Called to Lead 2026 is a wrap, and in today's episode, Kelly takes you FULLY behind the scenes: she shares the honest debrief of what it actually takes to leap from a 200-person event to 500 (a leap she admits she underestimated), what worked, and what she'd do differently moving forward.
She gets into the philosophy behind the event, and reminds us that no matter how much we show up online, nothing collapses the speed of trust like being in the room.
What's inside:
- The real jump from a 200-person to a 500-person event
- Why Called to Lead is a non-selling, non-tactical event on purpose
- The wins, the misses, and next year's plan to level up even more
- Why in-person connection is the one thing you can't replace
Timestamps
- 01:30 — A 10x improvement over last year (and 20 things to improve)
- 02:30 — Next year's dates: October 28–29, 2027, South Florida
- 03:30 — The goal: helping top women in business find each other
- 05:30 — From lone wolf to community: the story behind Called to Lead
- 07:30 — From The Advance to Called to Lead
- 09:00 — Two ways to plug in: the Implementation Challenge and 2027 tickets
- 10:30 — Creating a room that heals
- 12:30 — Hosting a non-selling event in a sell-everything industry
- 14:00 — The speaker lineup and the strategic advisory debrief
- 16:00 — The Implementation Challenge details
- 17:30 — The honest truth about leaping from 200 to 500 people
- 21:00 — Giving back through Kiva microloans
- 22:30 — The cons, the misses, and the production lessons
- 29:00 — Kelly's faith-centered talk on the calling of leadership
- 30:30 — You can't replace being in the room
Resources & Mentions
