Be Your Best Self Conference - Registration is Closed!

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Name: Be Your Best Self Conference - Registration is Closed!
Date: August 27, 2026
Time: 8:15 AM - 3:15 PM EDT
Registration: Register Now
Event Description:

Registration is Closed! Join Us Next Year!

Click Register Now for Sponsorship Purchases & Individual Tickets!

The Be Your Best Self Conference is back and celebrating five years of empowering professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders to grow, connect, and level up. What began as a bold idea has become one of the region’s most anticipated events, bringing together ambitious individuals for a day packed with powerful speakers, fresh ideas, and the kind of connections that spark real momentum.

Get ready for a high-energy experience designed to inspire action and help you step confidently into what’s next. From thought-provoking conversations to meaningful networking, the Be Your Best Self Conference is where motivation meets opportunity. 

More information! https://bybsconference.com/
 
Between sessions, visit incredible local vendors and expand your network by forging new connections. Stay for the whole day for a chance to win fantastic raffle prizes!   

Pricing Options:
  • Early Bird Pricing: $99 per attendee (available through May 15)
  • Regular Pricing: $125 per attendee (after May 15)
Sponsorship Opportunities:
  • Premier Sponsor: $5,000 (One per industry) - Includes 8 tickets to the event, a private table, logo placement on the website, podcast spotlight, 30-second event spotlight, program ad, social media & newsletter mentions.
  • Branded Table Package: $1,400 - Includes 8 tickets to the event, a private table, and digital ad rotating throughout.
  • Table Tower Ad (2 Sides) (SOLD OUT): $1,000
  • Table Tower Ad (One Side) (SOLD OUT): $750
  • Main Hall Exhibitor: $550 (SOLD OUT) - Includes 1 ticket to the event and a table for marketing your business in the Atrium. 
  • Scioto Room Exhibitor: $400 (SOLD OUT) - Includes 1 ticket to the event and a table for marketing your business in the Scioto Room. 
Schedule: 
8:15AM: Doors Open (Light Bites & Networking)
9:00AM: Opening Keynote Eric Pennington: Leveraging EQ in an Age of Uncertainty
10:00AM: Networking & Visit Vendors
10:30AM: Keynote: Dr. Alaina Puff: Built to Hold it: A Nervous System Approach to Sustainability and Legacy
11:15AM: Networking & Visit Vendors
11:45AM: Lunch
12:30PM: Fireside Chat with Joe DeLoss, Moderated by La Baker 
1:30PM: Networking & Visit Vendors
2:00PM: Keynote: Sean Olson, From Fixer to Influencer: A Leader Others WANT to Follow
3:00PM: Announce Raffle Winners
3:15PM: Adjourn

Opening Keynote: Eric Pennington: Leveraging EQ in an Age of Uncertainty
Uncertainty isn’t going away — but the leaders who thrive aren’t the ones who have all the answers. They’re the ones who have mastered themselves.
In this keynote, Eric Pennington makes a compelling case for emotional intelligence not as a soft skill, but as a foundational leadership capability — one that can be learned, developed, and applied in the most challenging of times. The good news? EQ is not fixed at birth. Every leader in the room has the capacity to grow it.
Drawing on years of work with leaders across industries, Eric shows how emotionally intelligent leaders don’t simply react to uncertainty — they rise above it. By developing greater self-awareness, emotional regulation, and relational acuity, leaders create an internal stability that external chaos simply cannot shake. EQ becomes the anchor that holds when the environment shifts.
Equally important, EQ is a direct pathway to mental clarity and sustainable health. When leaders understand their stress signatures, manage their emotional triggers, and lead from a grounded center, they think more clearly, decide more wisely, and show up more fully — for their teams, their organizations, and themselves.
Audiences will leave with
• A renewed confidence that EQ is a skill — not a trait — and growth is always available to them
• Practical tools to stay grounded, clear-headed, and effective when uncertainty intensifies
• A new understanding of how emotional intelligence protects and strengthens mental health over the long haul.
Keynote: Dr. Alaina Puff: Built to Hold it: A Nervous System Approach to Sustainability and Legacy
Most entrepreneurs and leaders know how to build. But very few stop to ask the harder question: are you actually capable of sustaining what you're building toward? Not in your systems or strategy — in your body. In your identity. Because success doesn't just show up in your revenue, it lands in your nervous system. And if that system was never wired to hold wealth, visibility, or real responsibility at scale, it will quietly move the money and the momentum somewhere else.
 
Drawing on trauma-informed psychology and somatic work, this keynote argues that the ceiling on your impact isn't your strategy—it's your capacity to inhabit the identity of someone who builds for more than themselves. Attendees will leave with a framework for understanding why nervous system patterns cap most leaders' wealth and influence, and what shifting from accumulating success to building something lasting actually requires.

Fireside Chat with Joe DeLoss, Moderated by Lachandra Baker 
Join moderator Lachandra Baker and entrepreneur Joe DeLoss for an engaging conversation about leadership, identity, and what it takes to evolve through life’s transitions. Drawing from his experience building and selling Hot Chicken Takeover and launching Baker Road, Joe will share lessons on purpose-driven leadership, personal growth, and redefining success. Attendees will leave inspired to embrace change, lead authentically, and build a life and business aligned with their values.

Keynote: Sean Olson, From Fixer to Influencer: A Leader Others Want to Follow
In this exclusive talk you will be entertained and energized as Sean Olson shares his secrets to being a truly influential leader.  Most of us are stuck in fixer mode, and we may not even know it.  Fixers burn out, lose employees, and stifle momentum.  Influencers elevate themselves and others to success.  Look behind you, if no one is following, you are not a true leader.  Do you want them lining up to follow you? Move from Fixer to Influencer.

We are Collecting Donations for Dress For Success!
Dress for Success Columbus provides women with a network of support, professional attire, and career development resources that help them thrive—both at work and in life.

Your donation of new or gently used professional clothing, accessories, or other requested items helps women walk into interviews with confidence, succeed in the workplace, and build brighter futures.

Immediate Needs:
Purses/wallets
Shoes
Toothpaste/Toothbrushes
Soap
Travel size shampoo/conditioner
Jewelry
Pads/Tampons
Location:
The Grand Event Center
820 Goodale Blvd.
Columbus, OH 43212
Date/Time Information:
Thursday, August 27, 2026
8:15am - 3:15pm
Contact Information:
Send an Email
Fees/Admission:
Individual Tickets:
$99 Attendee Early Bird Pricing (through May 15)
$125 Attendee (after May 15)
*We are collecting donations for Dress for Success!

Sponsorship:
Premier Sponsor - $5,000
Branded Table Package - $1,400
Table Tower Ad (both sides) (SOLD OUT) - $1,000
Table Tower Ad (one side) (SOLD OUT) - $750
Main Hall Exhibitor (SOLD OUT) - $550 
Scioto Room Exhibitor (SOLD OUT) - $400
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