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PRO EX Summit Schedule
7:00 AM
Breakfast
8:00 AM
Welcoming Address
8:10 - 9:10 AM
Breakout Session #1
Trade Show Break #1
9:30 - 10:30 AM
Breakout Session #2
10:40 - 11:40 AM
Breakout Session #3
Lunch
1:00 - 2:00 PM
Breakout Session #4
Trade Show Break #2
2:20 - 3:20 PM
Breakout Session #5
7:00 PM
Cocktails & Keynote Social
*PRO EX Summit check-in details will be communicated directly with delegates.
Cocktails & Keynote
Day 1 | Apr 30
Cocktails & Keynote
7:00 PM
Meet Shaun Boothe
Shaun Boothe is an award-winning hip-hop artist and world-renowned speaker who has gained recognition for his ‘Unauthorized Biography Series’, a critically acclaimed musical project that is a unique celebration of some of the world’s most influential cultural icons. Featuring iconic figures such as Bob Marley, Terry Fox, Chris Hadfield, Malala Yousafzai, Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., among others , Shaun Boothe captivates and empowers through a series of biographical hip-hop tracks, revitalizing their stories and legacy in a way that is truly one of a kind. Shaun has shared stages with several prominent celebrities such as Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, and Lauryn Hill. His innovative and creative work has garnered attention internationally and features in publications and esteemed media outlets such as Forbes, The CBC, The Globe and Mail, and many others. After spending over ten years in the music industry, Boothe decided to focus on his passion for motivating others through his work. He has since then become a successful motivational speaker and performing artist, moving others to achieve their own greatness. Shaun’s series is regularly presented at events which include national and regional associations, corporations, college and university campuses, and performing arts centres around the world.
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Cocktails & keynote social is generously sponsored by Active Network.
Breakout Session Details
HIGH FIVE®:
A Cheat Code for Connected (Intergenerational) Teams
This session explores how recreation leaders can use HIGH FIVE® language as a shared shorthand (or “cheat code") to build confidence, trust, and connection across intergenerational teams. While Gen Z and Gen Alpha staff increasingly make up a large portion of our workforce, many teams also include people who have been in recreation for decades and have witnessed significant shifts in practice, culture, and expectations. Leaders are often navigating a wide range of confidence, from hesitation to over-certainty, while also trying to ensure that experience, perspective, and lived knowledge are genuinely heard and valued. This session invites leaders to a refreshed look at the HIGH FIVE framework they already know and use and consider how shared language helps bridge differences in age and experience without flattening them. Rather than introducing new tools, the focus is on recognizing how common reference points support better decision-making, clearer feedback, and stronger connection, creating teams where people feel confident to contribute and confident in one another.
Belonging By Design:
How experiential learning builds resiliency and retention in new program participants
This session explores how intentionally designing for belonging during the earliest stages of program participation can significantly strengthen resiliency, engagement, and long-term retention. Drawing from evidence-informed research in experiential learning and leadership—combined with real-world examples from sport and recreation contexts—participants will discover practical, immediately applicable strategies to help new participants feel seen, supported, and connected from day one. Through interactive activities and actionable tools, attendees will learn how small but strategic interventions can transform first experiences into lasting community connections, ultimately enhancing program success and organizational capacity across Ontario’s parks and recreation sector.
Recreation Fee Assistance:
City of Burlington case study
Cassandra Patterson-Mohammed
Supervisor, RCC Customer Experience
City of Burlington
The City of Burlington Recreation Fee Assistance program was designed to help create a health focused mindset that transcends financial precarity. It is an essential resource in combating barriers to inclusion and community engagement.
In May 2024 the City of Burlington completed a Recreation Fee Assistance review. The objective of the review was to increase program usage to better support our community members and to ensure that the City of Burlington is operating an equitable and accessible fee subsidy program. This is a case study of the program and initiatives implemented as a result of the review.
