THE FUTURE SESSIONS:
What is The Future Sessions?
A personalized conference unlike any other offered in the higher education and nonprofit sectors.
Held across three days at a serene retreat center, the program provides ample time to think, plan, and get inspired among colleagues. Through group discussions, one-on-one coaching, and solo writing time, each participant drafts a communications strategy or strategic plan customized to their goals.
““The Future Sessions offers a unique blend of coaching, leadership development, strategy building, and networking, with the intention of bringing out the very best in you. It reaffirmed my areas of strength, illuminated my opportunities for growth, and introduced a horizon of new possibilities.””
Who is this program for?
Communications and strategic planning leaders in the higher education and nonprofit sectors seeking to transform how they think and work.
Unlike any other leadership program offered in the higher education or nonprofit sectors, this action-oriented bootcamp—which is limited to 10 attendees—is an intensive, hands-on combination of practice and reflection. It will help you become more strategic in your work, confront difficult communications issues with clarity and confidence, and get renewed working alongside devoted peers.
Through a guided process developed across years of honing, you will draft a communications strategy or strategic plan customized to your goals—whether for an institution, department, or upcoming challenge—and explore a range of critical issues that shape strategic success. You will have time to think, even as you bring your strategy into being.
This program is for you if you want to:
Build a communications strategy or strategic plan
Advance your leadership skills
Set aside time for big-picture thinking
Connect your professional and personal passions
Gain a new professional peer network
““The Future Sessions was the single best professional development experience I’ve had in my career. It was a joy to embrace the journey with inspirational colleagues from other institutions, whose own professional goals and challenges were immediately familiar. The program not only helps you master the tools, it restores your faith in your own potential and renews your enthusiasm for the work.””
Program Topics
Communications strategies and strategic plans done right move step by step toward a shared institutional identity, a desired organizational reputation, and the kind of common mission that inspires the hearts and minds of those involved—and those the communications reach.
To that end, our program explores how to:
Connect our professional priorities and personal passions
Engage the many talented people who are critical to our team’s success
Ask the fundamental questions to keep our work on track
Apply listening approaches to help win over doubters
Keep our motivation and inspiration through the obstacles that arise in sticking to strategic goals
Through the immersive nature of this program, participants also build a new network of special depth with fellow attendees and have fun while taking a calming breath outside of daily demands, including through select outdoor experiences connected to the program goals.
““The Future Sessions gave me the structure, feedback, and time to craft and finish my strategic plan. More importantly, it gave me ways of thinking about how to integrate strategy into my daily work and get the buy-in I need from colleagues across campus. I highly recommend it to anyone leading strategic change in their organization.””
Who you’ll learn from:
Pete Mackey, Ph.D., founder and president of Mackey Strategies, has developed his expertise in strategic thinking, team-building, planning, marketing, and communications across 30 years in leadership roles at private and public institutions in the U.S. and Europe. As the top communications executive at Amherst College, Bucknell University, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Science Foundation Ireland, and the University of South Carolina, he built transformative communications operations and re-shaped how these institutions connect with their audiences. As a consultant, he has worked with more than 50 colleges, universities, and nonprofits on communications and marketing challenges of every kind.
(Read Pete’s C.V.)
““Pete is a master at presenting theoretical concepts and demonstrating how they can be applied to our daily work in practical and effective ways. As someone who’s been in the trenches, Pete also can speak with authority about the challenges we face in an increasingly competitive higher education environment and how to overcome them.””
PROGRAM DETAILS
Through a guided process, you will draft a communications strategy or strategic plan customized to your goals—whether for an institution, department, or upcoming challenge—and explore a range of critical issues that shape strategic success.
Day 1: Strategic Thinking
Arrive by Dinner at 6 p.m.
