2026 Conference for Office Professionals

The 2026 Conference for Office Professionals will take place in the Piscataqua Room in Holloway Commons (75 Main Street, Durham, NH) at the University of New Hampshire.

Free parking will be available for all conference attendees in the UNH Campus Crossings Visitor Lot.  Those registered will receive additional information on the location and parking by email one week prior to the conference.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided at the conference and is included in the cost of enrollment.

Lodging accommodations in Durham within walking distance of the UNH campus:

• Holiday Inn Express Durham - UNH
• Three Chimneys Inn

8:30am-9:00am
Registration & Breakfast

9:00am-9:10am
Welcome to the 2026 UNH Conference for Office Professionals

9:15am-10:30am
Session A: Build Your Professional Brand Through LinkedIn
Mackenzie Murphy/Director of Admissions UNHM
This interactive workshop empowers office professionals working across New Hampshire to strengthen their professional presence through LinkedIn. Participants will explore how to craft an authentic, compelling digital brand that reflects their leadership strengths, career goals, and contributions in their professional occupations. Through guided strategies and hands-on examples, attendees will learn how to elevate their profiles, expand their networks, and use LinkedIn as a tool for visibility, collaboration, and career advancement. This session supports office professionals at every stage of their journey in building confidence, amplifying their voice, and positioning themselves for future opportunities. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Craft a polished, compelling LinkedIn profile that reflects your leadership strengths 
• Write a powerful headline and summary that communicate your professional identity 
• Highlight accomplishments, initiatives, and contributions that strengthen your leadership narrative
• Develop strategies to expand your professional network across New 
  Hampshire and beyond
• Learn how to engage meaningfully with colleagues, mentors, and sector leaders through posts, comments, and shared content
• Leverage LinkedIn to elevate your professional voice 
• Learn how to create and share content that positions you as a knowledgeable and engaged contributor to your field

• Identify ways to use LinkedIn to stay informed about trends, research, and local and national initiatives

  10:45am - 12:00pm 
  Session B: Practical AI: Real Tools for Real Work
  Andrew Mitchell | Northlight AI
  This session is for office professionals who want a clear, practical answer to the question: what can AI actually do for me at work?

We'll look at how tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can help with the tasks that fill your day: writing and cleaning up emails, making sense of long documents, preparing for meetings, and working through the things that always seem to take longer than they should. The focus is on real examples and approaches you can try the next morning at your desk, with honest discussion of where these tools are genuinely useful and where they fall short. No technical background needed.

Whether you're eager to start using AI, unsure what to make of it, or skeptical of the whole thing, you'll leave with a better sense of what these tools are good for, where to be careful, and how to start using them in a way that fits your work.

What you'll take away:

• A jargon-free sense of what today's AI tools can and can't do
• Ideas for everyday tasks where AI can save you real time
• Simple techniques for getting better results out of these tools
• A clearer picture of the limits and risks: accuracy, privacy, and when not to use them
• A practical way to decide when AI is worth reaching for, and when it isn't

12:00pm - 1:00pm
Lunch

1:00pm - 2:15pm
Session C: Let’s Talk for a Change: Constructive Conversation Skills That Get Results and Build Relationships
David Lee | Human Nature at Work
If you’re like most people, having to bring up difficult topics in the workplace is one of the biggest sources of workplace stress. Whether it’s a “managing up” conversation with your supervisor, asking for help or more training, or navigating a personality conflict, we frequently weigh whether it’s worth it to face the discomfort and potential fallout if the conversation goes bad. 

When we decide the potential discomfort and price isn’t worth it, we are likely to pay an emotional price.

So, what to do?

Develop our skills…both in how to prepare for these conversations so we show up as the version of ourselves and how to bring up the issue in a way that increases the likelihood that the other person will respond as the best version of themselves. 

In this session, we will cover how to:

• Decide if it’s worth it to have the conversation
• Prepare for the conversation so you bring your “A Game”
• Avoid triggering the other person
• Foster a collaborative conversation

2:30pm - 3:45pm
Session D: More Human at Work: Connection Skills for a Changing Workplace
Talia Rosenblum | Third Space Experiences
The workplace is changing fast, and the skills that matter most aren't the ones being automated. This session explores how genuine human connection drives creativity and collaboration, and gives you practical tools for building relationships that make your workplace better, regardless of your role or title. Includes an active connection experience that puts these ideas into practice - no small talk required.

3:45pm-4:00pm 
Closing Remarks