Ignoring Psychological Safety at Work Is No Longer an Option
Psychological safety is often discussed but frequently misunderstood. This session offers a clear, practical exploration of what psychological safety is—and what it is not—and why it matters for people, performance, and organizational sustainability. Participants will examine how psychological safety directly impacts reputation, employee retention, and results, particularly in people-centred and public-facing environments.
Rather than focusing on policies or abstract concepts, this session concentrates on everyday behaviours that build or erode psychological safety. Designed for professionals at all levels—not just managers or leaders—the session emphasizes emotional intelligence, trust, clarity, and communication as the core building blocks of safe, high-performing workplaces. Participants will leave with simple, immediately applicable strategies they can begin using the same day.
Navigating Risk in Parks and Recreation:
Introducing the Recreation Risk Management Resource Manual
Terry Piche
Director, Training, Research and Development
Ontario Recreation Facilities Association
Jessica Jaremchuk
Intact Public Entites
Vice President, Risk Management Services
ORFA and Intact Public Entities (IPE) are pleased to announce the creation of a Recreation Risk Management resource to assist recreation industry professionals in navigating risk reduction best practices. The manual has been developed to guide any size operation across the country in understanding the complexities of the subject of risk and the potential litigation associated with failing to adopt proven risk reduction principles and practices. The manual provides direction on regulated obligations and/or historical legal situations that have changed the way we conduct business. The user may need to reference additional information to completely understand what is at play or how others in the industry are approaching an issue. The manual is considered a readily available resource to assist today's practitioner in developing policy, procedures, or internal best practice.
Building Neurodivergent Inclusive Communities
Kelly Ng
Outreach and Inclusion Manager
Autism Home Base
CEO and Founder
Autism Home Base
Understand the growing need in Ontario to effectively support Autistic adults and their family caregivers in adapted, inclusive recreation environments. Learn what is required to meet this need so you can plan and provide well-equipped facilities and inclusive programs in partnership with your community. Through your efforts, the vital and valued Autistic community will experience improved quality of life and meaningful participation in healthy, happy communities.
Savvy Seniors:
The changing landscape of older adult programming
Nora Jones
Recreation Programmer
Town of Stouffville
The population growth of older adults/seniors in Ontario is predicted to rapidly increase over the next 20 years. Within this wide-spread demographic is a diversity of need, interest, and understanding of the role of recreation. Now is the time to identify strategies to build capacity and focus programming to empower today's older adults, and those to come to age, with wellness and dignity in their communities. This presentation will identify the need for and areas of growth in older adult recreation, examine categories of untapped programming, and explore strategic methods to engage seniors with empowering programs.
Rethinking Greenspaces
Senior Manager, Conservation Lands
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
Director, Parks, Lands and Community Engagement
Credit Valley Conservation
Looking to transform your park? This presentation will go over some of the greenspace trends in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, inspire you with some large- and small-scale greenspace transformation projects, and give you some tips on how your Conservation Authority can help you.
Grants Unlocked:
How municipalities turn innovative ideas into funded projects
April McNamara
Manager of Parks and Recreation
Town of Parry Sound
This session will explore successful funding strategies and project management for small/northern municipalities, using the Town of Parry Sound's initiatives as case studies. Projects discussed will include playground revitalization, HVAC system upgrades / replacements, waterfront trail revitalization, and library upgrades.
Culture:
Everything. Everywhere. All at Once.
Marcia Vona
Marketing Coordinator
City of Richmond HIll
Cultural services teams often offer an incredible range of programs, events, and experiences, but promoting them as individual moments or activities can make it hard for residents and visitors to see the bigger picture.
This session explores how Richmond Hill reframed its arts, culture, and heritage offerings into a single, year-round promotional journey. Instead of marketing events one at a time, the team created Passport to Culture, a simple, flexible platform that brings together festivals, performances, heritage sites, galleries, workshops, and hidden gems into one easy-to-understand experience.
Designed to work everywhere and all year long, the passport acts as a one-stop promotional tool that builds awareness, encourages exploration, and helps audiences recognize the full scope of cultural opportunities available in the city. The session will share how this approach supports long-term visibility, strengthens cultural identity, and makes it easier for residents and visitors to engage with culture at their own pace.
