Discover how to select, design, and maximise leadership training events from workshops to conferences. Expert insights on formats, best practices, and ROI.
Written by Laura Bouttell • Tue 25th November 2025
Leadership training events are structured learning experiences—ranging from intensive workshops to multi-day conferences—designed to develop specific leadership capabilities through expert instruction, peer learning, practical application, and strategic networking. These events serve as catalysts for transformation when integrated into broader development strategies, rather than treated as isolated interventions. Research from the Center for Creative Leadership demonstrates that organisations investing in diverse event-based learning formats see 47% higher leadership bench strength compared to those relying solely on classroom training.
The strategic question isn't whether to host leadership events, but which event types serve your specific development objectives most effectively.
The paradox of modern leadership development resembles the hotel industry's response to Airbnb. Despite widespread predictions that digital learning would eliminate in-person training events, face-to-face development experiences have actually increased in value—precisely because they've become rarer and more intentionally designed.
Consider the numbers: McKinsey research reveals that whilst 89% of organisations offer digital leadership content, only 11% of executives believe these programmes improve business performance. The disconnect doesn't indict digital learning itself—rather, it highlights that leadership development requires something beyond content consumption. It demands experiential learning, reflective dialogue, peer challenge, and the psychological safety that emerges when leaders step away from operational pressures.
Leadership training events address this gap by creating focused environments where leaders can experiment with new approaches, receive immediate feedback, build relationships that extend beyond the event, and commit to behavioural changes with peer accountability. The neuroscience supports this: when learning occurs in novel environments with emotional resonance and social connection, memory formation and skill transfer increase by 65% compared to isolated online modules.
The strategic value extends beyond individual development. Well-designed events create shared language, align leadership philosophy across organisational levels, signal executive commitment to development, and build cross-functional networks that accelerate collaboration long after the event concludes.
What they are: Leadership workshops are structured sessions lasting half-day to three days that develop specific leadership capabilities through expert facilitation, interactive exercises, case study analysis, and peer practice. According to CMOE's leadership workshop framework, these events focus on immediate skill acquisition rather than broad conceptual knowledge.
Optimal use cases:
Workshop design principles:
Small cohort sizes (12-24 participants) enable meaningful interaction and personalised coaching from facilitators. Larger groups dilute engagement and reduce practice opportunities.
High practice-to-theory ratios characterise effective workshops. Research from Harvard Business Impact indicates that workshops allocating 70% of time to application and practice versus 30% to instruction yield 3.1 times higher skill transfer than lecture-heavy formats.
Real problem focus grounds learning in participants' actual challenges. One pharmaceutical firm's conflict resolution workshop had participants bring specific team conflicts to workshop sessions, working through resolution frameworks with facilitator coaching—resulting in 84% of conflicts being resolved within 30 days post-workshop.
Structured follow-up mechanisms prevent skill decay. The forgetting curve predicts that without reinforcement, participants lose 75% of workshop content within six weeks. Effective workshops include 30-day accountability check-ins, peer learning trios, and manager briefings.
What they are: Leadership conferences bring together broad groups of leaders—from emerging leaders to C-suite executives—for 1-3 day events featuring keynote speakers, breakout sessions, panel discussions, and structured networking. As highlighted by Epic Keynotes' analysis of leadership event types, conferences emphasise inspiration, perspective-shifting, and cross-organisational learning rather than deep skill development.
Optimal use cases:
Conference success factors:
Curated speaker selection makes the difference between inspirational events and generic presentations. The most effective conferences, according to People Managing People's analysis of 21 top leadership conferences, feature practitioners sharing specific case studies and lessons learned rather than motivational speakers delivering generic platitudes.
Interactive session design prevents passive consumption. Replace 60-minute lectures with 20-minute provocations followed by facilitated table discussions. One technology firm's leadership conference shifted from keynote-heavy to discussion-heavy format, seeing post-event implementation rates increase from 23% to 61%.
Strategic networking architecture doesn't leave relationship-building to chance. Design specific networking activities: peer advisory groups tackling shared challenges, rotation dinners pairing leaders across functions, facilitated problem-solving sessions where small groups tackle real strategic questions.
Post-conference learning communities extend value beyond the event. The Workhuman Live conference exemplifies this through year-round digital communities where attendees continue sharing practices and supporting implementation.