Team Dinner
What & Why Introductions Exercise
Connecting Strategy & Purpose
Forward from Here
Day 2: Idea to Action
Morning Outdoor Activity
Identifying Possible Horizons
Deep Dive into Direction
Initiating the Strategy
Team Dinner & Bonfire
Day 3: Action to Implementation
Morning Outdoor Activity
Overcoming Resistance
Managing Difficult Conversations
Building Out the Strategy
Team Dinner & Game Night
Day 4: Testing through Teamwork
Morning Outdoor Activity
Presenting Draft Strategies
Discussing Team Feedback
Setting Your Goal
Lunch, and to the Future…
When
Tuesday-Friday, January 7-10, 2025
Where
Evins Mill
1535 Evins Mill Rd, Smithville, TN
(1-hour drive from Nashville International Airport)
evinsmill.com
Cost
Early Bird Rate (save 20%) through Nov. 27: $3,200 per person
Regular Rate: $4,000 per person
The fee covers all program materials and activities, all meals, and all three nights at Evins Mill. Transportation is not included. For each participant, we reserve a private room with a king bed, private bathroom, beverage/coffee station, and covered deck with creek side views.
WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAY…
““The Future Sessions was the most intense and immersive conference I’ve attended. There were important moments of clarity and self-reflection combined with the addition of invaluable tools and network of colleagues. I was truly refreshed, rewarded, and energized.””
““The Future Sessions was the most valuable and enjoyable professional development experience. It transformed the way I work. I left the program feeling focused and inspired, brimming with ideas for advancing my institution and a refreshed strategic toolbox for making them happen.””
““The Future Sessions provided an opportunity to reflect, gain new perspectives, and make meaningful connections with professionals with similar experiences and responsibilities as my own.””
““The depth of discussion among participants enriched my understanding and paved the way for actionable insights. Walking away with a tangible document as a foundational building block, I am now equipped to plan for the future with inspiration and strategic clarity.””
““The Future Sessions was one of a kind. It made me think about the work I do in a way I hadn’t before, and allowed me the time and space to look at how things could be done not just better, but done best. Experiencing all this alongside colleagues that truly ‘get it’ made all the difference.””
““Attending The Future Sessions was a transformative experience for me, both personally and professionally. It is unlike any professional development conference that I have attended and it has changed the way I approach my job, and my life.””
““I wasn’t sure what to expect going into The Future Sessions, but I left fulfilled, energized, and quite frankly, transformed. Thanks, Mackey Strategies, and thanks to my institution for giving me the space and opportunity to attend.””
““I arrived looking for anything that might refill my tank and offer tools I could wield to spark passion for the next half of my career journey. What I didn’t expect was how much I would draw on the overall experience as well as the meaningful engagement and collaboration with the participants to energize me in a profound way across all aspects of my life.””
““As one of my bootcamp colleagues put it, it gave us structured time to think about why we do what we do, rather than jumping to tactics like most conferences. Each session prepared you for the next and brought the group closer together.””
““A unique professional development opportunity. Our days were filled with strategy and big picture thinking—very few conferences or retreats have provided me that opportunity. I would strongly recommend it to anyone in a leadership position or on track for future leadership.””
““The Future Sessions was a ‘boot camp’ in the best way—motivating us to examine thoughtfully, strategically, and rigorously the ways we operate in our professional and personal lives, then to consider new possibilities as we move forward.””
““At its core, the Future Sessions delivered a daily dose of hope, discovery, joy and peace—intangibles that often get lost in the daily grind of doing our jobs. It allowed participants to get beyond the ‘what’ of the many hats we wear and tasks we juggle to reconnect with the most important part of our professional selves.””
““I’m so glad I decided to attend the Future Sessions—every moment mattered. The learning went beyond changing what I do to impacting how I approach my work and how I feel about my role. I now feel armed with a new toolkit that will help me to address any challenge and leverage every opportunity.””
““I came away with the tools I would need the very day I returned to campus. Also with insights into my own strengths and areas for development.””
““The Future Sessions was a delight—a combination of a mind-clearing walk in the woods and an intensive, hands-on workshop with intelligent colleagues from other institutions, resulting in both a practical strategy toolkit and a fresh perspective on leadership.””
Questions? Send us an email.