2026 MCEA Fall Conference

Move from reactive marketing to strategic community reach without burning out your team. This practical workshop introduces a sustainable 4-Phase Flight Plan to optimize your communication workflow. Learn how to align with district leadership, implement time-saving digital tools, and clear language barriers to ensure your programs are accessible to every family.

Session Outcomes
 
Build a "Low-Stress" Toolstack: Practice a 1-day monthly content-batching workflow using tools like Smore, Peachjar, and Canva to reduce repetitive work and eliminate staff burnout.

Remove Communication Barriers: Learn to use free digital accessibility tools like the Hemingway Editor to audit catalog copy and simplify complex language for busy or language-learning families.

Align with District Goals: Take home a practical "Messaging Matrix" template to easily translate daily Community Education successes into the strategic outcomes district leadership values most.

The history of Community Ed. was almost lost in landfill -- until an ad-hoc group of community educators started creating a Community Ed Archive to document/preserve the history and accomplishments of Community Ed.  Learn how we’re collecting materials from around the country, including here in MN where Community Ed is still strong, so we can share our proud story with leaders today and future generations. 

Your digital platform can do more than announce programs - it can make people feel at home. This session explores the Neighbor Effect and gives community educators practical tools to build belonging, keep people curious, and turn online engagement into real community connection.

Digital accessibility is more than compliance — it’s about creating communication that everyone can access and understand. This session introduces the POUR principles of accessibility and provides a practical overview of WCAG, Section 508 and ADA requirements. Participants will learn simple, actionable strategies for creating more inclusive digital content and communication materials.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand the basics of WCAG, Section 508 and ADA digital accessibility requirements
• Learn how the POUR framework applies to websites, documents and digital communications
• Leave with practical first steps and tools to begin improving accessibility immediately

Learn how to make social media management easier, more organized, and more effective using Business Suite and practical Facebook strategies. This session is designed for busy educators and school staff looking for realistic tools, scheduling tips, content ideas, and insights to help simplify posting, increase engagement, and build stronger community connections online.

Key Takeaways:
• Learn how to use Meta Business Suite to schedule and organize social media posts in advance.
• Understand Facebook insights, reach, engagement, and analytics to better guide future content.
• Walk away with practical post ideas, time-saving tricks, and tools to help manage your page with more confidence and less stress.

Most community education programs still rely on their print catalog for course registrations, even as families they hope to reach have moved online. This session follows one district's shift to digital marketing, including its first Meta campaign, which had 55,000+ impressions and drove 600+ landing page views for about $400, and offers a low-cost starting point that any program can run on its own.

Outcomes:

1. A realistic, low-cost first step for moving from a print-only approach to a digital-first one, with no marketing background or large budget required.
2. A simple way to use the registration data they already collect to segment audiences and send families messages that match their stage of life.
3. A practical approach for reaching new families who do not yet know community ed exists, including younger parents and households just outside the district.

Reusable templates turn one-off design work into a system that scales with your program. Walk away with 1 to 2 Canva templates built live during the session, a repeatable approach for designing for reuse, and a reference for what to include in the most common template types community ed teams produce. Laptop required.

Outcomes:
- 1 to 2 finished Canva templates built live during the session, owned by the attendee in their own Canva account
- A repeatable framework for turning any one-off design into a reusable template
- A reference for the recommended components of the most common community ed template types