General Sessions

Inspiring, Motivating, and Captivating

Our general sessions are always entertaining, stimulating, and inspiring, and this year will not disappoint. Kicking off the opening session with thousands of your nursing peers, you will be energized and enthused by our world-renowned speakers.

With special performances by talented individuals and groups from across the nation, the general sessions are the “can’t-miss” portion of this conference.

Thursday, October 12, 9:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. CT

  • Executive Welcome
  • 2023 ANCC Magnet Prize® & ANCC Pathway Award® reports
  • Margretta Madden Styles President’s Award

Sponsored by Advocate Health.

Opening General Session Keynote

achor-s-340

Shawn Achor
The Happiness Advantage: Linking Positive Brains to Performance
The typical formula, “If you work harder, you will be more successful, and then you will be happy,” is scientifically backward. By researching top performers at Harvard, the world’s largest banks, and Fortune 500 companies, Shawn Achor discovered patterns that create a happiness advantage for positive outliers — the highest performers at the company. Based on his best-selling book, The Happiness Advantage, Achor outlines practical applications for reaping the Happiness Advantage in the midst of change and challenge.

Thursday, October 12, 4:45 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. CT

2023 Magnet Prize® and 2023 Pathway to Excellence Award®
Magnet® and Pathway Designation Celebration

Sponsored by Press Ganey
Press Ganey

Break out your matching shirts, your banners, your pom-poms, and your team spirit as we recognize and celebrate all the Magnet® and Pathway to Excellence® organizations designated or redesignated through August 2023. Always the highlight of the conference, this year’s celebration is sure to inspire you on your journey. Wear your dancing shoes and join our biggest celebration yet!

Friday, October 13, 3:30 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. CT

  • General Session
  • 2023 ANCC National Magnet® Nurse of the Year Awards and Pathway Nurse of the Year Awards™
  • 2023 HRH Princess Muna Al Hussein Award

 

General Session Speaker

gupta-su

Suneel Gupta
Momentum: Accelerate Your Performance Without the Burnout
In the face of an exhaustion epidemic, it’s time to rethink how we view high performance. Grit and hustle have their place but are also scientifically associated with burnout. As CEO of RISE, Suneel Gupta helped thousands of people overcome their challenges with physical and mental health. He now helps organizations increase performance, innovation, and creativity by showing why high-potential people and teams fizzle out. They don’t run out of time or talent, they run out of energy! This presentation is rooted in Gupta’s one-of-a-kind teaching at Harvard Medical School, as well as eight years of closely studying the habits of extraordinary leaders who reached breakthrough levels of productivity, resilience, fulfillment, and momentum.

Saturday, October 14, 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. CT

  • General Session

Closing Keynote Speaker

johnson-i

Inky Johnson
Embracing Change
In this keynote, Johnson will discuss being a leader in circumstances beyond our control while staying motivated and having empathy and perspective.

Johnson, a former collegiate football player permanently injured on the field, shares his dramatic story of overcoming hardship and life-threatening injury. His motivational words inspire others to embrace adversity, face their own daily challenges, and live life with a greater purpose.