guidED 2026 | Veterinary Leadership Conference

guidED is a benchmark offering for veterinary leadership team members. It is an innovative conference designed around three core pillars that support foundational understanding, applied knowledge, and the execution of strategic next steps.

guidED is an end-to-end learning experience, featuring subject matter experts who remain engaged throughout the full conference and actively participate in the learning journey alongside attendees. Participants join from across the country—progressive, collaborative, and committed to advancing veterinary leadership practice.

THREE PILLARS OF LEARNING
The guidED learning experience is structured around three integrated delivery pillars that represent a complete learning journey. Registration provides participants with access to all three components.

Virtual, Online (On-Demand / Self-Paced)
What we call our Integral Learning Experience

The guidED journey begins prior to the in-person conference experience. While not mandatory, this component is strongly encouraged in the weeks leading up to the live event.

This asynchronous learning experience launches approximately four weeks prior to the in-person conference. Curated in partnership with each subject matter expert, content is delivered through our learning platform, Octopoda.

This phase supports foundational knowledge building and provides participants with early exposure to key concepts. It also enables subject matter experts to tailor their in-person sessions based on participant needs, questions, and areas of interest identified in advance.

This pre-learning component is designed to enhance relevance, engagement, and learning outcomes across the full conference experience.

Classroom, Face-to-Face (Real Time)
What we call our Immersive Learning Experience

This year’s in-person conference will take place from September 26–28, 2026, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

This core component of guidED is designed for immersive, workshop-driven learning focused on practical application. Participants engage in intensive sessions designed to build leadership capabilities that can be immediately applied in practice.

The in-person conference is delivered as a single, shared learning experience. All participants attend the same sessions together, with no concurrent tracks or parallel programming. This structure ensures a consistent learning journey and promotes cross-disciplinary discussion among veterinary leadership teams.

In addition to structured learning, participants engage in peer-to-peer discussion and networking with industry partners, veterinary leaders and subject matter experts who actively participate throughout the event. The format is designed to support collaboration, innovation, and applied problem-solving within veterinary leadership contexts.

Virtual, Online (Real Time)
What we call our Implementation Experience

A post-conference virtual session is included to support transfer of learning into practice.

Scheduled for October 22, 2026 (7:00–9:00 PM ET), this live session provides participants with the opportunity to reconnect with subject matter experts, revisit key concepts, and address implementation questions arising from real-world application.

This follow-up component is intentionally positioned several weeks after the in-person event to support reinforcement of learning and sustained behavioural change. Participation is optional but strongly encouraged.

PROGRAM DESIGN
A core design principle of guidED is addressing the common challenge of post-conference implementation fatigue. Many participants return from conferences energized, yet find it difficult to maintain momentum without shared alignment or structured follow-up support.

To address this, guidED encourages practices to send at least two leadership team members. This approach strengthens shared understanding, improves alignment, and increases the likelihood of successful implementation of ideas within practice settings.

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS:
Subject matter experts are selected to address topics that support leadership development, team health, and practice performance. Content is delivered through workshop-style sessions designed to balance education with practical application.

Participants are supported in actively determine how to apply concepts to their own context in real time, supporting immediate translation into practice-specific action.

Aaron Shaw, OTR/L CHT CSCS (he/him)

Topic Title: The Durability Framework: Leadership Through the Veterinary Athlete Lens

Session Description:
This profession demands performance akin to that of high-level athletes—managing physical demands, sustained focus, emotional load, and repeated decision-making—without a clear system for preparation, recovery, or long-term capacity.
Consider what would happen if veterinary leaders thought less like crisis managers, and more like performance coaches, not just for others, but by starting with themselves.

In veterinary medicine, the demands placed on leaders and teams are high, constant, and cumulative. What if there was a science-backed, sustainable, and more effective way forward? The Durability Framework introduces a practical leadership model using the Veterinary Athlete lens to reframe veterinary work as a performance role, to accomplish just that.

What You’ll Learn:

How the Durability Framework, viewed through the Veterinary Athlete lens, helps leaders better understand and respond to the real demands of veterinary practice.
Practical strategies leaders can use to strengthen personal durability through simple, repeatable habits that support energy, focus, and sustainable performance.
How to extend those concepts beyond the individual by shaping team habits, clinic culture, and practice systems that support long-term durability.

Jessica Vogelsang, DVM (she/her)

Topic Title: The Stories We Tell: Rewriting the Narrative of Veterinary Medicine

Session Description:
Veterinary professionals are trained to diagnose disease, but rarely taught how to interpret the stories shaping their leadership, teams, and client relationships. Whether we know it or not, the narratives we tell ourselves and others profoundly influence burnout, communication, leadership, and professional fulfillment.