Growing Canada's Community Canopies:
Promoting tree equity in your community
Advisor, Outreach - Community Canopies and Adaptation, Green Municipal Fund
Federation of Canadian Municipalities
We all know the importance of trees – they play a critical role in promoting biodiversity, strengthening ecosystems, and improving access to green space that supports mental and physical health. This presentation spotlights the Growing Canada’s Community Canopies funding initiative and explores how municipalities and community partners can plant the right trees in the right places to deliver lasting social, environmental, and health benefits. Participants will learn about tree equity and why it matters. By sharing real-world examples and actionable insights, this session equips local governments and community leaders with funding and tools to advance tree equity and ensure the benefits of urban forests are shared by all communities.
Connection as a Core Service:
Using the CONNECT framework to reposition Parks & Recreation
Across Canada, municipalities face rising social isolation, declining trust, and fraying social ties. Traditional service metrics cannot address these pressures alone. In response, parks and recreation departments need to do more than deliver programs or maintain spaces; they must implicitly and explicitly commit to strengthening social connection as a core public service. This interactive workshop introduces participants to the CONNECT Framework, a practical design lens that helps municipalities reposition parks and recreation as vital social infrastructure designed intentionally to foster trust, belonging, and everyday connection. Accordingly, this session moves beyond theory and invites participants to experience how CONNECT can be applied to real spaces, programs, and decisions. Through guided reflection and small-group work, participants will explore how shifting from amenities to relationships changes how they plan, prioritize, and evaluate their work—without requiring new facilities, budgets, or mandates.
Managing Mental Health in the Workplace
Joe Keating
Supervisor, Facilities Maintenance
City of Pickering
Mental Health is a key component to a positive, productive workplace. This session explores the ways that supervisors and employees can navigate both major and minor mental health crises in the workplace, and recognize and mitigate symptoms and stressors. Personal anecdotes from lived-experiences of working in a recreation facility will be used to illustrate the challenges parks and recreation professionals face, stigma surrounding mental health issues, and possible helpful tips for workplace mental health management.
Unlocking Potential with a Tight Budget:
The story behind Harbourfront Centre’s community square renewal
Partner, Atchitect
MJMA Architecture + Design
Head of Operations
Harbourfront Centre
Building houses faster and more affordably is the urgent call that grabs the headlines and attention. Meanwhile, municipalities are challenged to deliver the infrastructure that make those houses into communities where people want to live. As public facilities age and construction costs escalate, budgets are getting stretched. Municipalities must find ever more creative ways to make the most of what they have.
Harbourfront Centre is located directly on Toronto’s waterfront where it has been a celebrated destination, delivering art, culture and recreation programming to the region since 1974. The ice rink and pond plaza, located at the heart of its campus, was famous for its iconic views of the city, and a beloved place for people to sit by the water or skate by the lake. After 38 years of operation, the rink was at the end of its usable life and the pond had become too difficult to maintain. Harbourfront Centre was forced to rebuild the plaza space. Restricted by the challenges of a very limited budget, the renewal project required Harbourfront Centre to get back to its most essential priorities. Rather than seeing the restrictions as limitations, the team used design to transform what was existing into the best version of itself, delivering a space that could unlock the full potential of what Harbourfront Centre has to offer the City.
Designing for All Ages:
Emerging trends in intergenerational play
Kent Callison
Director of Marketing and Communications
Park N Play Design / GameTime
Intergenerational play is gaining momentum as a transformative approach to community design—where every space becomes an opportunity for people of all ages and abilities to connect, move, and grow together. This session will explore the latest trends and emerging practices in designing for intergenerational recreation, including inclusive design principles, nature-based integration, personalized play features, and data-driven planning. Through real-world case studies and evidence-based strategies, participants will discover how intentional design can bridge generations, foster community belonging, and enhance public health outcomes. Learn how to translate trend insights into action and create vibrant, equitable spaces that serve the whole community—today and for generations to come.
