Excellence in Early Childhood Conference

Dean, originally from Wahoo, Nebraska, grew up on a farm and later moved to Fremont. He earned a Biology degree with minors in Earth Science and Art from Wayne State College and worked in administration, then spent a decade in sales and marketing at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. After leaving corporate life, he embarked on a 22.5-month journey across 28 countries, fueled by his passion for travel and photography. Dean aims to share stories that shift perspectives about people and cultures, encouraging others to “Dream Big, Live Tall, and Make the World Better,” and to choose the story they want to write about their lives.

The Buffalo Mindset for Educators invites early childhood professionals to rediscover their purpose, presence, and courage. Through inspiring stories and practical strategies, Dean Jacobs reveals how the buffalo’s instinct to face the storm becomes a powerful metaphor for navigating challenges with dignity and heart. Educators will learn how to anchor their vision, stand tall in stressful moments, and create a ripple of hope and possibility for every child they serve.

Educators will experience the heart of the Buffalo Strong approach: the power of community. Buffalo Circles creates a safe, supportive space for participants to reconnect with themselves and each other through guided reflection, meaningful conversation, and shared humanity. Using the buffalo’s instinct to stay together in the storm, this session helps educators release isolation, strengthen emotional safety, and rediscover the courage and dignity that define their work. Attendees will leave with a simple, practical “Buffalo Circle” protocol they can use with their teams to build trust, reduce stress, and create a culture of connection, one that uplifts both educators and the children they serve.

This session helps early childhood educators strengthen everyday communication so children, families, and colleagues feel truly heard and supported.

Participants will:

• Reflect on their own communication styles and recognize how these impact understanding and
• Practice choosing and using the most appropriate communication “stance” based on audience and
• Explore examples of communication successes and challenges, identifying strategies to strengthen effective interactions and ensure everyone feels listened to and

Join me to recharge your everyday conversations and leave with practical, ready-to-use strategies that will make your communication with children, families, and colleagues more connected, confident, and impactful.

Read for Resilience was designed to support adults in promoting young children’s resilience and coping after experiencing a difficult or stressful event. Attendees will be introduced to engaging storybooks with themes of coping, ideas for prompts and activities, and ways to bring Read for Resilience to your communities.

As a result of this training participants will be able to:

• Describe the purpose of Read for Resilience and determine how the program can be adopted in their community or childcare
• Explain why storybooks are good tools for supporting children’s language and
• Explain why storybooks are good tools for supporting children’s social-emotional learning and

Having something easy yet fun when there are a few moments of down time before the next activity with children helps keep them positively engaged. As we know, if children have nothing to do they find something to do and it usually is something we don’t want them doing. Participants will walk away from this session with 4 different simple songs/activities that can be used with children starting on Monday.

Educators will experience the heart of the Buffalo Strong approach: the power of community. Buffalo Circles creates a safe, supportive space for participants to reconnect with themselves and each other through guided reflection, meaningful conversation, and shared humanity. Using the buffalo’s instinct to stay together in the storm, this session helps educators release isolation, strengthen emotional safety, and rediscover the courage and dignity that define their work. Attendees will leave with a simple, practical “Buffalo Circle” protocol they can use with their teams to build trust, reduce stress, and create a culture of connection, one that uplifts both educators and the children they serve.

Early Childhood Professionals will engage in a quick review of early brain development and then will play The Brain Architecture Game. The Brain Architecture Game brings to life how stress impacts the developing brain. Stress can be positive, tolerable, or toxic and many times, the quality and responsiveness of a child's caregiver can push the stressor from toxic to tolerable which mitigates the negative impact of the stress on their brain development.

• Description pending

The 8 to Great workshop is a practical, strengths-based framework that builds social–emotional skills, resilience, and confidence in both young children and the adults who support them. This CASEL-aligned 8-step process gives early childhood professionals simple, effective tools to model optimism, reduce stress, and create emotionally safe, supportive learning environments. Participants will gain strategies they can use immediately to strengthen self-regulation, communication, and problem-solving in their classrooms.

Carrying the Buffalo Heart Home is a powerful closing message that brings the day full circle. In this uplifting keynote, Dean Jacobs helps educators integrate the insights, courage, and community they’ve gained throughout the conference. Drawing on the buffalo’s instinct to face storms with strength and unity, Dean invites participants to leave with a renewed sense of purpose, dignity, and hope. This keynote sends educators home connected, grounded, and ready to bring their Buffalo Heart to the children, families, and colleagues who need it most.