What they are: Leadership summits convene senior executives and high-potential leaders in inspiring settings for focused dialogue on strategic priorities, organisational challenges, and leadership philosophy alignment. These typically 2-4 day events blend formal sessions with informal relationship-building, as described in Engine's guide to leadership conferences.
Optimal use cases:
Summit design elements:
Inspirational settings matter more for summits than other event types. Removing executives from operational environments and placing them in locations that inspire reflection—think coastal retreats, mountain lodges, historic estates—creates psychological space for strategic thinking. Research on environmental psychology demonstrates that novel, aesthetically compelling settings increase creative problem-solving by 41%.
Facilitated strategic dialogue rather than presentations characterises effective summits. One global consultancy's executive summit allocated only 20% of time to external input, dedicating 80% to facilitated discussions where executives grappled with strategic questions: "How must our leadership philosophy evolve to support our three-year strategy?" "What sacred cows must we challenge?"
Extended unstructured time enables the informal conversations where authentic relationship-building occurs. The most valuable summit outcomes often emerge during evening conversations, walks, or shared meals rather than formal sessions.
Action-oriented outcomes prevent summits from becoming expensive theoretical exercises. Effective summits conclude with specific commitments: strategic priorities identified, leadership behaviours articulated, transformation initiatives chartered, accountability mechanisms established.
What they are: Leadership seminars are focused sessions lasting 2-6 hours where subject matter experts share research, frameworks, or specialised knowledge with leader audiences. CMOE's leadership training seminar offerings demonstrate how seminars differ from workshops—they prioritise knowledge transfer over skill practice.
Optimal use cases:
Seminar effectiveness principles:
High-calibre expertise justifies seminar format. If content could be consumed through articles or videos, a seminar wastes leader time. Effective seminars feature experts who can answer sophisticated questions and provide nuanced perspective beyond what published materials offer.
Application frameworks bridge the gap between interesting concepts and practical use. Following expert input, structured reflection sessions help participants identify specific applications to their context. Without this bridge, seminars entertain but don't transform.
Curated cohorts enhance learning through peer discussion. Rather than open-enrolment seminars mixing diverse audiences, invite leaders facing similar challenges who can engage in substantive dialogue during and after sessions.
What they are: Virtual leadership events deliver development through online platforms, ranging from 90-minute webinars to multi-day virtual conferences featuring live interactive sessions, breakout discussions, and asynchronous learning components. Situational Leadership's virtual workshop model demonstrates how digital formats have evolved beyond simple video conferencing to create engaging learning experiences.
Optimal use cases:
Virtual event design imperatives:
Session length limits respect digital attention spans. Research on virtual engagement shows attention drops precipitously after 60-75 minutes. Design events as series of focused sessions rather than all-day marathons. One financial services firm redesigned its day-long virtual leadership programme into six 90-minute sessions across three weeks, seeing engagement scores increase from 6.2 to 8.7 out of 10.
Interactive technology integration prevents passive viewing. Effective virtual events leverage polling, chat discussions, breakout rooms, collaborative documents, and digital whiteboards to create active participation. The ratio matters: maximum 15 minutes of presentation before requiring participant engagement.
Production quality standards signal programme value. Poor audio, chaotic visuals, or technical difficulties undermine content credibility. Investment in professional facilitation, technical support, and platform capabilities demonstrates organisational commitment to development.
Intentional community-building addresses virtual events' primary limitation—the difficulty of relationship development. Successful programmes include pre-event networking activities, structured peer connections (assigned learning partners or small cohorts), and post-event online communities.
What they are: Leadership offsites bring intact teams or cross-functional groups to off-site locations for focused work on team effectiveness, strategic planning, or capability development, typically lasting 1-3 days. These events blend team development with leadership skill-building.
Optimal use cases:
Offsite success factors:
Pre-work investment maximises limited offsite time. Conduct individual interviews, distribute pre-reading, administer team assessments, or collect strategic input beforehand so the offsite focuses on dialogue and decision-making rather than information gathering.
Skilled facilitation enables teams to address difficult topics constructively. External facilitators often prove more effective than internal facilitators for senior teams—they bring objectivity, can challenge senior leaders without career risk, and allow the team leader to participate fully rather than facilitate.
Balance between structure and flexibility accommodates emerging needs. Over-scripted agendas prevent addressing issues that surface during the offsite; purely emergent agendas lack focus. Effective offsites maintain 70% structured agenda with 30% flexibility for emerging priorities.
