SESSIONS
SESSIONS
The Friday Opener
Your In Bloom weekend begins with an evening designed to bring you together with others who share your curiosity about love and relationships. Enjoy our opening reception followed by an intimate conversation with Vienna Pharaon and Connor Beaton. It's the perfect way to get inspired and settle into the weekend ahead.
OPENING RECEPTION
We're kicking things off with a celebration! Enjoy live music, cocktails, and delicious bites, capture memories at the photo booths, and get to know your fellow attendees. It's your first chance to experience the thoughtful touches that make In Bloom so special.
April 16, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Vienna Pharaon + Connor Beaton
Before It Breaks
Learn to identify the small patterns that quietly erode love, and how to make changes before it’s too late. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Vienna Pharaon and Men’s Coach Connor Beaton, who have been married for nearly a decade, share from their personal and professional experience how to change the patterns that break down relationships. You’ll also learn the keys to building a relationship that can thrive through the inevitable ups and downs of life.
April 16, 6:30pm-8:00pm
meet + mingle
A chance to connect with fellow attendees after Friday’s Opening Event. Share your takeaways, make new connections, and get to know the people you'll be spending the weekend with.
April 16, 8:15pm
THE SATURDAY SESSIONS
Spend a full day with the world's leading experts. Explore the challenges you face, question what you think you know, and discover new ways of relating. Expect honest conversations and fresh perspectives you can carry into your life to change how you love and connect with others.
April 17, 2:50pm-4:20pm
KEYNOTE
Esther Perel
(Re)Awakening Our Social Animals
In an age of technological isolation and polarization, something fundamental has shifted in how we relate to one another. Harrowing questions have come to define our social age: Why do we feel lonelier in a hyperconnected world? Why does dating feel transactional? What is community? Are we focused on more relationships, versus deeper ones? These are not problems with simple solutions. They are paradoxes to manage. Join Esther Perel for an immersive keynote to enliven the senses and to remind us how to embrace joy, risk, and discomfort together as a path towards greater connection.
April 17, 9:20Am - 10:35Am
Dr. Sue Varma
Practical Optimism: Moving Forward Through Uncertainty
What if optimism isn’t about being naturally cheerful, but about skills you can practice? Drawing on more than two decades as a psychiatrist, Dr. Sue Varma explores how you can acknowledge life’s difficulties without losing your ability to move forward. Through humour, personal stories, and practical exercises, you’ll learn how to process difficult emotions, find purpose in everyday moments, and build healthy habits. You’ll leave with tools for navigating uncertainty and one meaningful action you can take immediately.
April 17, 11:00Am - 12:15Am
Dr. Nicole McNichols
Wanting You, On Purpose: Rekindling Desire
You still love each other, but you assume the attraction has faded. What’s missing is the room for it: attention, presence, and a mind not running the to-do list. Desire doesn’t just happen to you; you cultivate it with intention and collaboration. Using the pleasure cycle from You Could Be Having Better Sex, Dr. Nicole McNichols shows you what switches desire off and how to turn it back on, whether you’re partnered, looking for love, or helping others love well.
April 17, 1:10pm - 2:25pm
IyANLA VANZANT
The Beauty in the Bloom
We celebrate the beauty of the bloom, but rarely acknowledge what it takes to get there. In this powerful and heartfelt conversation, Iyanla Vanzant invites you to discover the power of embracing your whole self by looking beneath the surface, embracing the parts of yourself you’ve hidden or rejected, and discovering the beauty that comes from knowing, accepting, and loving who you truly are. The beauty isn’t just in who you become. It’s in everything you learn to embrace along the way.
Q+A discussion
April 17, 4:45Pm - 6:00Pm
Q+A DISCUSSION
Ask the experts!
A high-energy dialogue with the experts, moderated by Damona Hoffman, this session is a summit highlight—and a chance to get your love and relationship questions answered by some of the best in the business.
Esther Perel, Iyanla Vanzant, Dr. Nicole McNichols, Dr. Sue Varma, Vienna Pharaon, and Connor Beaton talk us through our top-of-mind relational issues and let us in on the skills we’ll need to fortify our connections.
If you want to feel the true power of community and collective learning, don’t miss this one.
THE SUNDAY WORKSHOPS
Get hands-on with what you're learning! Ask questions, challenge old patterns, and practise new skills in an interactive, small-group setting.
Connor beaton
What He Can’t Say: The Hidden Emotional Life of Men
Most men aren’t emotionally empty, they’re emotionally unexpressed. From boyhood, many men learn to convert fear into silence, hurt into anger, and longing into “I’m fine.” When “suppression = strength” shapes how men relate, partners are left guessing and men can feel lonely in their relationships. In this interactive workshop, Connor Beaton unpacks the inner world of men in love, how to connect with what’s beneath the surface, and how to build security, trust, and transparency. Bring your questions. This workshop is about answering them.
Dr. Nicole McNichols
The Thirty-Minute Window: Making Room for Desire
Desire is something you create, and this hands-on session is where you practice it. Working alone and in pairs, you’ll take stock of your erotic life, examine the assumptions that keep you stuck, and rehearse the conversation most couples avoid: naming what’s fair, what’s exhausting, what’s gone quiet, and what you still want. You’ll leave with the six behaviours of sexually satisfied couples and one commitment to make more room for desire.
Hilary Swanson & John Kim
So You Want to Publish a Book (separately ticketed)
Writing a book isn’t easy. Figuring out how to get it published can be even more difficult. In this workshop, cut through the confusion with Soulprint Media co-founders John Kim and Hilary Swanson, who help authors navigate the journey. Together, they’ll explain how to position your book for success, write a proposal that gets agent and publisher attention, and understand today’s publishing options. At the end of the workshop, there will be a Q&A and the chance for a select number of participants to pitch their book directly to Soulprint and receive feedback and direction.
You can add this workshop to your In Bloom ticket at checkout. Want to attend just the workshop, or add it to an existing purchase? Purchase your workshop ticket here.