BLD Southeast 2026: Full Schedule

9:25am EDT

Why Should Anyone Choose You? How Purpose-Driven Businesses Win Better Clients at Better Prices

Thursday September 17, 2026 9:25am - 10:25am EDT

Most purpose-driven businesses sound the same. "We care about people and planet" stopped being a differentiator years ago. They end up competing on price because they haven't earned the right to charge more.

The workshop: A 60 to 90-minute interactive session where participants sharpen how they talk about what makes their business different. We teach the karmadharma positioning framework, then participants draft, stress-test, and rewrite their positioning live with peer feedback.

The output: A sharpened positioning statement, a clearer view of their ideal customer, and three messaging angles they can test on LinkedIn the following week.

Speakers

Peter Georgariou

Founder/CEO, karmadharma

Thursday September 17, 2026 9:25am - 10:25am EDT
Room 308

Session, Workshop

Track Profit

10:35am EDT

Keeping Your People When Budgets are Stretched and Attention Fractured

Thursday September 17, 2026 10:35am - 11:35am EDT

Room 308

You already chose the harder path in how you build your business: better systems, more human, less, less extractive. The question is whether you're choosing it in how you lead your people, now that every choice is under more pressure.

Budgets are tight and attention is pulled in multiple directions, and work becomes more transactional — “just this one emergency,” “just until we get back to solid ground” — while the conversations that matter fall away.

People don’t leave for one reason; compensation, workload, and pressure all matter. But under constraint, what most shapes whether they stay is an intangible force that holds people together when everything is pulling them apart: Relational Gravity

This experiential lab will build your practice for building Relational Gravity, so that you can design for the conditions that retain great talent, instead of leaving it to chance.

Grounded in behavioral science and built from years of designing connection across communities, and movements, this session provides a repeatable practice you can use the next time you walk into a room of capable, scattered, under-resourced people and need them to stay connected.

Through footage from &Human’s Strangers on the Street and Traveling Table series and hands-on practice in small clusters, you’ll learn by observing real interactions and reflecting on what actually shifts connection in the moment — no new platform, no big budget, and no theory to translate later.

Speakers

Lia James

CEO / Facilitator, &Human

Lia James designs spaces where people move past surface-level exchange into something more honest and generative. She's the founder of &Human, a connection design studio working in live gatherings, film, and participatory training that help teams and communities build trust on purpose.Her... Read More →

Thursday September 17, 2026 10:35am - 11:35am EDT
Room 308

Session, Workshop

Track People

1:10pm EDT

Beyond the Statement: Building Structural Solidarity That Pays Off Before, During, and After a Crisis

Thursday September 17, 2026 1:10pm - 2:10pm EDT

Room 308

When social/political flashpoints hit, most companies scramble to figure out what to say and do in the moment, often getting it wrong. This interactive workshop gives B Corps and mission-driven businesses a practical framework for building structural solidarity before a crisis arrives, so that when something happens, the organization already has proof to point to, not just a statement. Participants will work through the "Three Traps" organizations fall into during crisis response, a Proof Spectrum self-assessment tool, and a condensed framework for turning stated values into structural commitments. The session also makes the business case: organizations that build this infrastructure see it pay back in retention, recruitment, and trust, long before any crisis ever arrives.

Speakers

August M Ball

Founder/Lead Consultant, Cream City Conservation & Consulting LLC

August M. Ball is the founder of Cream City Conservation, the first Black woman-owned business in Wisconsin to earn B Corp certification, working at the intersection of organizational development and environmental conservation. With over 20 years in youth program management and a... Read More →

Thursday September 17, 2026 1:10pm - 2:10pm EDT
Room 308

Session, Workshop

Track Emerging Challenges

3:30pm EDT

Money Talks: How Money Beliefs Shape Leadership, Culture, and Impact

Thursday September 17, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT

Room 308

Every organization has a relationship with money. That relationship influences culture, leadership, employee wellbeing, decision-making, and long-term impact.

Yet many of the beliefs driving those outcomes remain unspoken.

In this interactive workshop, Brandon Hatton helps participants uncover the money beliefs shaping their organizations and explore how scarcity and abundance mindsets influence leadership and culture. Through guided reflection and practical exercises, attendees will learn frameworks for creating healthier conversations about money, purpose, and impact.

Participants will leave with practical tools they can immediately apply within their teams and organizations.

Speakers

Brandon Hatton

CEO, Chief Investment Officer, Conscious Wealth

Brandon Hatton is CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Conscious Wealth®, where he advises founders, business owners, executives, and multigenerational families on the intersection of wealth, leadership, purpose, and impact. He is the author of Conscious Wealth: Money, Investing... Read More →

Thursday September 17, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Room 308

Session, Workshop