The Synergy Experience

What is Synergy?

Synergy is Ohio’s premier conference focused on inclusion, innovation, and collaboration within the developmental disability community. What makes Synergy unique is that people with disabilities, family members, providers, advocates, educators, employers, researchers, and policymakers come together as equal partners in the conversation.

More than a conference, Synergy is a catalyst for new ideas, meaningful relationships, personal change, and collective action that helps create better lives and stronger communities.

Who Attends Synergy?

Synergy welcomes a diverse community of participants, including:

  • Self-Advocates
  • County Board Staff
  • Educators
  • Policy Leaders
  • Families
  • Employers
  • Researchers
  • Statewide Leadership
  • Providers
  • Technology Partners
  • Community Organizations

What Makes Synergy Different?

Unlike traditional conferences, Synergy is intentionally designed to create collaboration across perspectives and experiences. Every participant has something valuable to contribute, and every voice matters. Synergy is also rooted in the belief that meaningful inclusion requires more than being present together — it requires listening to understand, being open to personal change, and taking what we learn back into our communities.

The Synergy Exchange

A dynamic, interactive space where attendees engage in conversations, share experiences, listen across differences, explore challenges, and co-create solutions — sparking new partnerships, ideas, and practical strategies that continue long after the conference ends.

The Synergy Marketplace

An opportunity for people who receive or are eligible to receive developmental disability services to sell or promote their products and services — highlighting entrepreneurship, creativity, self-direction, and the talents of people with lived experience.

What Should I Expect?

Expect three days of learning, networking, inspiration, and collaboration. Synergy features nationally recognized keynote speakers, engaging breakout sessions, interactive learning opportunities, networking events, and opportunities to connect with leaders and innovators from across Ohio and beyond.

You can also expect experiences that invite participation, not just observation. Through sessions, the Synergy Exchange, the Marketplace, and informal conversations throughout the event, attendees are encouraged to listen deeply, learn from people with different experiences, and consider how new understanding can shape their own actions and decisions.

Whether you are attending for professional development, personal growth, advocacy, or community engagement, you will leave with new connections, fresh perspectives, practical tools, and renewed energy to create positive change.

Is the Conference Accessible?

Accessibility is a core value of Synergy. The conference is designed to support the full participation of all attendees through accessible meeting spaces, captioning, accessible materials, sensory-friendly options, and accommodations upon request. Additional accessibility information and accommodation request details are provided during registration.

Are CEUs Available?

Yes. Attendees may earn Continuing Professional Development Units (CPDUs) through the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.

When and Where is the Conference Held?

The Synergy Conference is held annually, Wednesday through Friday in early October, at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Sandusky, Ohio.

How Can I Come Prepared to Fully Participate?

The most rewarding Synergy experiences happen when attendees arrive ready to learn, share, connect, listen, and grow. Everyone brings valuable expertise and lived experience to the conversation, and everyone also has the opportunity to gain understanding and experience personal change through the people they meet and the perspectives they hear.

Self-Advocates

Bring your experiences, ideas, and goals. Your voice helps shape the conversation. Come ready to be heard, and also to listen to others whose experiences may be different from your own.

Families

Come ready to share successes, challenges, and questions while learning from others. Listening to self-advocates, professionals, and other families can deepen understanding and open new possibilities.

Providers and County Board Staff

Be prepared to exchange innovative practices, lessons learned, and emerging strategies. Just as important, come ready to listen to others and consider how what you hear may change your practice.

Employers and Business Leaders

Explore inclusive workforce solutions and connect with talented individuals and community partners. Listen for what people say they need to thrive at work, and be open to rethinking assumptions about employment and inclusion.

Technology Partners

Showcase tools and innovations that support greater independence and community participation. Listen closely to users, families, and support professionals so solutions are shaped by real needs and lived experience.

Educators and Researchers

Share insights, gather feedback, and learn from lived experiences. Come prepared to listen with humility and consider how community voices can shape teaching, research, and future learning.

Community Organizations and Advocates

Build partnerships and identify new opportunities for collaboration. Listen for shared priorities, emerging needs, and ways your work can support stronger, more inclusive communities.

Policy Leaders and Statewide Leadership

Engage directly with stakeholders and gain insight into emerging priorities. Come prepared to listen for understanding and reflect on how lived experience can inform policy, systems, and leadership decisions.

For everyone: Review the conference schedule in advance, identify sessions you want to attend, bring contact information for networking, and set aside time to visit both the Marketplace and the Synergy Exchange. Most importantly, come with curiosity, openness, and a willingness to listen, learn, and be changed by the experience.

How Can I Participate?

There are many ways to become part of the Synergy experience:

  • Attend as a participant
  • Present as a speaker
  • Exhibit as a vendor
  • Support the event as a sponsor
  • Serve on the planning committee

No matter how you participate, you will help advance inclusion, innovation, collaboration, and personal change across Ohio.