Why You Should Attend?

Make connections with others in the Assisted Living Industry across Texas and share ideas with peers. Learn about industry updates, lessons learned from the challenges communities overcame, new and innovative ideas in the senior care space, as well as training about connecting with residents.

Educational Tracks

Enjoy great content from our educational tracks aimed for senior living professionals. CEUs are available.

• Nursing Track
• Manager’s: Dementia or Leadership Tracks
• Leadership Intensive – offered a la carte or with the full 3-day conference admission (when selected).

Participants can attend any combination of sessions from the different educational tracks.

Continuing Education Units and NAB Credits

Texas Assisted Living Association is approved to give Continuing Education Units for Long-Term-Care (LTC) employees. All CEUs offered at conference are NAB approved.

Registration Options

Participants can choose to attend the 2-Day Conference for Nurses, the 2-Day Conference for Managers, or attend all 3 days. This year we are offering a Leadership Intensive on the first day of conference, these sessions are available a la carte or in the price of the full 3-day conference registration. If attendees want to attend the Leadership Intensive, they must select the Full 3-Day Conference Registration w/ Leadership Intensive on the registration site.

Online registration deadline is March 31st. Attendees can register onsite starting April 5^th.

Opens 7:00 AM

Registration and Check-In: Welcome!

                  *Lower Level of Convention Center

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM               

Nursing: Hollie Glover – “What is this I’m Feeling? A Guide to Different Types of Grief”

In this session, learn how to distinguish which type of grief you are encountering and how to journey through it. Did you know that there are more than 15 different types of grief? Discover different types of grief, the symptoms of each, and how to work through each of them.

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM            

Nursing/Dementia: Toni Fisk – “Get the Secret Sauce to Dementia and Dining”

Toni Fisk discusses dementia and how it affects the dining experience. She will segue into the service standards and environmental aspects of the physical dining space and provide best practice recommendations for the standard dining model and what considerations/actions should be undertaken to improve the dining experience for persons living with dementia.

10:00 AM – 10:15 AM

Break: Breathe, Stretch, and Take a Break! Refreshments provided in the hall.

10:15 AM - 11:15 AM         

Nursing: Natalee Oliver – “Mental Health and Aging”

We need to have a basic understanding of mental health to increase the quality of life of our residents. Join Dr. Natalee Oliver as she discusses common mental health diagnoses, signs, and symptoms to look for and available resources to better serve our assisted living residents' mental health needs.

11:15 AM - 12:15 PM          

Nursing/Dementia: Heather White – “Small Adjustments for a Big Impact: How to Make Measured, Meaningful Connections With Your Team and Your Residents”

There are various, minor adjustments community leaders can make when engaging with their staff/team, and their residents, to achieve an intended outcome and generate an increased level of understanding and buy-in to the message being delivered. This presentation will showcase a variety of relatable and attainable examples of this.

12:15 PM – 1:30 PM

Lunch on your own: Check out Kalahari’s plentiful dining options. Award-Winning Dining | Texas | Kalahari Resorts

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Nursing/Dementia: Jaime Cobb Tinsley- “Sleep Disturbances & Sun-Downing: Successful Ways to Manage”

This program explores causes and symptoms of both sleep disturbances and sun-downing to help identify triggers that can be minimized or avoided. It will also discuss successful strategies and interventions for management of both, including management of challenging behavioral expressions in a community setting.

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Nursing: Jaime Cobb Tinsley – “How Stress and Depression Affect the Brain: Healthy Practices for You and Your Community” 

This session has a dual purpose of first, providing care partners the tools to identify their own stress profile and depressive signs to be able to incorporate practical strategies for management of adverse side effects for ongoing self-care. And secondly, identify and apply proven care interventions for older adults for the prevention of and ongoing management and support for depression and long-term stress for better brain health and whole person wellness.

3:30 PM – 3:45 PM

Break: Breathe, Stretch, and Take a Break!

3:45 PM - 4:45 PM

Nursing: Gwen Wilburn and Debbie Jenkins-Melancon – “Balancing It All”

This session will explore ways to balance the daily requirements of residents and keep staff happy. It will show how data shapes interactions with both residents and staff and how to achieve balance.

*1:30 PM - 4:45 PM             

Leadership Intensive: Jonathan Fanning – “Who are you Becoming as a Leader?”

A year from now, will you be a better leader than you are today… or not? The answer will affect every aspect of your life. Based on Jonathan’s best-selling book, Who are you BECOMING?, participants will discover 4 secrets that the greatest leaders have in common and a simple formula for raising your leadership lid. A favorite of audiences across the country, Jonathan shares “The Simplest and Most Effective Leadership Development Plan”, borrowing powerful and practical lessons from the greatest people developers in all walks of life.

                  *Please Note- This intensive requires specific registration and is capped at 35 attendees.

5:00 - 7:00 PM

Board Reception - Board Members, Industry Partners & Nurse Attendees are Invited.

There will be drinks and hors d’oeuvres provided, and you may spot a celebrity look-a-like.

