By Dr. Roberta Borgen and Dr. William Borgen
Join this session for a deeper dive into working effectively with clients who navigate life differently. Begin by reflecting on your own context – exploring how your layers of diversity, bias, and assumptions shape the practitioner-client relationship. Consider how these dynamics can either foster empathic, authentic connection or create barriers to trust.
Participants will learn how to assess clients in culturally responsive ways, identifying what is working and what may not be effective across complex cases. The session will also explore how practitioners can balance immediate, basic needs with longer-term career development strategies, supporting clients as they move forward within changing and uncertain environments.
The discussion will highlight the importance of collaborating with a broader “village” of career influencers. Practitioners will learn how to customise interventions to meet diverse client needs while also advocating for systemic change when required.
About the Speakers
Dr. Roberta Borgen (Neault) currently serves on the Area Council and Board for APCDA and was honored to receive APCDA’s Outstanding Educator of Career Professionals Award. She is the co-developer of the Career Engagement model and co-author (with Nancy Arthur and Mary McMahon) of Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice and Practice Principles: Career Theories and Models at Work.
Dr. William Borgen, Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia, has extensive experience conducting research and developing programs related to life transitions and career development. His work has been translated and adapted for use in Bhutan, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, and Sweden.
An award-winning counsellor and counsellor-educator, he received the Outstanding Educator of Career Professionals Award from the Asia Pacific Career Development Association in 2020 and served on the Board of Directors of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance from 2011 to 2019.
About the Session
With many learning opportunities available during the conference, this event offers something unique. It is the only session that runs for three hours, allowing participants to explore a single topic in greater depth with two internationally recognised experts in the field.
Rather than a traditional lecture, this session is designed as an interactive discussion. Participants will learn by reflecting on their own experiences, exchanging perspectives with professionals from different countries and backgrounds, and applying the concepts introduced by the speakers to their own practice and professional context.
Registration
If you are registered for the conference, you can add this session to your registration in the Member Portal by clicking:
• Conference
• Modify Registration
• Select Ticket Option
After selecting the session, you will be prompted to choose your payment method.
If you are not attending the conference, you may register separately.
A printable flyer is also available for those who would like to share information about the session.
What if we stopped adjusting to broken systems and started building ones that work for everyone? This keynote challenges career development professionals to rethink their role through the lens of equity and sustainability.
Positioned between individual aspirations and systemic influence, we have both responsibility and opportunity to lead. Real change, however, requires collaboration with employers, policymakers, and regulators. Together, we will examine how representation shapes access and outline practical steps to create lasting, inclusive impact.
What Does Hybrid Mean?
The conference has been designed to provide you the flexibility and convenience of attending either in-person or virtually. Truly the best of both worlds! Week one is virtual for all (April 20, 22, and 24). Live-streamed presentations and discussions allow all presenters and attendees to participate without leaving home. In the second week, choose to join us in-person or continue attending sessions virtually. The live content sessions will be streamed to those who are remote.
Registration includes conference presentations from both the first and second week. Virtual attendees will join all sessions remotely, while In-person attendees will be attending the first week remotely and the second week physically in Univerisity Malaya, Malaysia. Aside from conference presentations, there are Professional Development Institutes on April 30, which is an optional extra for both virtual and in-person attendees.
All content sessions offered at our conference will be recorded and available for 3 months post-conference. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity of “Expanding Horizons: Inclusive Career Development in Global Transitions”. You can learn so much with such a small investment.
The conference platform, Whova, will be accessible to all attendees beginning in mid March, 2026.
Of course, there is so much more to an in-person conference than content sessions. Registering for the In-Person conference includes all of the Content Sessions offered virtually, plus the Meetup Dinner, Reception Roundtables , In-person breakout sessions and Cultural Performance. Many people from Malaysia are attending, eager to talk with you about career development practices in other parts of the Asia Pacific region.
Optional Extras
One Professional Development Institutes (PDIs) is offered which is not included in the basic registration. It is available both virtually and in-person. We also offer group tours as Optional Extras. The tours included a visit the Autism Café for lunch, followed by a city tour, and a day long tour to Melaka, a city built by the Portuguese with a stop at the SOCSO Rehabilitation Centre.
by Dr. Roberta Borgen
What is the “diversity disconnect,” and why does it matter? In many workplaces, people are unsure when it is safe to share their identities or accommodation needs, limiting their ability to thrive.
Through research, real cases, and global experience, Dr. Borgen highlights the barriers that keep talented individuals from meaningful work. Reflect on your role in “the village” and how to foster safer, more inclusive career development in your own context.
Again this year, APCDA has contracted with Whova to provide the software for our conference. Because this conference is Hybrid, we need a really good Mobile App so that in-person attendees can participate equally with virtual attendees. ALL questions for presenters, whether you are in the room or remote, should be submitted by typing them into Whova. Whova provides both a Web App and a Mobile App to make this easy. We expect In-person Attendees to use the Mobile App and Virtual Attendees to use the Web App, although they may want to use both so they can easily submit questions to the presenter while watching the session in full screen mode.
Here are the instructions for using this new software:
We’re thrilled to announce two exciting contests happening during this year’s conference: the Fun Fact Contest and Excellent Attendance Contest. Each contest will recognize three winners who will receive their choice of prizes from this list:
- One Free APCDA Webinar — Choose any webinar that sparks your interest.
- One Year Free APCDA Membership — Stay connected with APCDA throughout the year.
Each winner may select one prize from the list. You can start participating in the contests as soon as Whova becomes accessible to you. The winners will be announced and recognized on April 29, 2026 during the conference closing.
About Fun Fact Contest
The Fun Fact contest is called a Photo Contest in Whova. The purpose of this contest is to give you an opportunity to think of and share with us something interesting about yourself that make others remember you even after the conference is over. Your Fun Fact could be related to your life, career experience, local career services, APCDA, or about your country – photos are encouraged.
All of the fun facts posted in Whova will be immediately visible to other attendees, some might give a like or add comments to your post. Fun Fact with the most likes or comments engagements wins the contest. Please act ethically and use your likes or comments to engage with other attendees rather than make your friend a winner.
Here are a few examples on Fun Fact:
- I joined APCDA on November 11, 2013 but then somehow, I forgot about it until I truly became an active member on January 13, 2020.
- Hindi is the national language of India but almost each state of the country has its own language.
- A career counselor in me evolved unintentionally while I engaged in lifelong learning.
Excellent Attendance Contest
As a token of appreciation for attendees who have actively attend conference sessions in Whova, we are pleased to introduce Excellent Attendance Contest. We will count the number of sessions each Attendee has actively attended. This does not include visiting a session for a few minutes. You must stay in the session for us to count it. We will only be counting virtual sessions (April 20 through April 24) because Whova does not know when you attend a session in-person.
The 30 attendees who attend the largest number of sessions will automatically be entered into this contest. Three winners will be randomly selected (from the top 30) to receive the Excellent Attendance Award. We will spin a wheel to select these winners during the conference’s closing ceremony.