded in Michelle's own experience building a global community, and backed by a national study on community at work — leaders discover why culture alone is never enough, and what it takes to build the kind of environment where people don't just stay, they thrive. Through her signature blend of honesty, warmth, and real stories from 600+ organizations, Michelle introduces a leadership framework rooted in one counterintuitive truth: the leaders who give the most — recognition, visibility, opportunity, trust — are the ones who build the most loyal, committed, and high-performing teams. And when leaders model abundance, their teams follow, creating a ripple effect that transforms not just how people are led, but how they show up for one another.

  6. 12:30 PM
    to 1:30 PM
    Social

    Fuel Up & Connect (Expo and Dining Hall)

    Gym

    Final conversations · Contact exchange · Grab and Go Lunch Style