2023 Panels & Workshops
BREAKOUT SESSION #1
9:25 AM - 10:15 AM
—Being Comfortable with the Uncomfortable
—Creating Leaders for a World of Change
—Staying Ahead of Technology in the Ever-Changing Business World
—Collaboration over Competitiveness
—Navigating Workplace Politics
Being Comfortable with the Uncomfortable
Do you recall learning how to ride a bike when you were young? We were scared we might hurt ourselves when moving forward to the unknown, but we were so driven by our curiosity for adventure. With our courage, we stepped on the pedals over and over again until we could balance ourselves and start exploring a brand-new landscape.
“If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” Stepping out of our comfort zone is challenging yet rewarding, especially while reaching for the stars in our careers. Repeating the same job everyday will naturally result in boredom and sometimes even lead to burnout. As a result, we long for change yet find ourselves paralyzed out of fear of failure.
Shifting our mindsets can help us understand that failure is simply an opportunity to learn and crucial for success. Therefore, we should allow the reward of self-growth to motivate us to challenge ourselves, participate in risks and stay curious for change. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be as small as changing an every-day action and as big as switching your career path.
Creating Leaders for a World of Change
One of the largest challenges that people face in society is successfully implementing change in a traditional world. Without evolving our standard practices we risk falling behind. Leaders are in a pivotal role to renew, refresh and motivate their people. We all can inspire new beginnings for the future if we use our voices to help one another.
Panelists have built their careers to align with their values and passions which allows them to fight for what they believe in. They will share how their practices, skills, and organizations allow them to creatively work towards implementing change and bettering our world as a whole. Attendees will hear how to be a leader that advocates for themselves and others in the workplace and beyond.
Panelists will share experiences where they faced challenges head-on and how their courage emulated their self-growth. Additionally, panelists will provide advice on how to challenge yourself to explore opportunities and achieve goals that may seem impossible. They will also share their perspectives and habits for striving to change, embracing failures and staying curious in the corporate world.
Staying Ahead of Technology in the Ever-Changing Business World
You go on facebook and see an ad for the alarm clock you just told your friend you were going to buy from Amazon. How did Facebook know you were going to buy an alarm clock? Is Facebook listening to your conversations through your phone? The answer to your questions is data.
The economy fluctuates up or down on a daily basis, provoking businesses to continuously change the way they operate. Technology is constantly evolving as well as it fulfills all the demands of today’s ever-changing society and businesses. Data is embedded in our daily lives, helping businesses understand their customers better, improve sales, reduce costs, and it allows for the creation of better problem solving strategies. Knowing how to manipulate data can help you advance in your career and impress your superiors, giving you and your business a competitive advantage.
This panel will explore how technology impacts businesses and occupations across industries. Panelists will address how to leverage technology in a way that is beneficial to your career whether working with future employers, peers, managers, clients or business partners. They will discuss how it has given them a competitive edge and how it has become a permanent part of their daily routines. Panelists will emphasize that no matter what role you take on in the future, understanding and utilizing data is crucial as a woman in the workplace.
Collaboration Over Competitiveness
In today’s work environment, it’s easy to adopt a competitive mindset. In doing so, it’s also common to lose sight of the importance and value associated with supporting others. As women, it’s essential that we challenge ourselves to instead use a collaborative approach through which we support one another’s success. This empowers us women to transform our insecurities into inspirations and achieve more than we thought possible.
This panel will explore how to focus on our personal goals without getting distracted by others and how to support our allies with a positive mindset in a competitive environment. Panelists will share concrete tips on validating ourselves with self-growth and assisting others with vulnerability. Additionally, speakers will stress that there is a spot at the table for everyone and discuss the importance of uplifting others in the workplace, mentorship, and holding the door open for the women next in line.
