uLead2026 - The Summit of Educational Leadership: Full Schedule

This is the Sched site for the uLead 2026.

Welcome to uLead 2026. We are thrilled you will be joining us at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel for our annual school leadership conference hosted by the Council for School Leadership of The Alberta Teachers’ Association.

If you have any questions during the event, we will have uLead team members throughout the venue wearing red and black plaid. The registration desk will also have our team available throughout the conference. This table can be found just outside of the Van Horne Ballroom, where all of our keynote presentations are taking place.

If you need a digital map of the facilities, you can click here

In order for our team to best determine room allocations for breakout sessions would ask that delegates log in (top right corner of this page) and select sessions that they are interested in attending.

Finally, if you are interested in earning University credits for attending uLead, please visit the uLead website

12:45pm MDT

Conference Opening and Welcome

Sunday April 19, 2026 12:45pm - 1:00pm MDT

Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Sunday April 19, 2026 12:45pm - 1:00pm MDT
Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Keynote

1:00pm MDT

Keynote - Your Brain, Your Life - Foundations of Thinking

Sunday April 19, 2026 1:00pm - 2:15pm MDT

Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

You've seen it before: you say one thing, and your colleagues hear something else entirely. You point out what feels obvious, yet somehow everyone still misses it. Why is meaningful change so hard to achieve, even among intelligent, well-intentioned educators?

The answer often has less to do with leadership techniques and more to do with how the human brain actually works to make sense of reality. In this engaging and interactive session, we will explore the counter-intuitive foundations of thinking, the power of stories to shape perception, the essential role of error in building understanding, and how these forces quietly determine whether leadership succeeds or stalls.

Buckle in - here's where things get real.

Speakers

Jared Cooney Horvath

Director, LME Global

Jared Cooney Horvath (PhD, MEd) is a neuroscientist, educator, and author of the best-selling book Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Insights from Brain Science to Make Your Message Stick. He has conducted research and lectured at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, the... Read More →

Sunday April 19, 2026 1:00pm - 2:15pm MDT
Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Keynote

9:00am MDT

Coffee with the Custodian - Keynote

Monday April 20, 2026 9:00am - 10:15am MDT

Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

An EduFable™ on Why Education Is a People Business (And Always Will Be)
From the creator of the EduFable™, a new genre that transforms professional learning through story, comes this powerful and heartfelt keynote about the kind of leadership that truly lasts.
In Coffee with the Custodian, Dr. Brad Johnson weaves narrative and neuroscience to remind leaders that trust, consistency, and humility are what sustain a healthy culture. But it goes deeper than trust alone. It is about truly knowing your people, understanding their stories, recognizing their strengths, and building a culture where those strengths are seen, developed, and multiplied.
This keynote challenges leaders to shift from proving what they can do to elevating what others can accomplish. Leadership is not about the talent of the person at the top. It is about the growth of the people inside the organization. It is about building capacity, not control.
Through this original EduFable™, audiences experience leadership not as a theory, but as a story, one that feels real, relatable, and unforgettable.

Speakers

Brad Johnson

Dr. Brad Johnson is a globally recognized education thought leader, ranked #2 on the Global Gurus Top 30 in Education. As the best-selling author of 20 books, many of which have been translated into multiple languages, he is a leading voice in leadership, motivation, and teacher empowerment.With... Read More →

Monday April 20, 2026 9:00am - 10:15am MDT
Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Keynote

1:00pm MDT

Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy and School Transformation

Monday April 20, 2026 1:00pm - 2:15pm MDT

Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Street data is the qualitative and experiential data that emerges at eye level and on lower frequencies when we train our brains to discern it. Street data is asset based, building on culturally responsive education by focusing on what’s right in our students, schools, and communities instead of seeking out what’s wrong. Street data embodies an ethos and a change methodology that will transform how we analyze, diagnose, and assess everything from student learning to district improvement to policy. Join us for this dynamic keynote as Shane Safir, author of the best-selling Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation (Corwin, 2021), lays out this transformational model, which will help you shift your focus from satellite-level data (test scores and other metrics) to real-time, on-the-ground stories, experiences, and artifacts.

Speakers

Shane Safir

Keynote Speaker, Listening & Leading for Equity

Shane Safir has worked at every level of the education system, from the classroom to the boardroom, for over 25 years. In 2003, after teaching in San Francisco and Oakland and organizing in the community to launch a new public high school, Safir became the founding principal of June... Read More →

Monday April 20, 2026 1:00pm - 2:15pm MDT
Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Keynote

9:00am MDT

Keynote - Bubbling Up

Tuesday April 21, 2026 9:00am - 10:15am MDT

Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Dr. Sean Lessard shares stories from a life spent working with young people in and beyond school communities. Bubbling Up, a reflection on the feeling of possibility, identity, and belief that lives inside us, serves as the opening for a broader conversation about how we support youth.
Drawing from his experience as a youth worker, teacher, counsellor, administrator, and professor, Dr. Lessard explores his approach to working alongside young people through community, relationship, and what he describes as a pedagogy of tea. He reflects on the importance of presence, trust, and consistently showing up for youth - academically, socially, and emotionally.
With honesty, warmth, and humour, Dr. Lessard highlights the role educators and leaders play as advocates and allies, and the impact of holding an unwavering belief in young people, even when they struggle to find their voice.
Bubbling Up is both a reflection and a call to action, reminding us that when youth are supported through relationship and community, powerful things can rise to the surface

Speakers

Sean Lessard

Professor of Indigenous Education and Core Studies, University of Alberta

Dr Sean Lessard is from Montreal Lake Cree Nation he is a former youth worker, teacher and counsellor. He is currently a Full Professor at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Education. He is an award winning researcher, writer and speaks internationally about his approach... Read More →

Tuesday April 21, 2026 9:00am - 10:15am MDT
Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Keynote

12:00pm MDT

Keynote and Conference Closing: Reflections on my Journey to the United Nations Highest Humanitarian Prize - the UN Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize

Tuesday April 21, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm MDT

Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

in this talk, I share the personal and professional journey that led to receiving the United Nations Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize, reflecting on decades of work grounded in Indigenous knowledge, trauma-informed practice, and human rights advocacy. I trace this path from frontline counselling at an Indian residential school to community-based healing initiatives to national and international efforts addressing the intergenerational impacts of cultural genocide, systemic violence, and displacement. Central to this journey are the teachings of responsibility, collective care, and truth-telling—values that shaped my work with Indigenous survivors, families, and communities, and later informed policy and global advocacy. The presentation emphasises that this recognition is not an individual achievement, but a collective one, honouring the resilience, leadership, and wisdom of Indigenous peoples whose stories, strength, and insistence on justice continue to guide the work forward, in the spirit of Nelson Mandela and the human rights commitments of the United Nations.

Speakers

Dr. Brenda Reynolds

BISW, RSW, Master of Arts Counseling Psychology, Psy.D. (ABA)United Nations Nelson Mandela Laureate Brenda Reynolds is Saulteaux from Fishing Lake First Nation, Saskatchewan, Canada. She is known for her development of the trauma-informed and culturally sensitive Indian Residential... Read More →

Tuesday April 21, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm MDT
Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Keynote

uLead2026 - The Summit of Educational Leadership

12:45pm MDT

1:00pm MDT

Jared Cooney Horvath

9:00am MDT

Brad Johnson

1:00pm MDT

Shane Safir

9:00am MDT

Sean Lessard

12:00pm MDT

Dr. Brenda Reynolds

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