Opens 6:30 AM

Registration and Check-In: Welcome!

*Lower Level of Convention Center

8:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Welcome and Opening Keynote: Jonathan Fanning – “Building Emotional Intelligence”

Jonathan will discuss the demise of Emotional Intelligence in our culture and what that means to leaders, parents, teachers, coaches, and you. This keynote offers a four-part process to take your Emotional Intelligence to the next level.

9:30 AM – 9:45 AM

Break: Breathe, Stretch, and Take a Break!

9:45 AM - 11:15 AM

Plenary: Carmen Tilton and Jaime Capelo - “Public Policy Update”

Learn about the latest on laws & policies relevant to the Texas Assisted Living industry.

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

TALA HEROES Award Ceremony Lunch Reception

Ceremony to celebrate peer nominated Assisted Living heroes.

*Lunch provided for Attendees, Heroes, and their guests

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM Breakout 1

• Dementia: Brenda Gurung, Angie Banaszak, Brenda Alejos, and Quintin Schneider – “5 Proactive and Reactive Interventions to Better Connect Through Behavioral Expressions”

This interactive workshop will escort participants through both proactive and reactive interventions the speaker utilizes with residents in their communities. They will incorporate opportunities for roleplays with other participants to practice skills. Additionally, they will provide tools that professionals can utilize with their own residents.

• Nursing: Stephanie Berman – “Taking the Mystery Out of RN Delegation and HMA’s: How they work and how your community can thrive!”

RN delegation is not a new concept, it has been around for decades. It allows unlicensed caregivers to perform nursing tasks all while the RN maintains the responsibility and accountability for the task. Health Maintenance Activities (HMA) have also been around a long time but are now gaining more traction in the assisted living communities. It can be so overwhelming and often overly complicated. This session will discuss the differences between and HMA, self-medicated and RN delegation and which model will work best for your resident and your team.

• Leadership: Loree Tamayo – “Securing Data: Why Healthcare Facilities Are a Prime Target for Hackers”

Healthcare facilities are one of the top industries experiencing security breaches by hackers. This session will help the learner understand how to protect, prevent, and react to cyber security breaches.

• Leadership – Banyan & Crown Palm: Anthony Ormsbee-Hale – Be the Best You: Developing the Mindset and Habits to Excel Above Basic Metrics

"Be the Best You: Developing the Mindset and Habits to Excel Above Basic Metrics" is a presentation designed to help employees achieve exceptional results by developing the mindset and habits of high performers. The presentation will cover the importance of having a growth mindset, the common habits of high performers, strategies for overcoming barriers to high performance, and a framework for developing a plan for high performance.

2:45 PM - 3:45 PM Breakout 2

• Dementia: Kyle Rand and Molly Nedley – “VR in Senior Living: Building Communities to Thrive”

Senior living is now primed for accelerated change. The newfound understanding around the importance of social health is paving a unique opportunity for senior living communities to provide something that aging-in-place cannot: a thriving sense of community. In this presentation, we’ll cover how various technologies - ones that are available today - can be used to successfully build communities across the aging lifespan. We’ll explore opportunities to build and grow connections within communities and across physical distances and strategies for enhancing resident engagement, including an up-close look at several technologies -- from virtual reality to robots and telehealth. Molly Medley and Kyle Rand will discuss the success they see and the best path forward in a modern world for the industry as a whole.

• Nursing: Erez Cohen – “Taking Direction From Data to Improve Operations: A Playbook for Operators”

This session will dig into best practices for accessing and taking action with data, discuss data success stories from other operators, and provide practical suggestions that operators can implement today.

• Leadership: Michael Crowe – “Understanding Hospital at Home”

It is the biggest buzz in home health; hospital at home. And Congress just extended Medicare payments through December 31, 2024. But what is it? Why are managed care companies so interested in it? Where does assisted living fit in? This session will answer these questions.

• Leadership: Christy Van Der Westhuizen – “Leading a High-Caliber, Highly Accountable Sales & Marketing Team”

Strong and engaged leadership is at the core of a high-caliber, highly accountable sales and marketing team. Through real-life examples, Christy will demonstrate what a successful, functional sales and marketing team looks like, feels like and acts like.

3:45 PM – 4:00 PM

Break: Breathe, Stretch, and Take a Break!

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Breakout 3

• Dementia: Suzy Turner – “Music for Mood & Memory: The Benefits of Music for People Living with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia”

In this presentation, we will experience how playing music has surprising benefits not only for learning language, improving memory, and focusing attention but also for physical coordination and development. We will also explore some of the possibilities offered by music and musical play for managing the symptoms of and improving the quality of life for those living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

• Nursing: Hollie Glover – “Change Your Thinking: How to Replace Twisted and Distorted Thinking with Healthy Thoughts”

This session will outline distorted versus twisted thinking. It will recognize what each of the distorted thoughts sound like, discuss how to change our thoughts over time, help determine healthy thinking patterns, and examine consequences of negative twisted thinking.

