2026 SPARC National Conference

Does your school have a "store" or a brand? Creating merchandise that students actually want to wear off-campus is a unique challenge. This session provides a practical roadmap for transforming basic spirit wear into a professional retail operation. Using the Campbell Hall Viking Store as a case study, we will share how to manage a diverse vendor network—from local printers to specialty accessory brands—to create a curated product mix. We’ll discuss the "how-to" of apparel design, balancing in-person and online sales, and the logistics of inventory management. Whether you are starting from scratch or looking to refresh an existing shop, you’ll leave with a framework for building a brand that generates both community pride and sustainable auxiliary revenue.

Camp is more than a program, it is a business. Like any successful business, it must balance experience, satisfaction and financial sustainability. This session explores how to approach camp through an entrepreneurial lens while maintaining the true heart of your program.Attendees will learn how to build a program that serves both campers and their families while also increasing engagement, participation and net revenue. A key focus will be on creating faculty and staff buy-in by transforming camp from an “extra duty” into a shared investment across campus.

This session will offer practical strategies for strengthening program design, increasing participation and aligning teams across your campus to support long-term growth. Attendees will walk away with actionable ideas for building a camp culture that is both highly valued and financially successful.

What happens when a beloved but limited summer arts program is reimagined through the lens of data, market positioning, and emerging technology? This session tells the story of how Derby Academy transformed “Derby Summer Arts” into a comprehensive, revenue-generating, and mission-aligned Derby Summer Programs model. By combining internal data analysis, peer market research, and practical applications of AI, we redesigned programming, pricing, staffing, and marketing to better meet family demand and institutional goals.

Attendees will walk away with a replicable framework for evolving their own auxiliary programs using accessible tools and strategic thinking—not just intuition.

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. (Peter Drucker) This session will explore the operational environment of schools and how auxiliary programs can effectively align their program offerings with the school's core mission and priorities. We will cover standard metrics used to measure and gauge the success of auxiliary programs, alongside specific considerations for measuring individual schools' programs to ensure both mission alignment and desired performance are achieved.

We will identify some common drivers for both auxiliary programs and your school and discuss how to determine the most relevant metrics when defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), evaluating program performance, and making strategic decisions related to auxiliary programming’s offerings, pricing, staffing, discounts, marketing, and more.

You’ve built programs, scaled revenue, and navigated the complexities of auxiliary leadership. Now what? This session is designed for seasoned auxiliary professionals (10+ years) ready to move beyond operations and into deeper strategic impact. Together, we’ll explore what the next chapter looks like—for you and for the field. We’ll dig into questions around professional growth without clear advancement paths, redefining the value of auxiliary programs within schools, and sustaining innovation and energy over time.

This session will function as a facilitated think tank, not a presentation—bringing experienced leaders together to share candidly, challenge assumptions, and explore new ideas. Through guided discussion and reflection, participants will surface common challenges, exchange insights, and co-create forward-thinking approaches. You’ll leave with fresh perspective, actionable ideas, and a renewed sense of purpose in your work.