2026 Mid-Market Convention Breakout Sessions

The Mid-Market Convention is a series of interactive meetings charged with coming up with actionable ideas. It is not a typical “speakers address an audience” environment. In fact, there are no presentations or lectures. Everything is interactive.

Panels and workshops are configured differently to deliver ideas and tools with short and long-term application and impact.

Panels allow 1/3rd of the time for discussion leaders and participants to present their ideas, 1/3rd of the time for open discussion and debate across the room, and 1/3rd of the time to create a shared vision to present to the world with specific actionable ideas to report. Workshops are facilitated sessions, in which CEOs and experts in the room help each other strengthen knowledge and skills.

 

Artificial Intelligence: You Say You Want a Revolution

Leveraging AI will be paramount to future success.

This session will explore how to:

  • Identify potential business applications to transform your organization.
  • Create opportunities to collaborate with like-minded CEOs and experts.
  • Prepare employees to safely utilize and maximize AI.
  • Provide CEOC members with special AI resources.

CEO Career Transitions: Take This Job and Shove It

Is there an afterlife for CEOs?

This session will explore:

  • Who are you now?
  • Give back or relax?
  • Alternative Executive Roles.
  • Building a life through board memberships, mentoring, and nonprofit partnerships ventures.
  • What can CEO Connection do to make this process easier?

CEO Compensation and Contracts: You Can’t Always Get What You Want

But you get what you need… long term and short term incentives.

This session will explore:

  • Tailored Equity & Retention Protections.
  • Comprehensive Severance and Exit Terms.
  • Regulatory & Financial Safeguards.
  • Outside Activity Permissions.
  • A CEO Connection CEO Agency to represent CEOs in their negotiations.

CEO Health: Every Breath You Take

Your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing is a corporate risk.

This session will explore:

  • Proactive health: executive physicals.
  • Concierge medicine.
  • Taking care of yourself: best practices.
  • Managing work/life cycles and rhythms.

CEO Investor Connection: Don’t Stop Believin… it’s the Journey that matters!

Find innovation; mentor entrepreneurs; make money.

This session will explore how to:

  • Create opportunities for our members who want to find investment opportunities in early-stage ventures.
  • Provide our members with special resources to find innovative entrepreneurs.
  • Collaborate with like-minded investors.
  • Use the CEO Connection community to hedge the bet by providing support to the entrepreneur.

CEOC Board Connection Network: Find a board seat… With a Little Help From My Friends

Connections are the key to finding a board seat.

This session will address:

  • Identifying your Position Statement.
  • Creating your “10 word headline.”
  • Repositioning your linkedIn profile.
  • Board Connection Leads Councils process.

Corporate Culture: Be True To Your School

What is it, why is it important, and how do you create it?

This session will explore:

  • Building corporate loyalty among the workforce.
  • Creating high performance cultures.
  • Developing and communicating, purpose, behaviors and norms.
  • Ensuring alignment and walking the talk.
  • Company alumni associations as a long term commitment.

Corporate Transformations: The Times They Are A-Changin

Adapt—migrate—or die.

This session will explore:

  • Identifying change drivers.
  • Strategy and Business Model Innovation.
  • Rethinking value propositions and revenue models.
  • Sustainability and Economic Resilience.
  • Digital Transformation and Technology.

Enlightened Self Interest: We Are The World

The ROI of doing good while doing well.

This session will explore:

  • Integration of social impact into corporate strategy.
  • Sustainability as an asset and selling feature.
  • How to use social impact to create shareholder wealth.
  • Supporting the community to enhance growth.

Exit Strategies: Should I Stay or Should I Go

How to decide when, with whom, and if to sell?

This session will explore:

  • When and why to sell?
  • Preparing the company.
  • Protecting the team.
  • Options: IPO, Private Equity, strategic buyer, ESOP.
  • Resources to manage the process.

Health Insurance Alternatives: We Can Work It Out

Provide better healthcare; reduce your costs.

This session will explore:

  • CEO Connection Captive Health Insurance company: Is it time and is it doable?
  • Creative alternatives and options.
  • Preventative care initiatives.

Leading During Chaos: Just Keep Truckin’

Never let a good crisis go to waste.

This session will explore how to:

  • Be transparent and frequent in your communication.
  • Pivot quickly as new information becomes available.
  • Support your people emotionally to sustain morale and loyalty.
  • Provide resources for crisis management and to manage uncertainty.

M&A Connection: Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)

How to source, evaluate, fund, and integrate acquisitions.

This session will explore:

  • Major challenges to M&A success.
  • Identifying and assessing opportunities.
  • Access to capital.
  • Onboarding the acquisitions.
  • Can CEO Connection create an acquisition referral service?

Managing Explosive Growth: Takin’ Care of Business

It’s all about the customers.

This session will explore:

  • Scaling Leadership, Innovation and Talent Readiness.
  • High-Touch proactive customer and employee engagement.
  • Hyper-Personalization at scale.
  • Resources needed to succeed.

Performance Assessment: Honesty…Is Hardly Ever Heard

How companies can gain a competitive advantage through more reliable talent data?

Topics to be addressed include:

  • New approaches that make performance management faster and more reliable.
  • Case studies of companies that have successfully implemented these approaches.
  • How AI and machine learning are making it easier for anyone to give honest, helpful, and reliable feedback.
  • The cultural changes and business impact that companies can expect when they get performance management right.

Succession Planning: Only The Good Die Young

Because you could get hit by a bus.

This session will explore how to:

  • Prepare for the unthinkable.
  • Plan for an orderly transition.
  • Develop leadership bench strength while managing expectations.
  • Provide resources to ensure continuity.

Talent Management: Teach Your Children Well

Reimagining the Human-Centered Workplace.

This session will explore:

  • Your company Employer Value Proposition and applicant journey.
  • Creative channels to find talent.
  • Developing stars.
  • Upskilling over headcount.
  • Motivating talent.

Young Professional Connection: Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation

What do they want, what do they need, and what motivates them?

This session will explore:

  • Flexibility versus rigid policies.
  • Pros and cons of remote working.
  • How to develop and retain high potential young professionals?
  • How are comp and benefits interpreted by young professionals?