• Leadership: Zade West Watts – “An Executive Director’s Primer on Preparedness: Focus on Hurricanes, Deep Freeze, and Active Shooter Events- Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum ‘Seek Peace But Prepare for War’”

This session seeks to help Community Leaders in the senior living industry understand core concepts in planning for disaster. Zade West Watts will discuss his personal experiences, guerilla tactics, hacks, company protocol and keeping your staff and residents safe, secure and solid.

• Leadership: Paul Jarvis – “Top 10 KPI’s For a Successful Community”

This session will address the following questions: What are the top 10 KPIs that every community and ED should track on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis? How do you define and calculate these KPIs? Where does this data come from? How can you use to data to make day to day improvements to profitability and resident + staff experience?

5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Tradeshow Kick-off and Opening Reception

Everyone gathers in the Tradeshow for the Kick-off and Opening Reception. Join us for drinks and hors d’oeuvres, raffle drawings for TALA prizes, a photobooth, and celebrity look-a-like appearances.

Opens 7:00 AM

Registration and Check-In

*Lower Level of Convention Center

6:15 AM

Yoga

Attendees and Exhibitors are invited to RSVP for a yoga session led by Jennifer Williams

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Breakout 4

• Leadership: Ashante Abubaker and Dan Passarella – “Workforce Development with Argentum”

This session will discuss the challenges, issues, and solutions within workforce development that impact all areas of employment. Meeting our workforce needs today and into the future continues to be critical to success.

• Leadership: Jen Shirkani – “Understanding Bias”

This session will discuss the different types of bias and ways to recognize them in yourself. Attendees are able to participate in several activities that challenge their thinking. It will also review the importance of avoiding bias in hiring and ways to use emotional intelligence to be objective and self-aware.

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Breakout 5

• Leadership Panel: Moderated by TALA’s Workforce Advisor, Rose Saenz – “Workforce Trends: Yesterday, Today and Into the Near Future”

A panel of industry experts will review workforce trends of the past and current with insights into planning for the future. The panelists will be a mix of industry providers and community operators sharing experiences on workforce demands and benefits that matter. The session will review workforce demands, unemployment rates, impacts of inflation, and much more.

• Leadership: Lou Ann Brubaker – “Daily Ethics: How to Explain It & Involve Staff”

This session explains the ‘why’ and ‘how to’ in assuring that staff understand what ethical decision making and behavior really means — for them as a team member, to the residents they serve, and the center that employs them.

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Breakout 6    

• Leadership: James Lee – “10 Indispensable Leadership Lessons From a Scrappy Startup’s First Year”

In this session, James Lee walks through lessons from the highly successful first year of their organization's launch into a novel membership model of dementia care services. Whether a business is new or well established, leaders can adopt the lessons from this scrappy startup to rethink, renew, and reinvest in a brighter future for the senior living industry.

• Leadership: Jillian Heil and Chris Mandel – “Moving to the Next Level: Managing Risk Strategically”

With the escalation in cost and frequency of market-changing events such as severe weather events, supply chain challenges and inflationary pressures, organizations should take risk management up a level and move away from the transactional buying process. This session will teach audience members how they can have greater control of the process and leverage data/analytics like never before, in order to make more insightful decisions. The presentation will include case studies/success stories from Senior Living companies and actionable steps attendees can take back to their organizations.

10:00 AM – 1:30 PM

Tradeshow Open – Come see the latest previews in Senior Living and enjoy raffle drawings for prizes from TALA and Trade Show exhibitors.

Lunch Provided Beginning at 11:30 AM - This lunch is included with your reservation- all Manager & Full Conference Attendees and Exhibitors are invited.

And More - Join us in the Tradeshow for the pitch off at 12:00 PM. A reality exhibitor competition to see who has the best pitch!

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM Breakout 7

• Leadership: Chantelle Julian – “Leadership: Are You IN?”

This session will focus on providing leadership with Integrity, Inspiration, and Investment; and the keys of Introducing Process and Investigating the Outcome of Specific Project Leadership. The session objectives are to develop an understanding of what great leaders do that make them great, the impact that leaders have on employees, residents, and families, and key steps to leading a team through Vision, Process and Outcome Analysis.

• Leadership: Aaron Fish – “Microlearning: The Next Evolution of Culinary & Hospitality Training”

This session focuses on the use of microlearning techniques in culinary and hospitality training. The session will explore the benefits of using microlearning in the culinary and hospitality departments, such as increased efficiency and effectiveness of training, and provide attendees with strategies and best practices for designing and implementing microlearning programs in their own organizations.

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Plenary: Leadership Panel Moderated by TALA’s Vice President of Public Policy, Carmen Tilton

A discussion about preserving a work-life balance and career advancement with senior living leaders.

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM               

Closing Keynote:  Ty Jones – “Creating an Environment Full of Stars”      

During the closing keynote, a lucky attendee will win a two-night stay at The Kalahari Resort.

*Winner must be in attendance