Navigating Workplace Politics
Workplace politics is about the differences between people at work including differences in opinions, personalities, authority, or power. These politics can be tricky to navigate, and often cause conflict. Conflict is something we all face regularly in our personal lives, but how do we handle it in our professional lives? As a woman, you may fear coming off as too demanding or needy by standing up for yourself. However, you may also fear that doing nothing may get in the way of your success.
In Navigating Workplace Politics, speakers and attendees will discuss issues of conflict they have experienced and how they handled them as a woman. These conflicts will include the concepts of equal pay, gender bias, negotiation, workplace misconduct, phrases used against women, and more.
BREAKOUT SESSION #2
10:55 AM - 11:45 AM
—Owning Your Voice
—Passion to Purpose
—Exploring the Career Lattice
—Designing Success: Implementing Your Professional Identity
—What to do When Your Briefcase is too Full
Owning Your Voice
Despite having the education, experience, and skills for a job, women constantly underestimate that they are deserving of their positions and successes. This makes it difficult for women to set boundaries and speak up for themselves in the workplace. Owning your voice and knowing your strengths are fundamental steps when establishing your self-identity. These practices will allow you to build confidence within your industry, and overcome Imposter Syndrome when opportunity knocks and you need to grab it.
In “Owning Your Voice”, panelists will discuss how they are able to stay true to their self-worth and be confident in their abilities while in a high pressure setting. Panelists will also share advice on how to exhibit self confidence, identify your non-negotiables, and be comfortable having conversations with superiors. These tools will help you exude confidence and enhance your image during interviews, networking, meetings, presentations, introductions and other professional settings.
Passion to Purpose
“Follow your passions.” Although this phrase appears simple, it can feel difficult to align your passions with your career goals. However, earning income and finding a job that drives you to success do not have to be mutually exclusive. There are so many different ways you can imbed your passions into your career. This panel features professionals who have found an intersection between their passions and a stable career. Speakers will offer suggestions on navigating professional industries to fit your interests and weighing the pros and cons of following a passion. Additionally, panelists will discuss the ways in which they have consistently stayed true to themselves by incorporating what they love into their professional lives.
Exploring the Career Lattice
Uncertainty exists in all of our lives. A fear of uncertainty in our career can often pressure us from branching out of our current industry and hold us back from discovering our true interests. However, we should understand that moving vertically, horizontally, and diagonally is common in today’s dynamic working environment. This panel highlights professionals who have experienced a vast variety of careers whether it is a new role within their company or an uncharted industry. They will showcase the transferrable skills they have developed, approaches to interviews in a new area of focus, and mindset to be flexible in their careers.
Designing Success: Implementing Your Professional Identity
It is exciting that we have full control in creating our own career paths. We can move across industries, travel to new job locations, and even create our own companies. But, this freedom can be daunting.
By identifying your motivators, goals and what makes you unique, you can start to build your personal brand. Your personal brand also gives you the confidence to discover what positions, companies and industries bring out your strengths. When your career aligns with your beliefs, you can truly grow to your fullest potential. Because your success may look different from someone else’s definition of success, knowing yourself and communicating will help you behave and make decisions that compliment your personal brand.
What To Do When Your Briefcase Is Too Full
It is vital to determine our non-negotiables, the passions that we are not willing to give up to maximize our potential for success. When we overwhelm ourselves by taking on too many tasks, burnout and stress becomes inevitable. For some of us, it can be difficult to prioritize our mental health while pursuing success. However, if we are able to identify our values based on what is important to us, we can begin to prioritize obligations that propel us forward. As a crucial and dynamic element of our lives, mental health is essential to how we dedicate ourselves to other areas of our path.
In What to do When Your Briefcase is too Full Panel, the panelists will share how to be cognizant if too many involvements come at the cost of jeopardizing your well-being. Speakers will draw upon past experiences where they’ve dealt with similar situations and what resources they’ve utilized to overcome them. Briefcases will go through different phases of how empty or full they are, but it is up to us how we rearrange them accordingly.
