On the job experiences such as collaborative teacher meetings can shape how early childhood educators grow professionally and how schools can develop communities of practice. However, the effect of conversations during teacher meetings on teacher practice is not fully understood. This yearlong qualitative case study examined the relationship between conversations during formal collaborative experiences and the actual classroom practice of early childhood teachers in a district, Head Start, and university lab school. Data sources included observations of teacher meetings and classroom practice, interviews with teachers and administrators, and ECERS-R ratings. Three factors contributed to the cultivation of productive communities of practice: (a) parallel processes that promoted the transfer of teacher talk into practices that enriched classroom environments; (b) administratively supported collective control of curriculum by teachers; and (c) use of protocols to guide conversations. Intentionally designed and carefully orchestrated collaborative experiences are worth pursuing but emerge according to a group's capacity to develop productive parallel processes that inspire transfer of meeting topics into best practices in classrooms. (Contains 3 figures.)