Concrete outcomes and commitments prevent offsites from feeling like expensive retreats. Teams should leave with documented decisions, clear action items with owners, and accountability mechanisms for follow-through.
The widely-referenced 70-20-10 leadership development model—70% of learning from experience, 20% from developmental relationships, 10% from formal training—fundamentally reshapes how we should design events. As Vistage's research on top leadership development programmes demonstrates, effective events don't try to be comprehensive development solutions; rather, they catalyse and support the 90% of learning that happens outside formal training.
Event design implications:
Pre-event experiential assignments prime the 70%. Before a strategic thinking workshop, have participants lead a strategic analysis project. Before a coaching skills event, assign participants to conduct developmental conversations using provided frameworks. The event then provides space to reflect on challenges encountered, receive coaching, and refine approaches.
Structured peer learning activates the 20%. Build in facilitated peer advisory groups where 4-6 leaders work through real challenges together, learning partnerships where pairs commit to supporting each other's development post-event, and action learning sets that continue meeting after the event to tackle ongoing challenges.
Formal instruction provides frameworks and tools for the 10%. Event sessions focus on providing conceptual models, diagnostic frameworks, and practical tools that participants can apply to their experiential learning. This inverts the traditional model where events consist primarily of instruction with application treated as follow-up homework.
One technology company redesigned its new manager programme around this model. Previously a five-day workshop, it became: pre-event assignment leading a team project (70%), two-day workshop providing frameworks and facilitating peer learning (10% and 20%), followed by three months of peer coaching trios and manager check-ins (20%). Participant effectiveness ratings increased from 6.8 to 8.9 out of 10, with particularly strong improvements in sustained behavioural change.
| Development Objective | Optimal Event Type | Duration | Typical Cohort Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developing specific leadership competency | Workshop | 1-3 days | 12-24 participants |
| Building strategic perspective | Summit or Conference | 2-4 days | 25-100 participants |
| Launching cultural transformation | Conference | 1-2 days | 50-500 participants |
| Executive team alignment | Summit or Offsite | 2-3 days | 6-15 participants |
| Introducing specialised knowledge | Seminar | 2-6 hours | 15-40 participants |
| Serving dispersed populations | Virtual Event | Multiple sessions | Variable |
| Developing intact team effectiveness | Offsite | 1-3 days | 6-15 participants |
| High-potential acceleration | Multi-event programme | 6-18 months | 15-30 participants |
Measuring event ROI requires moving beyond satisfaction scores to assess actual impact across Kirkpatrick's four levels. According to the Center for Creative Leadership's best practices, effective measurement includes:
Level 1 (Reaction): Satisfaction and Relevance
Collect immediately post-event whilst impressions remain fresh.
Level 2 (Learning): Knowledge and Confidence
Administer pre-event baseline and immediate post-event comparison.
Level 3 (Behaviour): Application and Change
Measure at 30-90 day intervals post-event to capture sustained change.
Level 4 (Results): Business Impact
Assess 6-12 months post-event, recognising attribution challenges.
The financial services firm AIG exemplifies comprehensive measurement. Following its executive leadership summit, they tracked: immediate satisfaction (8.4/10), confidence gains in strategic thinking (+2.3 points on 10-point scale), application of strategic frameworks within 60 days (73% of participants), and business outcomes including 18% improvement in strategic initiative success rates for participants versus control group.
Transformative events share six characteristics:
Clear developmental objectives rather than vague goals like "develop better leaders." Specific objectives might include: "Increase confidence and capability in facilitating difficult conversations" or "Develop strategic thinking skills for navigating market disruption."
Adult learning principles embedded throughout design: relevance to real work challenges, respect for participant experience, active participation over passive consumption, immediate application opportunities, and psychological safety for experimentation.
Pre-work that creates readiness: assessments revealing development needs, readings establishing shared knowledge foundation, reflection exercises surfacing current challenges, or assignments creating experiences to discuss during the event.
Expert facilitation that balances content delivery with process facilitation—knowing when to teach, when to coach, when to challenge, and when to step back and let peer learning unfold.
Peer learning architecture intentionally designed through small group discussions, case teaching, problem-solving exercises, peer coaching practice, and facilitated reflection sessions.
