Canada West Health Leaders Conference 2025

Call for Abstracts

The Canadian College of Health Leaders invites you to submit abstracts for concurrent sessions as part of the 2025 Canada West Health Leaders Conference (CWHLC).

This annual conference will attract health system decision-makers which includes trustees, chief executive officers, directors, managers, and department heads. Participants represent health regions, authorities and networks, hospitals, long-term care organizations, public health agencies, community care, mental health services, and social work.

The Conference Planning Committee encourages proposals which express innovative, practical, and creative ways for presenting information to attendees. Proposals should be for interactive session and not simply didactic presentations.

Abstracts should address leadership lessons learned, patient and family involvement, and one or more of the following LEADS domains.

1. Lead self
2. Engage others
3. Achieve results
4. Develop coalitions
5. Systems transformation

The LEADS in a Caring Environment Capability Framework is a pan-Canadian leadership capabilities framework. For more information on the LEADS Framework, please visit the LEADS Canada web site at https://cchl-ccls.ca/pld-leads/the-leads-framework/.

Conference theme: Charting the course for an inspired future... Together!

As our healthcare environments continue to rapidly evolve, leaders are tasked with more than just navigating change—they must guide teams on a path forward while the target continues to move. Through emerging technologies, expanding regulations, and shifting political landscapes, healthcare leaders must adapt quickly while also fostering a visionary mindset and leading teams into that vision for the future.

At this conference, healthcare leaders will gain knowledge, skills, and tools to understand the current environment, plan a route forward, and journey towards that future together. We will explore how to effectively communicate with others, manage the complexities of shifting systems, and focus on leading yourself through change. We challenge you to envision a bold future and join healthcare leaders as we learn how to inspire, co-create, and adapt; even when navigating uncharted areas.

The 2025 Canada West Health Leaders Conference will explore:

• Leadership in times of change: How to inspire and motivate teams during periods of uncertainty and upheaval.
• Effective communication in complex environments: Strategies for ensuring clear, transparent communication in times of transformation.
• Navigating complex healthcare systems: Understanding and adapting to the evolving healthcare ecosystem.
• Creating forward momentum: Practical approaches to fostering innovation, executing change, and overcoming obstacles to achieve meaningful progress.

Join us as we embark on a journey towards brighter possibilities, and inspire healthcare leaders to sharpen their navigational skills, exchange insights, and steer teams toward success. Together, we can chart a visionary course for a more adaptable, effective, and sustainable healthcare system.

Are you ready to embrace the journey?

Guidelines for corporate submissions

We welcome submissions from private sector partners, provided that they address (a) cooperative venture(s) with a non-profit sector partner and include the latter as a co-presenter.

The abstract should present an unbiased description of a certain method or service, discussing both pros and cons. Subtle and/or blatant advertisement of any products or services is in direct conflict with the spirit of the conference. Examples of the former include repeated references to products or trade names and excessive use of corporate logos and trademarks in graphic illustrations. Photographs of commercial equipment are not permitted unless they add educational value. The Planning Committee insists that all presenters understand without exception, that commercialism is inappropriate and will not be tolerated. Abstracts including commercialism will be disqualified. Presenters are asked to abide by these constraints when preparing their abstracts, and presentations.

Conflict of Interest

The Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL) requires clear disclosures from all presenters at the Canada West Health Leaders Conference regarding any financial holdings, funding sources, or affiliations that might raise questions of bias or be perceived to have potentially influenced presentation content. CCHL expects that all conference speakers, organizers, and moderators are committed to full, forthright, and transparent disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest. The CCHL has not prescribed an exhaustive list of potential conflicts here; rather, we ask presenters to make a good faith effort to identify any issues that might reasonably be expected to raise conflict-of-interest questions.

Presenters are asked to disclose any concerns or questions regarding a conflict of interest by contacting Brianna Sowlles at bsowlles@cchl-ccls.ca.

Presentation formats

Your abstract should fit into one of the below presentation formats, which you can indicate during the submission process. Please note that the Planning Committee reserves the right to accept abstracts for a different presentation format than indicated in the submission if desired.

Workshop: Workshops are a great way to deliver skill-based training while keeping your attendees engaged and interested. Workshops typically involve audience participation, which maintains attention and tests newly learnt knowledge. The duration of the workshop sessions is 90 minutes and must include audience engagement. Please download, complete, and upload the activity table as part of your abstract submission. There is a maximum of three (3) speakers.

Panel presentation: Panels should include a group of speaker presentations addressing a common issue or topic from different perspectives, followed by an interactive discussion. The panel should be submitted as a single presentation. The duration of panel sessions is 90 minutes, 30 minutes of which must include audience engagement. Please download, complete, and upload the activity table as part of your abstract submission. There is a maximum of three (3) speakers.

