The Caring Conference 2026

Caring Never Goes Out of Style

First of all, a HUGE THANK YOU to the Saskatchewan Community Foundation for being our presenting sponsor. We couldn’t have put on the show without the support!! Also, our speaker sponsor COR Academy! You helped us bring in our keynote, Rachel Mielke, who gave such an inspiring talk that it ended in a standing ovation. It was a cool moment.

Leopold’s Tavern, thank you for the swag bags and all the goodies we got to give away to everyone who showed up!

And thanks to Sticks & Doodles for making such a cool piece of art that our presenting sponsor won’t soon forget! You folks are wonderful!

And (sorry last thank you!) To Ryan and the Saskatchewan Science Centre, thank you for giving a prize for one special person in attendance. Alan Pulga for capturing quotes from panellists and speakers. The quotes you see below I stole from Alan! (with respect of course!)

27 Different Local Organizations Represented on Panels, Keynotes, and Presentations.

CareCon is built on community. From starting the day off with song from the Buffalo Boys, to having 11 different organizations “pitch” the audience in the afternoon during the Great Saskatchewan Marketing Pitch. It was a day full of surprises and inspiration.

Luc Mulinder Quote

We had Tom Benjoe (who would later be on a panel as well) give us a greeting in Cree; it was beautiful and the right way to start a conference on caring.

First up was Luc Mulinder, challenging the audience that “we don’t need people who care, the world is filled with people who care, what we need are leaders who care!”

What an inspiring message from an individual who’s been very busy at the Red Cross over the past couple of years. Talk about someone who understands “caring” at a fundamental level.

Thanks, Luc; your message was well received and exactly what we need to start the day.

After Luc, we had two panels happening at the same time. What we learned from last year was you need a good moderator to keep the conversation flowing and to ask the right questions. We were very picky in who we asked to be on panels and moderate. I think we picked the right folks.

Your Event as a Marketing Strategy featuring Breanna Franklin from Canadian Western Agribition, Don Young from Cathedral Village Arts Festival, and Heather Ervin from the Globe Theatre. This panel was moderated by Lisa Peters from Access Communications.

Telling Stories That Actually Move People featured Kyle Moffat from Sticks & Doodles, Jane Hubbard-Richards from Sarcan Recycling, and Abby Schneider from the Saskatchewan Community Foundation. This panel was moderated by Kelsey Stewart from Habitat for Humanity.

The second set of panels included:

Building a Brand That People Trust featuring Jansen Anderson from Harbour Landing Village, Kerri Michell from Phoenix Group, and Shane Chapman from The Ultimate Deck Shop. This panel was moderated by Greg Moore (Wheelz from Z99!)

The Business side of Sponsorship featuring Tom Benjoe from OneHoop, Sarah Fedirko from Saskatchewan Polytechnic, and Tracey Mucha from Access Communications. This panel was moderated by Teale Orban from the City of Regina.

Thank you, Safe Cafe!

We had lunch provided by Safe Cafe (it was GREAT, highly recommend!) and after lunch Saul Colt took the stage! A funny and engaging presentation about why you need to stand out to be remembered.

Think, laugh, cry. Is a GREAT framework when you’re coming up with something to communicate. For brainstorming, Saul taught us about WoMBAT! What might be all the…… A method for brainstorming ideas that we use internally at StratLab.

Oh, and because Saul is from Toronto, we gave him a Rider jersey with his name on the back!

After Saul, we had the Great Saskatchewan Marketing Pitch, a high-energy part of the day where 11 Non-profits got to “pitch” our audience for prizes!! $2,500 to first place and $1,000 to the runner-up. Scroll down to find out who won!

Lastly, Rachel Mielke ended our day on an inspiring note. She got a standing ovation for your talk on self-care and making sure we take care of ourselves along the way. It was a great reminder of what’s important in life. After she sat down with Kayla and answered questions.

It was the perfect end to the perfect day. Thanks for being an inspiration Rachel!!!

SK Social Co. to the Rescue!

A big thanks to the boss! Kayla from SK Social Co. She made planning CareCon fun! So many things go into a well-planned event, and wow, the questions Kayla would ask. It was great. If you’re planning an event, reach out to her!

Kayla helped more than she originally signed up for! Rachel asked if we wanted to end with a Q&A with her. Kayla, without missing a beat volunteered to host the Q&A. That wasn’t part of the contract! She did it with grace and poise. Not many people can sit down with a Canadian icon and carry on a conversation like she had prepared for weeks! Kayla, you are wonderful!

Rachel and Kayla on stage

So what did we learn?

Lots! Planning and running an event is an exercise in understanding human behaviour and community dynamics. But when your goal is to bring together community organizations that you look up to and are inspired by, the outcome is better than anything we could imagine.

Luckily, we have an amazing community here in Regina and the surrounding area! (shoutout to those who came from Saskatoon!) We couldn’t just run a full-day conference for over 200 people just anywhere; we’re very thankful for those in our community who keep coming out. We appreciate you.

You can plan moments of surprise and delight.

Donut communion? Juliana’s pizza in the afternoon? A book to take home? T-shirts in pizza boxes as prizes?

You can plan to make people happy. But it costs money! Is it worth it? You better believe it!!

We debated A LOT internally about the speaker gifts. We didn’t want to give our speakers and panellists just anything; we wanted to make it special. We had Dustin take a photo of each panellist and presenter. We contacted a local printer who could print the same day. And as folks left, we gave them a special gift, a framed photo of themselves from earlier. Something that said, we appreciate you.

You have to invest in things that will get talked about and posted about.

You can plan a balloon installation that screams “Take a picture in front of me!”. But it’s going to cost you! Don’t cheap out on this stage of your plan; trust me, it’ll be worth it. Did we argue about the cost of it internally? YUP! Did we still go with it? YUP! Was it worth it? Every PENNY!!

You’re only as strong as your lineup.

The people you get involved will be the reason people buy a ticket. Choose your keynotes and panels wisely. We make a big list, then debate it internally. This is probably what takes the longest: curating the right folks to be in the room. We weren’t looking for “speakers“; we were looking for people we look up to and knew had something to share with our audience.

This is very important; getting a self-serving individual can kill a presentation or panel. We are very appreciative of all the folks who said yes and were willing to be part of CareCon.

Try new things; you never know what’s going to happen, and you might learn something new.

We tried a new thing that was inspired by an exercise I’ve seen Curling Canada do. It was called “The Great Saskatchewan Marketing Pitch!” 11 Non-profits got to pitch in 3 minutes or less, their BEST marketing initiative of the past two years.

The Great Saskatchewan Marketing Pitch

Here are all the organizations that pitched; a big thanks to the folks who braved the stage to pitch the audience. We could only have two winners!

SCEP Centre won the Grand prize of $2,500 and Wine & Undies won the $1,000 runner-up prize!

A HUGE thank you goes to everyone who was part of The Great Saskatchewan Marketing Pitch!

Habitat for Humanity – Kelsey

Wings of Women – Chandni & Grace

Globe Theatre – Hayley

Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation Youth Advisory Council (SCIC YAC) – Bukunmi

Turning Point – Logan

Autism Services of Saskatoon – Alle and Alex

Homebase – Amanda and Pam

SCEP Centre – Laura and Shauna

Al Ritchie Community Association – Denis

Big Brothers Big Sisters – Amy

Wine and Undies – Leah

Did we make mistakes?

YUP! But not as many as last year, which is a good thing; we’re trending up! Again, we owe a lot to Kayla and Darke Hall for punching above their weight class to help us plan the perfect day. Also, to the StratLab team, thank you for making this such a great day! You all made it happen.

Can’t wait for 2027!

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