The Leader Within 2026 IBEA Fall Convention

This will be included on the SCHED event planning tool under your session title. Please think about topics and materials that can be taken back and be applied to the classroom for either high school or college level students.
It all began with a conversation in a previous IBEA conference lobby. What if we could bridge the gap between classroom theory and real-world commerce by bringing business leaders directly to our students? That simple idea evolved into Trade Talks, an event series that gives students an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the business of organizing large-scale projects.
In this session, we will share the journey of conceiving and executing our Trade Talks series, from its informal beginning to its success as a professional development opportunity. We'll detail our process for connecting with industry partners and reveal how this initiative answers the common "when am I ever going to use this?" question for our students by providing them with tangible, real-world context for their curriculum. Attendees will leave with a clear roadmap for creating their own "bridge-building" events.