When DG Elmore and I became the new owners of Solution Tree, then known as National Educational Service (NES), nearly all of the events were ‘themed’ events such as Strategies for Reaching Angry and Disruptive Youth.  Multiple sessions built around the at-risk youth theme.  The only exception that year was the first ever PLC Institute to be held at Mt. Tremblant in French Quebec Canada.  Why Tremblant?  Well from what I could tell it was because the previous owner, and sitting NES President, spoke French fluently and it seemed like a cool location…if you could find it.  This PLC event was mostly based on a new book, Professional Learning Communities at Work, and the two authors, Rick DuFour and Bob Eaker, presented the bulk of the sessions to a total of 90 attendees.

Conferences are high-risk endeavors, and in year one they ended up being a huge part of the significant losses NES incurred.  The following summer, after a disastrous Spring Conference season, I terminated all future conferences for the company with the exception of the August PLC Summer Institute, relocated to Hilton Head, South Carolina.  I soon realized why there was considerable conference space in Hilton Head in August….OH MY WAS IT HOT!  I believe it hit 105 all three days, but we still had 76 attendees participate in a very good event due to content, delivery and the TLC given to all.  We managed expenses well and broke even.  At 50 attendees we gave them water, at 55 we added ice, at 60 they got a cookie and an apple, etc.

The biggest concern for the future of this event was the location and how to keep registration costs reasonable.  Rick was very kind and offered up Adlai Stevenson High School as the new host site.  We used some of his faculty for additional breakout sessions, the Lincolnshire Marriott for housing, the Stevenson school buses for transportation and the kitchen to prepare meals for the 130 attendees. Registrations continued to grow, and in 2001 we jumped to 300 attendees at Stevenson, and in 2002 we hosted PLC Institutes at Stevenson and two other locations, all schools.  The rest is history.

From day one I loved the PLC Institute format of basing an entire event around a single book, or author’s work.  And I quickly realized it was critically important to consider the authors as partners, not hired presenters like so many conference providers.   Our authors have always been very involved in what sessions needed to be presented and by whom, and what content needed to be covered in each keynote.

You see, nobody knows the authors work better than the author, and their ultimate goal is to have their work understood, embraced and implemented with a focus on student achievement.  They didn’t get into education to make money; they got into education to make a difference.  To help kids succeed.  An event is just one medium we use so the author can do just that…make a difference.  And that is why we do it.