Sessions
Monday, November 6
Habitat Canada Distribution Centre Tour
Join us to see the day to day operations at the Habitat Canada Distribution Centre and to meet the amazing team that works hard behind the scenes.
If you're interested, purchase a transportation shuttle ticket to take you in a limo bus from the Habitat Canada Distribution Centre to Hockley Valley Resort. Please note: There is NO PARKING available to leave your vehicle at the Distribution Centre.
Welcome Reception and Dinner
Join us for our first dinner together as a group. Meet your colleagues that you've never met before in person, or perhaps haven't seen in a few years. And don't forget to wear your favourite ReStore t-shirt!
Tuesday, November 7
Spark Action: A Roadmap for Change-Ready Leaders to Succeed
In a world where the landscape of work evolves at breakneck speed, the question arises: how do we stay ahead? How do we guide our teams towards the new vision being asked of them?
The answer lies in our ability to foster agility and innovation within ourselves and our teams. To navigate the uncharted waters of the future of work, we must not only spark action within our teams, but also provide them with a well-defined roadmap to ensure they are future-ready.
At the end of this session, you will:
- Unlock Your Potential: Harness the power of agility to not just adapt to, but confidently conquer upcoming changes.
- Ignite Collective Passion: Align and inspire teams for growth
- Cultivate Innovation: Instill the critical discovery mindset needed to accelerate multiple organizational changes
- Embrace the Future: Help teams shift to the new vision that is being asked of them
- Revolutionize Change Management: Bid farewell to conventional thinking and embrace innovative, people-centric approaches that yield tangible, lasting results.
The ReStore Customer Experience
What is customer experience, and how does it differ from customer service?
Learn from a group of ReStore peers as well as Jeremy Keen from Habitat from Humanity International, during a panel discussion where we’ll break down the differences between customer experience and customer service. Learn about ways to enhance the customer experience; how it can affect your customer, how it can increase your sales if done well, and how to ensure your customer is excited for their next visit.
Democratizing Design: It’s Everyone’s Job
Think design is just for the design department? Leading organizations are integrating design across teams and throughout their organizations with a primary focus on creating seamless experiences for their stakeholders. Perhaps most compellingly, so-called design-led organizations outperform their peers by 2 to 1. (McKinsey & Company, 2018).
Brock Hart, Overlap’s Chief Design Officer, will explore what design is and what is meant by design-led, how you can bring it into your organization, and begin leveraging the incredible non-designers and designers within your organization to create outsized results.
Tackle Tough Problems with Design Thinking
This practical, hands-on workshop will teach you a repeatable process to apply design thinking methods and techniques. Learn how to use empathy to ask better questions, create ideas to enhance a service experience, and how to bring ideas to life quickly through prototypes. Participants will leave with a plan to approach their next big challenge!
Teambuilding Activity
Choose your adventure!
The Amazing Race
Teams must find a series of checkpoints and successfully complete each task that awaits them. This exhilarating race will take participants on a journey around the resort, looking for flags, deciphering clues and tackling unique team tasks.
OR
Art Jam!
Engage the right side of the brain and wake up the creativity (think: problem solving, innovation, originality) that art experimentation stimulates. Participants will receive step-by-step instruction by an art instructor and will work independently to create their own artwork. Think of it as a free-style painting party! Registration for this activity is limited to 25 individuals.
A special thank you to eCycle who has generously sponsored these teambuilding activities.
Wednesday, November 8
The Mission Thrift Volunteer Story
Mission Thrift has a tremendous story of how we began and continue to thrive in 2023 in an ever-changing volunteerism environment.
Sean Kelly, COO and Leah Gagnier, CVA Director of Volunteer Engagement, will walk through the history of our volunteer program from the humble beginnings to the now robust program that exists in our 50-plus Thrift Stores nationwide. For the past 34 years, Mission Thrift has been a volunteer-driven organization with a high focus on volunteerism.
We have rebounded from our record-low number of volunteers after the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, we surpassed our pre-Covid 19 numbers. This year alone, we have experienced a 13% increase in our volunteer program. We will demonstrate how this has been achieved.
Habitat Canada ReStore Marketing
ReStore Success and the Marketing and Partnerships department at Habitat Canada have been working hard on exciting new initiatives. We’ll update you on all things marketing from Habitat Canada! We’ll debut the NEW Restore commercial and share exciting national partnership opportunities.