Post-event accountability mechanisms ensuring concepts translate into practice: learning partnerships, manager involvement, follow-up sessions, online communities, or action learning sets.
Disappointing events typically fail in predictable ways:
When selecting external conferences, prioritise events that offer specific value your organisation cannot easily create internally: exposure to cutting-edge thinking, cross-industry perspective, access to renowned thought leaders, or specialised technical content.
Flexos's analysis of the 25 best leadership conferences highlights several consistently valuable events:
Gartner ReimagineHR Conference serves senior HR and talent leaders with research-backed insights on leadership development, AI in talent management, employee experience, and diversity and inclusion. The value derives from Gartner's proprietary research and sophisticated peer discussions among senior practitioners.
National Diversity & Leadership Conference brings together practitioners advancing diversity, inclusion, and equity, offering practical sessions on inclusive leadership, ERG best practices, microaggression awareness, and DEI metrics. Particularly valuable for organisations prioritising inclusive leadership development.
ATD International Conference & Exposition (Association for Talent Development) provides the talent development field's largest gathering, featuring hundreds of sessions on leadership development programme design, learning technology, and development metrics. Ideal for L&D professionals designing leadership programmes.
Workhuman Live focuses on human-centred leadership, recognition strategies, employee wellbeing, and organisational culture, combining research-based content with inspiring storytelling. Particularly effective for leaders focused on engagement and culture transformation.
Sending leaders to external conferences without preparation or follow-up wastes investment. Maximise value through structured approach:
Before the conference:
During the conference:
After the conference:
One professional services firm instituted a "conference value protocol" requiring participants to: submit learning objectives beforehand, share written synthesis of top insights within five days, present key learnings to their team within two weeks, and report on implementation progress at 30 and 90 days. Conference ROI, measured by concepts implemented and impact achieved, increased by 240%.
Programme architecture considerations:
Modular design versus comprehensive programmes: Research from Harvard Business Impact on scaling leadership development suggests modular design—discrete workshops targeting specific competencies—offers greater flexibility and efficiency than monolithic programmes. Leaders attend relevant modules based on individual development plans rather than generic curriculum.
Cohort-based versus continuous enrolment: Cohort-based workshops (fixed groups progressing together) build stronger peer learning and accountability but reduce scheduling flexibility. Continuous enrolment (leaders joining as needed) maximises convenience but sacrifices community. Hybrid approaches—continuous enrolment with cohort assignment within workshops—balance both needs.
Internal versus external facilitation: Internal facilitators understand organisational context and culture but may lack specialised expertise or objectivity. External facilitators bring fresh perspective and deep expertise but require organisational context-setting. The optimal approach often combines both: external expertise for specialised content with internal co-facilitation ensuring organisational relevance.
Workshop duration and intensity: Research on adult learning suggests that distributed learning (e.g., six half-day sessions over six weeks) typically yields better retention than intensive programmes (three consecutive days). The distributed model allows practice between sessions, though logistics prove more complex.
New manager development events:
Focus on role transition challenges: shift from individual contributor to people leadership, delegation and accountability, having difficult conversations, and developing others. New managers benefit particularly from peer learning—they find reassurance and practical advice from others navigating identical transitions. One retail organisation's new manager workshops include "challenges roundtable" where participants discuss specific situations they're facing, with facilitator coaching and peer input.
Design elements: skills-focused workshops (1-2 days per competency), manager-mentors assigned from experienced leaders, cohort-based learning trios providing ongoing peer support, and 30-60-90 day check-ins addressing emerging challenges.
Executive leadership development events:
Address strategic and systemic leadership: strategic thinking and decision-making, leading organisational transformation, executive presence and influence, building high-performing senior teams, and managing board relationships. Executive events require high customisation to organisational strategy and challenges—generic content rarely resonates.
Design elements: intimate cohorts (8-12 executives) enabling authentic dialogue, summit format in inspiring settings removing operational distractions, significant CEO and board involvement signalling importance, external thought leaders providing cutting-edge perspective, and action learning addressing real strategic challenges.
High-potential acceleration events:
Accelerate development of future senior leaders through: exposure to executive-level thinking, cross-functional business acumen, strategic project leadership, and senior leader networking. These events often combine development with talent assessment—observing high-potentials' strategic thinking, collaboration, and leadership potential.
