ICF SF Bay Area The Coaches Summit!
On Sept 18, 2026, we held our first ICF SF Bay Area Chapter conference, The Coaches Summit: A Playground of Possibilities, at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.
It was a lot of work to set up, and I was grateful to see so many wonderful people in person. I like to go into conferences with a goal so I can make easier decisions about my day. As a leader of the conference, I wanted it to run smoothly, and I wanted to feel inspired by new tools or perspectives. My learning choices were the introduction, keynote, three hour-long sessions, and discussions. That meant finding time to be present instead of helping others all day.
Joshua Freedman, CEO and Co-founder of Six Seconds, gave the keynote and reminded us that our emotions are signals. I highly recommend his book, Emotion Rules. I spent most of the keynote helping others, so I was glad I had read his book in advance and could catch a few things to reflect on while checking on registration.
I attended three sessions while my co-leaders covered the others.
My first session, led by Arielle Levi, used two different art tools and every seat was taken. I helped people get settled and then gave myself time to focus. After a quick grounding and visualization exercise, we drew ourselves in a challenge we are facing. We were told to represent the images in our minds on paper, and it was freeing to focus on the representations instead of how I would draw myself. Then we drew ourselves in the future as we want to be with the challenge, and finally we drew how to get there. We ended by discussing our drawings with a partner. Like the sand exercise from last year's IFS conference, the main insights came from the stories we told about our drawings and the questions others asked.
After helping with lunch, I ate with someone new and we talked about agreements in our coaching practices. I walked away inspired to check in more often.
My second session was with Astra Fox, a singer who creates musical mantras. I was ridiculed for being tone deaf as a child and I have some auditory issues, so the session was a stretch for me. We brainstormed about what makes us creative and then made a short poem or phrase from it (a musical mantra). We also sang along to an uplifting tune. When I woke in the middle of the night, I found myself creating short musical mantras for myself. It's a modality I'd like to explore more.
My third session, led by Laura Geduldig, mapped the eight ICF Competencies to movements. Laura had distilled each competency to a word or phrase and tied it to a movement. I haven't worked with movement much since my ORSC training, and it was fun to learn while moving again. The energy in the room increased as we danced to a song for Competency 8, Facilitates Client Growth. I'm going to think more about how to incorporate movement and song into my coaching and learning.
Overall, I left excited about our community and inspired to try new things.
What are you doing this month that is inspiring for you?
What small goals are you setting to help you make progress on your larger dreams?