Not Myself Today: A Workplace Program Initiative for Everyone
The presentation will discuss in detail how this program has been successful in the validation of mental health in the workplace across multiple industry sectors. We will also discuss how the program works as an internally led mental health resource, how to launch the program internally, as well as the critical success factors that make Not Myself Today a cost-effective solution to increased need and demand for preventative mental health resources in the workplace.
Sunshine Therapy Dogs
We are a group of dog-lovers who share a concern for those suffering from emotional and mental illness and loneliness. We believe that the company of dogs can help. Alan Harman started Sunshine Therapy Dogs in 2020. He was inspired by the warm, calming effect his daughter’s Bernese Mountain Dog Hershey had on every person he came into contact with. Since then, Alan’s dog Tico along with 70 other volunteer dogs have been hanging out with, and getting belly rubs from, students, seniors and employees across the GTA. Visit our website to learn more.
We're going to the Oscars! This is your chance to dress up and join us for an evening of celebration. We will be having dinner and presenting ReStore awards.
Workshops 1pm to 3pm
Donor Competition – Navigating Potential Threats and Opportunities; How to stand out with your hand out
In a world where competition for saleable donations is on the rise, this session aims to provide insights needed to distinguish your ReStore as the premium option for rehoming saleable goods. It explores the challenges of changing market competition, while emphasizing the potential for increased resources, visibility, and community engagement. The presentation unveils strategies and opportunities, understanding the foundation of donors’ motivations. By fostering donor-centric value and cultivating partnerships and loyalty with businesses and individuals, your ReStore can create personalized experiences and achieve resonance with their target audiences. Attendees will leave empowered to craft compelling donation initiatives, anchor their current loyal donors, and navigate the ever-evolving landscape of donor competition.
Merchandising to Enhance the Customer Experience
We all know the Habitat ReStore slogan “Every visit is a new adventure.” Adventure is defined as an exciting or remarkable experience. Let’s explore the magic you can create through exceptional visual merchandising. We’ll take a tour through some great retail merchandisers and learn the basics of visual merchandising. We’ll discuss the benefits of visual merchandising, tips and tricks to create ‘wow’ displays, using what you have, and the roller coaster of ReStore product flow. Through the art of visual merchandising, you will learn to create memorable store experiences for your patrons; turning shoppers into buyers, excited for their next visit. Transform your showroom into a memorable customer experience. You’ll leave this workshop with the skills to teach you how to turn your retail associates into merchandising superstars.
Workshops 3:30pm to 5pm
Empowering Your Volunteers: Embracing the Possibilities for Increased Success
Habitat for Humanity is synonymous with volunteerism. It is at the heart of what we do. But leading and engaging volunteers is not always easy – especially when you are running the revenue-generating operation of the ReStore. In this workshop, we will explore current trends of volunteerism in Canada, and discover ways in which volunteers – when engaged and empowered effectively – can increase productivity and ultimately sales in your ReStores.
Creating an Impact through ReStore Marketing
“The fundamental purpose of marketing is to attract consumers to your brand through messaging.” Sounds simple enough right? But is it? In this workshop we’ll focus on creating experiences for our customers, creative messaging and leveraging our brand to drive sales.
Be inspired by what's possible, amplify our story, and build impact together.
Thursday, November 9
Framing the Future: Now and moving forward
Two years into our Framing the Future strategic plan, hear from Habitat Canada President & CEO Julia Deans about the progress we’ve made in rising to meet the growing need for Habitat, in Canada and around the world. From new offerings, to growing our partnerships, to better using our voice in the media and with governments, to expanding the resources we have to work with (which ReStores are at the heart of) we’re laser focused on transforming more lives. Julia will present an overview and then open the floor for a discussion and any questions or suggestions you may have.
Pricing: Getting everyone on the same page
Ultimately, the objective of pricing integrity is to ensure transparency and avoid customer confusion with incorrect or unjustified pricing. An interactive session that allows you to share pricing strategies and best practices with your peers as well as discuss pricing challenges and the risk inconsistent pricing poses to our ReStore brand across the country.
Values in Action
This Values in Action workshop is designed to bring our values to life through storytelling.
Too often, when we talk about values, we start describing the world we want to live in rather than looking at the unique context and reality within which we operate. By telling authentic stories, we begin to do the latter. This workshop will take participants through a process to consider their individual values and how they level up into team and organizational values.
Speakers