In this interactive workshop, anchored to the most recent evidence-based research, Dr. Vogelsang explores the power of story as a tool for finding meaning and to effect change. Drawing on the Hero’s Journey framework and real-world veterinary experiences, participants will learn how to recognize limiting narratives, reframe challenges, and intentionally shape their professional identity. You won’t leave with the ability to rewrite the universe Infinity Stones-style, but it’s the closest you’ll get in this timeline.

Through guided exercises and group discussion, attendees will leave with practical tools to communicate more effectively with clients and teams, lead with greater clarity and purpose, and take ownership of the next chapter.

What You’ll Learn:

To Identify the role of narratives in shaping professional identity, burnout, and decision-making in veterinary medicine
How to recognize limiting or maladaptive narratives in yourselves, your teams, and client interactions
Ways to leverage storytelling frameworks to improve client communication, team alignment, and leadership presence.

Jason Keown, BComm (he/him)

Topic Title: Keeping Pace: The Evolution of Client Expectations in Veterinary Practice

Session Description:
Veterinary medicine is evolving in a landscape shaped by rising client expectations, workforce pressures, and economic uncertainty; in most cases, faster than practices have adapted. At the same time, the way clients perceive the value of care has fundamentally changed, influenced by their experiences outside of veterinary medicine, including how services are marketed, promoted, and communicated.

In this session, we’ll explore how proven strategies from retail, hospitality, and other customer-focused industries can be adapted to strengthen veterinary businesses without compromising clinical integrity or compassion. This session offers a fresh perspective on how marketing, client experience, and communication work together to drive trust, loyalty, and sustainable growth.

Together, we’ll unpack how pet owners experience your practice, across both in-clinic interactions and digital touchpoints, and why that experience matters more than ever. You’ll leave with practical ideas that can be applied immediately to attract the right clients, strengthen existing relationships, and create a more consistent, high-quality experience across every touchpoint.

What You’ll Learn:

Strategies” to attract new clients through clear positioning, effective promotion, and consistent messaging
Practical approaches to strengthen client relationships through communication, trust-building, and thoughtful marketing touchpoints
How to optimize your client experience, from first contact through follow-up, to support satisfaction and adherence
Methods to manage and elevate your digital presence, including your website, reviews, and online reputation

Jennifer Edwards, DVM ACC CPC ELI-MP (she/her)

Topic Title: Smart Leaders. Automatic Reactions. Cultivating Conscious Leadership

Session Description:
Even highly capable, thoughtful leaders can find themselves reacting in ways that don't reflect who they actually want to be, especially under pressure. In fast-paced, high-stakes environments, internal patterns, assumptions, and unseen commitments often drive how we communicate, make decisions, and lead without our awareness – and without delivering the outcomes we intend.
This two-part workshop is designed to help leaders recognize where they are operating on autopilot and develop the ability to respond with greater intention, clarity, and alignment in the moments that matter most.

Using the CORE Element™ Framework (Conscious Awareness----+ Ownership----+ Response----+ Expression), participants will learn a practical, repeatable process for interrupting automatic reactions and choosing more effective responses in real time. From there, the work goes deeper, exploring how values and underlying commitments shape behaviour, and ultimately determine the results leaders create.

Through guided reflection and structured exercises, participants will apply these concepts to real leadership challenges, gaining insight into where misalignment is creating friction and how to shift it. The result is not just greater awareness, but a clear, actionable path to leading in a way that is both effective and aligned.

What You’ll Learn:

To recognize when you are operating on autopilot and identify the reactive patterns shaping your leadership
Strategies to respond intentionally in real time using the CORE Element™ Framework, replacing automatic reactions with aligned, effective leadership behaviours
The influence of your values and commitments, on your decisions, behaviours, and leadership outcomes
Practical approaches to realign your actions with values, and commitments, to create more effective, authentic, and sustainable results
Techniques to unpack a real leadership situation and pinpoint where misalignment is creating friction or dissatisfaction

guidED is intentionally designed to foster a strong sense of professional belonging among participants. The emphasis on shared learning supports practice owners and managers in developing aligned strategies that can be implemented collaboratively.

Strong veterinary practices require strong leadership across operational, financial, human resources, service, and marketing domains. Through an action-oriented format that encourages curiosity, collaboration, and continuous improvement, Vet Alliance supports the development of high-performing independent practice leadership teams.

Additional guidED details are available on our guidED website, found here

We're proud to have guidED 2026 approved for 14 Hours of CE Credit through VHMA, and 12 Hours of CE Credit through the AAVSB, and ABVMA.

This program has been approved for 12 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions that recognize RACE approval, with12 hours available to an individual attendee.