Leveling Up: 5 Lessons from a Professional Organizers Conference

NAPO Summit 2025 CPO® group photo

What a Week at the NAPO Summit!

I am writing this upon my return from my fourth annual NAPO Summit, and wow—Chicago did not disappoint! It was a whirlwind of learning, networking, sharing best practices, being recognized for the first time as a CPO®, and yes... indulging in some deep-dish pizza.

Sessions, Learning, and Lots of Inspiration

Over the course of the conference, I dove into a wide variety of sessions. Here are a few highlights:

• Leadership for Chapter Board Members

• Certified Professional Organizer® Meetup

• Confident, Authentic Leadership

• Estate Clearouts A–Z

• Speaking for Fees (Special Interest Group)

• Apple Photos Deep Dive

• Tapping into the Aging Baby Boomer Market

• Exploring and Elevating Our Work

I also chatted with vendors and discovered some amazing new tools and services. Here are five takeaways I thought you might enjoy:

1. Organize Your Life with Nokbox

   You probably know how passionate I am about Nokbox, a system that helps you organize your personal affairs for your next of kin. It's an incredible resource for peace of mind—not only for you but for your loved ones. I even got to film another short video with them at the Summit! Want to try it? Use code ClutterKicker17 on their site for 17% off.

   
   

2. Photo Organizing: Time for an Upgrade

About 12 years ago, I digitized all our family’s VHS tapes and camcorder recordings onto CDs (the "latest tech" at the time!). Now it’s time for another upgrade—and I want to include the videos living on my phone. My goal: stream everything from one place.

Enter Rachel Arbuckle of 2000 Paces—an expert I met at the Summit. Her biggest tip? Start by gathering all your media in one place—photos, VHS tapes, albums, phone videos, you name it. She offers a free phone consult with no strings attached, which is a great way to get started if your family memories are scattered across closets, clouds, and boxes.

3. Parenting Aging Parents

If you're in the thick of caring for aging parents, check out the Parenting Aging Parents Facebook group. Founders Mike and Kim Barnes shared powerful tips:

• Know all their medical info: doctors, insurance, allergies, medications, etc.

• Prep memory care rooms before move-in

• Post clear caregiver schedules with meds and contacts

• And most of all—get organized before a crisis hits

4. Women’s Work & Emotional Labor

Unfortunately, this term brings up a list of tasks that hasn't changed in, well, forever. Certified professional organizer and feminist historian Dr. Regina Lark notices that "professional organizers are mostly women being called by mostly women to do the work we think of as mostly women's work." (My March blog dug into this.)

She introduced the concept of radical delegation, where tasks are split because they need to get done—not because one partner is “better” at them. Feeling overwhelmed or like you’re failing your family doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. It often means you’re carrying more than your fair share.

So give yourself a break, have dialogues with your partner, and check out her book Emotional Labor: Why a Woman's Work is Never Done and What To Do About It to learn more.

5. The Value of What We Do

Here’s a word cloud created by a room full of professional organizers when asked: “What value do you bring to clients’ lives?” The larger the word, the more often it was said:

Seeing this visual was both affirming and inspiring. It captured what I hear from my clients every day—and reminded me how lucky I am to do this work.

And get this: When asked if they'd quit their jobs if they won the lottery, 66% of conference attendees said no. I'm proud to be one of them.