Date: Sunday, June 22
Time: 10:00-17:00
Location: SPOT Omotesando Aoyama Kotto-dori Entrance (SPOT 表参道青山骨董通り入口)
(A very short walk from Omotesando Station)
Price: ¥4,000 advance purchase – lunch included (¥5,000 day-of purchase)

Hiring Staff and Teachers

Since taking over MY English School in 2008, hiring has gone from Ryan interviewing potential new staff and teachers himself to his leadership team doing the interviewing and hiring to now having a dedicated hiring team. In that time they have all been involved in the hiring of over 100 staff and teachers. What are some of the lessons learned from those experiences?

Biography

Ryan Hagglund and his wife Maki took over MY English School in Yamagata Prefecture in 2008, growing it from 100 to 1,200 students across 9 locations, including Yamagata’s only immersion kindergarten. They have three boys, aged 19, 17, and 15. Ryan, originally from Oregon, holds an MA in TEFL/TESL, an MAT, and teaching certification from Oregon.

Japanese Labor Law Q&A

In this presentation, Sharoushi Nakako Yamada will answer participant questions as well as cover important aspects of Japanese labor law that school owners should be aware of.

Biography

Nakako Yamada began practicing as a Sharoushi (Labor and Social Security Attorney) in late 2019. Born in the United States and spending her childhood years abroad, she can offer a multicultural perspective shaped through extensive experience in the corporate world, working at foreign-affiliated companies across a wide range of industries and organizational scales.

Panel Discussion on Making Mistakes

We encourage our students to learn from their mistakes. We should give ourselves the same grace. Doris Wong will lead a panel discussion on various business mistakes the panel members have made over the years.

Biography

Doris runs KEYS English in central Tokyo. Having never worked for any other Eikaiwa (not even Shane!), she leverages her MBA and background in marketing and PR to bring fresh insights to the industry. Doris’s current focus is on optimizing operations and achieving work-life balance for both owners and staff.

Making the invisible visible – Your road map to more…

A practical, no-jargon session for school owners who want to make smarter decisions without spreadsheets or stress. We’ll explore the one number that quietly drives your business — what it is, how to estimate it, and why knowing it can change the way you think about growth, spending, and strategy.

Biography

Stephen West is a former management accountant who swapped boardrooms for blackboards. Now he’s running an online Eikaiwa in Japan, where he’s lived and taught for over 20 years.

Leveraging Your Strengths: Practical Strategies from Large-School Playbooks

While many school owners deliver valuable, personalized programs, some face challenges with scaling, systemizing, or succession. Drawing on experience with major education brands like GABA and My Gym—and supporting various types of schools—this session explores how business strategies differ by scale and offers actionable ideas for improving customer management, KPIs, and local positioning.

Biography

Masaki Homma, former executive at GABA and My Gym, is now CEO of a consulting firm supporting education businesses across Japan in strategy, operations, and leadership development.

Flyers for EIKAIWA: How I Gained 51 New Students in 120 days

This presentation will provide an overview of targeting the local Japanese market, effective strategies for using flyers, a case analysis, methods to attract them, and the results Sarah has gotten from using flyers.

Biography

Sarah Takizawa is the founder and CEO of The English Home.

She holds double degrees and is a licensed nurse and a teacher. She has two Master’s degrees—one in Nursing and the other in Educational Management—and is currently pursuing a Doctorate with a focus on Educational Governance.

On SEO

Synopsis coming soon.

Biography

Biography coming soon.