Tech-reation:
Harnessing the power of automation
During this hour-long interactive session, participants will explore how to integrate and synergize various tools available through office 365 suite to create automations in various recreation specific administrative tasks.
Participants will delve into examples of how they can use tools already accessible to them (through office 365) to automate tedious administrative time consumers, allowing them to gain capacity back to spend on growth and innovation. Participants will engage with real world examples of the integration of tools so that they can understand what these tools and processes look like from both a user and administrator perspective.
Participants will leave inspired and knowledgeable on implementing various tools, allowing them to further explore what is possible and how they can meet their specific needs.
Future Proofing For Community Events and Festivals:
An ecosystem approach
Festivals and events are vital to a community's social infrastructure. This presentation will explore how festivals and events can stay resilient in a time of rising costs, shifting community expectations, and increasing social complexity.
Drawing on Dr. Kelly McManus’s research into Kitchener’s festival and event ecosystem, the session highlights the changing landscape for event organizers and the critical leadership role municipalities can play in strengthening local event networks.
Taking the Lead:
Tailoring aquatic leadership to suit your facility and background
Patrick King
Manager of Aquatics - City of Kitchener
Life Saving Society Ontario - Vice President of Training Programs
Joey Rusnak
Founder - Lifeguard Authority
Recreation Programs Supervisor - City of Barrie
This session will explore what it really takes to build a confident, capable aquatic leadership team – whether you oversee a single small pool, a busy waterfront, or oversee a multi‑facility operation. This session explores what it really takes to build a high‑performing aquatic leadership team in today’s municipal and privately-owned aquatic environments. Participants will unpack the layers of aquatic management from deck supervisors to programmers, coordinators, supervisors, managers, recreation leads and directors, and consider how each role contributes to safety, service quality and staff development. Walk away with fresh ideas, a clearer picture of what it takes to successfully lead aquatic operations, and how to develop a realistic, budget‑conscious action plan to strengthen your aquatic leadership team. Attendees will leave with a practical action plan that is scalable for both small and large operations, and implementable for leaders with and without aquatic backgrounds, that they can take back to their organizations to intentionally develop their aquatic leadership teams.
Adapted Aquatics Essentials:
Equipping staff for excellence
Colleen Beswick
Manager, Recreation and Culture
Town of Oakville
Braden Curran
Aquatic Assistant
Town of Oakville
This session is designed to equip aquatic staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver exceptional Adapted Aquatic programs. Participants will learn best practices for supporting individuals with diverse abilities in a safe, inclusive, and engaging aquatic environment. By the end of the session, participants will have a deeper understanding of how to create an empowering and supportive aquatic environment for individuals with diverse needs.
Lead From Within:
Strengthening self-leadership, resilience, and well-being in parks & recreation leadership
Leaders in Parks & Recreation work at the intersection of people, community, and public service—often managing high emotional demand, competing priorities, and limited resources while remaining grounded and responsive. Lead From Within introduces a practical, trauma-informed approach to leadership that strengthens internal capacity, emotional regulation, and psychological resilience.
In this interactive seminar, participants will be introduced to the Lead From Within framework, which emphasizes self-leadership as the foundation for effective team leadership. Drawing on principles from organizational psychology, nervous-system–informed practice, and mental-health research, this session helps leaders understand how internal stress responses, roles, and pressures shape their leadership style—often outside of conscious awareness.
Building Stronger Partnerships Between Campuses and Communities
Martha Barnes, PhD
Associate Professor
Brock University
DJ Brooks
Township of West Lincoln
Manager of Community Services
This session will provide attendees with an opportunity to both hear about campus-community partnerships and then engage in a facilitated discussion related to various aspects of these partnerships. The intent of the session is to provide strategies for building better partnerships. Topics covered in the session will include: the benefits and challenges of community and campus (college and university) partnerships, examples of successful initiatives (e.g. student placements and internships, community consultations & policy briefs), best practices, and the identification of possible future partnerships and management implications.
*More breakout sessions will be added soon.
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