Back to Excellence Live

 Live ECE Leadership Experiences for Leaders Ready to Move From Crisis Mode to Excellence

You opened, built, or stepped into leadership with a vision.

A vision to create a quality childcare program.
A vision to serve children well.
A vision to build a strong team.
A vision to create a center where families feel confident, teachers feel supported, and excellence is visible every day.

But somewhere along the way, the weight became real.

Staff call-outs.
Licensing requirements.
Enrollment concerns.
Parent communication.
Team culture.
Classroom consistency.
Operational bottlenecks.
The constant pressure of being the person everyone looks to for answers.

What was once a dream can start to feel like a burden when you are trying to carry it without enough structure, systems, or support.

Back to Excellence Live was created for early childhood owners, directors, assistant directors, and emerging leaders who are ready to step out of the daily noise, look honestly at what is keeping their program stuck, and begin building toward excellence with practical tools, guided instruction, and real support.

This is not a passive event where you sit, listen, and leave with notes you never open again.

This is a working experience.

You will reflect.
You will identify bottlenecks.
You will receive tools.
You will build a plan.
You will be supported in the room.

This is where leaders move from overwhelmed to equipped.

This is where programs move from reaction to intention.

This is where we come back to excellence.

Back to Excellence Live Tour 

A 4-Hour Local Intensive for Early Childhood Leaders

Step Into Excellence in Your Program

The Live Tour brings the Challenge into a hands-on, in-person experience. Leaders leave with more than insights, they leave with tools, frameworks, and real-time guidance to address the bottlenecks in their programs:

• Navigate staffing and enrollment challenges with confidence
• Build systems that make compliance, operations, and classroom management more manageable
• Create the culture, structure, and processes that support quality childcare every day

General Admission Includes:

• 4-hour live intensive
• Guided teaching from DeEtte M. Thomas
• Reflection and implementation exercises
• Practical leadership tools
• Seasonal planning support
• Connection with other ECE leaders in the room

VIP Experience Includes:

• Everything in General Admission
• Additional 1-hour VIP session
• Printed Back to Excellence workbook
• Extra Q&A and strategy support
• More time for reflection, planning, and implementation

Back to Excellence Live 3 Day Event

The 3-Day ECE Leadership Experience Coming in 2027

 National Harbor, Maryland

Elevate Your Leadership. Transform Your Program.

This destination event is for leaders ready to go beyond inspiration and receive hands-on instruction, interaction, tools, and support to build toward excellence.

You will learn directly from DeEtte M. Thomas and other experts who have walked the talk, leaders who understand the real weight of early childhood education.

This will not be a passive conference. This will be a working room:

• Step away from daily noise to see your program clearly
• Receive practical tools and real-time guidance
• Build your leadership, program systems, and team culture
• Network with other leaders who are building toward excellence

The 3-Day Experience Will Include Support Around:

• Leadership clarity and identity
• Enrollment and retention systems
• Staffing, onboarding, and team culture
• Program operations and seasonal planning
• Classroom and environment excellence
• Compliance, safety, and readiness
• Sustainable leadership practices
• Business bottlenecks and operational flow
• Building excellence that lasts beyond one leader or one season

Stay Connected

The Back to Excellence Live Tour will travel to different cities and local communities.

The Back to Excellence Live 3-Day Experience is planned for 2027 at National Harbor, Maryland.

Join the interest list to receive updates about upcoming tour stops, VIP opportunities, registration dates, and the future 3-day destination leadership experience.