Design elements: multi-day summits or conferences bringing cohort together, strategic project assignments between events requiring executive presentations, senior leader mentoring connections, and succession planning integration.
Venue selection considerations:
Accessibility: Convenient location for majority of participants, transportation options, accommodation availability Learning environment: Appropriate room layout, natural light, minimal external noise, quality audio-visual equipment Atmosphere: Setting that reflects programme importance and creates appropriate energy Amenities: Food service quality, breakout space availability, recreational options for multi-day events Cost: Balance between quality environment and budget constraints
SkillPath's leadership conference planning emphasises that venue significantly impacts participant engagement—uncomfortable chairs, poor temperature control, or inadequate food service create negative experiences that diminish learning.
Technology and materials:
Timing and scheduling:
Avoid quarter-end, year-end, and industry-specific peak periods when leader participation proves difficult. Consider cultural and religious holidays. For multi-day events, mid-week timing (Tuesday-Thursday) minimises weekend encroachment. Virtual events typically succeed best during mid-morning or early afternoon, avoiding early morning or late afternoon when competing priorities intensify.
Leadership events achieve maximum impact when integrated into broader development ecosystems rather than treated as standalone interventions. The Together Platform's analysis of leadership development programme examples demonstrates that organisations achieving genuine leadership transformation view events as catalysts within multi-faceted strategies.
Before the event:
During the event:
After the event:
One technology company exemplifies this integrated approach. Their strategic thinking development programme includes: 360-degree assessment revealing strategic capability gaps, pre-event reading of business strategy, three-day workshop introducing strategic frameworks with real business case analysis, assignment to lead strategic initiative post-workshop, monthly cohort calls sharing progress and challenges, executive mentor providing ongoing coaching, and 90-day presentation to senior leadership demonstrating strategic thinking application.
Participant competency ratings improved by 2.8 points on a 5-point scale, and 82% successfully led strategic initiatives that previously would have been outsourced or assigned to more senior leaders.
Motivational keynotes and inspiring stories energise participants but rarely change behaviour without application frameworks and accountability. One financial services firm spent £180,000 on a leadership conference featuring celebrity speakers and elaborate production. Post-event satisfaction scored 9.1/10, but 90-day behaviour change assessment revealed minimal impact—participants couldn't articulate specific leadership changes they'd made.
Solution: Limit inspirational content to 20-30% of event time. The majority should focus on practical frameworks, application to real challenges, and structured planning for implementation.
Attempting to cover too many topics creates superficial exposure rather than deep learning. Participants leave overwhelmed rather than equipped, unable to prioritise which concepts to actually apply.
Solution: Focus on 3-5 key objectives maximum. Better to develop deep capability in limited areas than superficial awareness of many topics. Apply the "less is more" principle ruthlessly.
Off-the-shelf leadership content disconnected from organisational strategy, culture, and real challenges feels theoretical and fails to engage experienced leaders who immediately spot irrelevance.
Solution: Customise content significantly. Use organisation-specific examples, invite leaders to bring real challenges, connect frameworks explicitly to strategic priorities, and incorporate internal case studies alongside external examples.
Research shows 75% of learning dissipates within six weeks without reinforcement, yet many organisations invest heavily in events whilst neglecting post-event support.
Solution: Design post-event accountability into the programme from the beginning. Options include: scheduled follow-up sessions, learning cohorts or partnerships, manager debrief requirements, implementation tracking, and online communities.
What's the ideal duration for a leadership training event?
Duration depends on event type and objectives. Skill-focused workshops typically require 1-3 days for meaningful practice and application. Conferences work well as 1-2 day experiences offering broad exposure without excessive time away. Executive summits benefit from 2-4 days allowing relationship-building and deep strategic dialogue. Seminars function effectively in 2-6 hours for knowledge transfer. Virtual events should consist of 60-90 minute sessions rather than all-day marathons. Research from CMOE suggests distributed learning (e.g., six half-day sessions over weeks) often yields better retention than intensive consecutive days.
How do leadership workshops differ from leadership seminars?
Leadership workshops are interactive, skills-focused sessions emphasising practice, application, and participant engagement, typically with small cohorts (12-24 people) and 70% practice-to-theory ratios. Participants leave with developed capabilities. Leadership seminars are knowledge-transfer sessions where subject matter experts share research, frameworks, or specialised content, typically with larger audiences and lecture-heavy formats. Participants leave with new information and frameworks. Choose workshops when developing specific competencies, seminars when introducing specialised knowledge that doesn't require immediate skill practice.
