Our May 2026 Career Cafe will include small breakout rooms to discuss the following topics:

• Voc-rehab resumes, picture-specific resumes
• Supporting transition-age youth
• Promoting literacy skills and agency within resume writing

This is a FREE event and open to all! However, we encourage you to become a member of MCDA to support this and other programs that promote professional development for career practitioners. 

A Zoom link will be provided upon registration and sent directly to your email. Please use that link to join the career café!

If you are interested in supporting our Career Cafés as a Career Café Coordinator, please contact Amy Jaffe at ajaffe@bates.edu or Ashley Bigda at abigda@une.edu. 

Monday, June 22, 2026, 9 am - 3:45 pm

St. Joseph's College of Maine

278 Whites Bridge Rd, Standish

CONFERENCE AGENDA

8:30am-9:00am: Registration, Coffee & Networking

9:00am-9:25am: Welcome & MCDA Annual Meeting

9:30am-10:45am: Keynote Panel and Audience Q&A

Building Understanding from Employers and
Workforce Development

Peter Parizo, Workforce Development for Sargent

Katie Shorey, Engagement at Live & Work in Maine

Tracey Spinato, Experiential Education at the Roux Institute

Moderated by Kate Axelsen-Foster, Director of Career Services, Husson University

11:00am-12:00pm VIPSY Card Sort: Building Connections With Each Other and Understanding Ourselves

Experience the U.T. Vick Center for Strategic Advising and Career Counseling's signature card sort activity and bring home the tools to create your own decks for any career development practice or program. Do the card sort yourself and discuss with your small group or partner while enjoying the beautiful St. Joe's Sebago Lake campus!

12:00pm-1:00pm Lunch

1:00pm-2:15pm Breakout Sessions 1

"Helping Students And Graduates Translate Experience into Value"
Colleen Conway-Nobert, MSEd, GCDF

Graduating seniors often struggle‚ not due to lack of experience, but because they don't know how to clearly communicate the value they bring. This session equips career professionals with practical strategies to help students move beyond listing tasks and begin positioning themselves with purpose and confidence. Using a Positive + Productive = Value framework, participants will learn how to guide students in clarifying career direction, building impactful entry-level resumes, identifying meaningful data, and expanding degree pathways into non-traditional roles. Through real examples and hands-on discussion, this workshop provides tools that can be immediately applied in coaching conversations and classroom settings.

Participants will: help students define career direction based on interests, strengths, and desired work environment; guide students in building entry-level resumes that reflect how work was done and the value delivered; use targeted questioning techniques to identify and quantify data within student experiences; support students in expanding degree pathways into non-traditional and emerging career options; apply a consistent framework to help students communicate value across resume, LinkedIn, and interviews.

"What Makes Career Development Partnerships Work?" 

Erica Mattison, MPA, JD

Career development work depends on strong partnerships among career professionals, employers, schools, agencies, community organizations, and the people they serve. Yet partnerships can be challenging when stakeholders bring different goals, assumptions, timelines, language, and definitions of success.

In this interactive workshop, participants will use a hands-on, inquiry-based reflection process to explore what makes career development partnerships work. The session will include elements of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method to support metaphor, storytelling, communication, and shared understanding.

Participants will: recognize factors that support effective partnerships in career development settings; explore strengths they bring to partnerships with employers, schools, agencies, clients, students, or job seekers; practice an inquiry-based reflection process that includes hands-on activity, storytelling, and group dialogue; examine how shared goals, communication, role definition, and mutual value contribute to successful partnerships; identify ways an engaging group activity can support advising, counseling, coaching, employer engagement, workforce programs, classrooms, or team development.

"St. Joseph's College Career Studio: Tour and College Career Center Round Table"
Carly Brownsberger, SHRM-CP
Join Carly for a tour and introduction to St. Joseph's Career Studio, one year into her role as manager, to kick off a best practices discussion and idea sharing round table for college career development folks (and all are welcome!). Carly came to the leadership of the Career Studio from a career of business roles in brewing, healthcare, and real estate, which lends unique and creative perspectives to students at St. Joe's, and to our discussion. Come together as an MCDA community to lend your expertise, advice, and brainstorming, with all practices gathered at the table!   

2:30-3:30 Breakout Sessions 2

"ELO (Extended Learning Opportunities) 101"
Lana Sawyer, PhD

This workshop is an introduction to Extended Learning Opportunities (ELOs) in Maine; a community focused, hands-on approach to career exploration that connects youth to real-world opportunities. There will be a focus on a wide range of examples of what youth are doing for their ELOs as well as how ELO professionals are leveraging local partnerships such as employers, workforce organizations, and community programs to provide authentic exposure to career pathways and help students understand the relevance of their learning. Participants will be provided with several examples of ELOs throughout the state, they will be provided with different models of ELO programs, and they will be provided with careers exploration resources and tools.

"From Flat to Fascinating: How to Help Clients Tell Memorable Stories That Open Doors and Land Opportunities"
David Lee, MEd 

In job interviews, too many tell stories that fall flat--factual but forgettable. They come across more as an educational documentary than an "edge-of-your-seat" murder mystery or thriller. In this practical and engaging session, career coaches will learn how to help clients bring stories to life by incorporating concrete details, moments of tension or dilemma, and insights into the client's decision-making process. Learn how to "wrap a story in a SARI" by adding a game-changing component to the basic SAR model of storytelling: add an I for Insight.

Participants will learn how to: guide clients in the SARI model, helping them tell richer, more insightful stories in interviews and networking conversations; teach clients how to embed strategic insights into their stories, revealing how they think, make decisions, and solve problems in ways that build trust and interest; and coach clients to add narrative tension, vivid detail, and clear takeaways so their stories are easier to follow, more engaging, and highly memorable.

"Turning Anxiety into Curiosity through Informational Interviews"
Rebecca Liberty, MDiv, MBA, CCSP

Informational interviews are key to building connections throughout one’s career development, including exploring a career choice or change, building social capital through networking, and accessing the hidden job market. They can be especially important in anxious times by remaining grounded in curiosity. How do you help your students/clients surmount the barriers to having these “curiosity conversations” and make the most of what they can learn from professionals and mentors? How could career experts guide professionals in responding to interview requests in the most helpful manner for the individual’s age, goals, and life? This round-table discussion will incorporate resources from Launch Your Career by Sean O’Keefe, How to Start by Jodi Kantor, the Life Design model, and Rebecca’s book, The Treasure Hunt of Your Life.

3:30-3:45 Wrap-up Activity