Campfire presentations: A campfire session is a more informal take on a traditional presentation. Its aim is to break down the barriers of the lectern. These sessions should start with a short 15-minute presentation from a speaker and then shift to focusing on gaining key participation from the audience for 30 minutes. The presenter turns into a facilitator, allowing attendees to answer questions and provide comments. It allows attendees to drive their own learning, listen to different perspectives, and share experiences. The duration of a campfire sessions is 45 minutes. Two campfire presentations will be grouped together based on topic to fill a 90-minute timeframe. There is a maximum of two (2) speakers per campfire presentation.

Lightning presentations: A lightning session includes multiple short presentations from different speakers on the same or similar topic. In a lightning session, each speaker has 10 minutes to present a maximum of 10 slides, one slide per minute. Because lightning talks are brief, the speaker must make their point clearly and concisely while avoiding non-critical information. This format allows for many ideas to be presented in a short amount of time. The session will include a short introduction from the moderator and will feature five 10-minute presentations followed by 30 minutes of audience engagement for idea sharing and questions. Lightning presentations should highlight success stories of collective leadership or collective reflection. There is a maximum of one (1) speaker per lightning presentation.

Presentation Topics

Your abstract should fit into one of the below topics, which you can indicate during the submission process:

1. Adapting to emerging technologies: Readying healthcare teams for the future.
2. Collaboration in healthcare leadership: Charting a unified path forward through collaboration across departments, organizations, and sectors.
3. Creating a culture of adaptability: Cultivate a culture that embraces continuous learning and flexibility to thrive in an unpredictable environment.
4. Enhancing models of care: Enabling teams with work differently with available resources to meet patient/population care needs.

Abstract structure guidelines

Abstracts should be prepared in paragraph format, written as a session description, and should reference:

• Statement of purpose;
• Learning objectives and outcomes;
• Relevance to the selected presentation topic;
• Practical applications;
• Patient and family involvement;
• Participant engagement activities originality, and innovation; and
• Leadership lessons learned.

 Abstracts submissions should reflect and integrate CCHL’s foundational commitments:

• Planetary health / Sustainability;
• Equity, Diversity, Inclusion;
• Indigenous Health; and
• Patient Voice.

Submissions must not exceed 300 words.

Submission instructions

The abstract should be prepared in paragraph format keeping in mind the 300 word limit. The word limit excludes the title. You can copy and paste the text from your document into the abstract submission form.

You will require the following information to complete the abstract submission form:

• Primary contact person (As the primary contact, only this person will receive correspondence and is expected to share it with their co-presenters. The submitter should be the primary contact);
• Presentation topic. Select one topic as indicated above that best fits your abstract (Adapting to emerging technologies, Collaboration in healthcare leadership, Creating a culture of adaptability, Enhancing models of care);
• Target audience. The ideal audience for the presentation (i.e. CEOs, senior leaders, middle management, emerging leaders, industry);
• LEADS Framework domain. The domain that best fits the presentation as per the LEADS framework. (i.e. Lead self, Engage others, Achieve results, Develop coalitions, or Systems transformation);
• A completed activity table (for panels and workshops); and
• The name, title, organization, contact information, a headshot, and a 50-word biography for each presenter.

Selection criteria

All abstracts will be peer-reviewed and selected according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• Statement of purpose;
• Learning objectives and outcomes clearly articulated;
• Relevance to the theme;
• Practical applications;
• Patient and family involvement;
• Participant engagement activities, originality, and innovation;
• Leadership lessons learned; and
• CCHL’s foundational commitments.

All criteria will be scored on a scale of 1 to 10. All criteria are weighted equally. Please reference the evaluation criteria rubric for additional information.

The Planning Committee reserves the right to accept abstracts for a different presentation format than indicated in the submission. The Planning Committee reserves the right to limit the number of abstracts accepted from one organization.

Speaker Compensation

The Canadian College of Health Leaders is pleased to offer each abstract presenter a full conference reduced registration cost of $485.00 plus tax.

Please note that abstract presenters are responsible for their conference registration fee should they wish to participate in the conference as well as all related expenses such as accommodation and travel. CCHL does not provide any honorarium, and reduced cost registrations are not transferable.

All abstract submissions will receive an email confirmation email. If a confirmation is not received, please contact conference@cchl-ccls.ca.

Important dates

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Abstracts must be received by 11:59 p.m. April 30, 2025.

*For the patient rate, please send information about the patient organization you represent to conference@cchl-ccls.ca.

Optional Events

CHE Program One-on-One Consultations

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Hotel Cancellation Policy
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