Should we send leaders to external conferences or create internal events?
Both serve different purposes. External conferences provide exposure to cutting-edge thinking, cross-industry perspective, access to renowned experts, and networking beyond your organisation—valuable for breaking insular thinking and accessing specialised expertise. Internal events offer customisation to your strategy and culture, focus on organisation-specific challenges, relationship-building within your leadership community, and controlled costs at scale. Optimal strategies typically combine both: internal events for core leadership development and organisation-specific content, external conferences for strategic exposure and specialised knowledge.
How many people should attend a leadership training event?
Cohort size depends on event type and objectives. Skill-focused workshops: 12-24 participants allowing meaningful interaction whilst maintaining intimacy for practice and feedback. Leadership conferences: 50-500 participants creating energy and diverse networking whilst using breakouts for smaller discussions. Executive summits: 6-15 participants enabling authentic dialogue and relationship development. Seminars: 15-40 participants allowing some interaction whilst accommodating lecture format. Team offsites: 6-15 participants representing intact team or cross-functional group. Virtual events: variable, but breakout rooms should contain 3-6 participants for effective discussion.
What's the ROI of leadership training events?
ROI measurement requires tracking both costs (event fees, travel, participant time, facilitation, venue) and value generated (improved team performance, retention of participants' direct reports, promotion readiness, strategic initiative success, innovation metrics). Research from DDI shows organisations measuring leadership development ROI rigorously report average returns of 4:1 to 7:1. However, attribution challenges exist—isolating event impact from other variables requires control groups or careful measurement design. Focus on leading indicators (confidence gains, application rates, behaviour changes) that predict business results, alongside lagging indicators (team performance, retention, promotion rates) demonstrating ultimate impact.
How do you keep participants engaged during virtual leadership events?
Virtual engagement requires intentional design: Limit session duration to 60-90 minutes before breaks, as digital attention spans are shorter. Maximise interaction through polling, chat discussions, breakout rooms, collaborative documents, and frequent participation requirements—aim for participant input every 10-15 minutes maximum. Invest in production quality through good audio/video equipment, professional facilitation, technical support, and engaging visuals. Create community through pre-event networking, assigned learning partners, small cohort breakouts, and post-event online groups. Leverage technology thoughtfully using digital whiteboards, annotation tools, reaction features, and specialized platforms beyond basic video conferencing.
What post-event follow-up ensures learning translates into practice?
Effective follow-up includes multiple elements: Immediate application planning where participants identify 2-3 specific behaviours to implement with concrete timelines and measures. Manager debrief within one week where participants share learnings and solicit manager support for application. Peer accountability through learning partnerships, cohort calls, or action learning sets meeting monthly for 3-6 months. Follow-up sessions at 30, 60, or 90 days addressing implementation challenges and reinforcing concepts. Ongoing resources including online communities, reference materials, coaching support, and just-in-time resources. Research shows post-event support increases application rates from 23% to 68% and sustained behaviour change from 15% to 54%.
The most profound shift in leadership development thinking over the past decade involves reconceiving the role of training events. They are not comprehensive development solutions—they are catalysts for development that primarily occurs through experience, relationships, and ongoing practice.
This perspective transforms how we design, select, and integrate leadership events. We stop asking "What can we cover in this workshop?" and start asking "What transformation can this event catalyse?" We measure success not by satisfaction scores or knowledge tests, but by sustained behavioural change and business impact observed months later.
The organisations achieving genuine returns on leadership event investments share common characteristics: they view events as integrated components of comprehensive development strategies, design pre-event readiness and post-event accountability with the same care as event content itself, focus ruthlessly on application rather than coverage, leverage peer learning as vigorously as expert instruction, and measure what actually matters—changed behaviour and improved results.
Whether you're designing internal workshops, selecting external conferences, or planning executive summits, the strategic question remains constant: "Will this event catalyse the kind of learning and change that transforms leadership capability and drives organisational performance?"
The answer depends far less on the event itself than on the ecosystem surrounding it—the readiness you create beforehand, the relationships you facilitate during, and the accountability you sustain afterwards. Leadership events matter, but only when integrated into strategies that acknowledge learning occurs primarily through doing, not attending.