BREAKOUT SESSION #3
1:40 PM - 2:40 PM
—Command the Room: Mastering Public Speaking and Corporate Communication
—Introduction to the Energy Leadership Index
—Personal Finance 101: Managing Your Financial Future
—Entrepreneurship: Building Your Business from the Ground Up
—A Declassified Chemical Survival Guide for Breast Cancer Prevention
Command the Room: Mastering Public Speaking and Corporate Communication
In Command the Room: Mastering Public Speaking and Corporate Communication, you will learn how to unlock your potential as a Confident Public Speaker and Corporate Professional with SEC on CBS presenter Jenny Dell. Whether you're a seasoned speaker or just looking to improve your ability, this workshop is designed to help you build and enhance your public speaking skills and boost your corporate confidence. You'll learn key techniques for crafting effective presentations, communicating properly, engaging with your audience, and projecting a polished and professional image. With interactive exercises and expert guidance, you'll gain the knowledge and skills you need to confidently communicate your ideas and make a lasting impact. Join us for this exciting opportunity to take your public speaking and corporate confidence to the next level!
Introduction to the Energy Leadership Index
In today's fast-paced world, we are constantly being asked to pour ourselves into multiple different outlets. Between our professional, family and social lives, balancing not only our time but also our emotions can feel overwhelming. Understanding our energies and where they come from can be crucial to becoming the truest versions of ourselves and embracing the power of choice in our lives. Every thought and feeling we have holds a charge that can work for us, or against us.
In the Introduction to the Energy Leadership Index workshop, participants will learn the 7-levels of energy (each a lens on life), and develop a self-perception toolkit for how we view and respond to situations. Participants will be invited to reflect on how they may view a career or life situation through each level of energy. This toolkit will also help participants to grasp the differences in their energy on a typical day versus when life is stressful.
Personal Finance 101: Managing Your Financial Future:
Life can be unpredictable in today’s economy, but learning to manage our finances can provide stability. In the phases of college and early career, it is crucial to understand how to be responsible for our spending and savings and to plan towards our goals that provide clarity in our financial future.
In "Personal Finance 101: Managing Your Financial Future", attendees will gain the ability to understand and effectively use various financial skills in money management that will benefit them now and in the future. Topics include budgeting fundamentals, savings goals, employer benefits, good debt vs. bad debt, and understanding credit score. Throughout this workshop, attendees will become confident in setting financial goals that satisfy their wants and needs and fuel their passion projects.
Entrepreneurship: Building Your Business from the Ground Up
Entrepreneurs improve the economy and, more importantly, the lives of individuals and communities. Although it can be intimidating to take a risk and invest in your idea, making a profit and solving problems that affect the economy and society are valuable rewards. The passion for entrepreneurship can be ignited at any stage of one’s life. And everyone can benefit from thinking like an entrepreneur in their day-to-day life.
If you are interested in building your own business but don’t know how to start, this workshop is for you. In this workshop, the CEO and Co-Founder of the Women’s Business League, Amy Pocsik, will share her journey of pivoting from her corporate job to entrepreneurship. She will help attendees identify crucial steps toward the entrepreneurial dream. After leaving this workshop, you will be excited and inspired to carve your road to a successful entrepreneurial venture.
A Declassified Chemical Survival Guide for Breast Cancer Prevention
Protect Our Breasts is an Isenberg experiential learning course that has grown into an international breast cancer prevention non-profit over the past dozen years. The mission is to share the conversation about chemicals of concern in everyday products on grocery store shelves that contribute to breast cancer and other diseases; empowering women (and men) to make safer choices during the most vulnerable periods of their lives. In this workshop, the Protect Our Breasts Executive Board will give a brief overview of the organization before splitting the audience to visit and engage at interactive rotating stations covering topics ranging from chemicals in packaging to personal care products to everyday produce items. We hope our audience leaves with the tools and the knowledge about what they put into their bodies and safer choices they can make in their everyday lives after this hands-on learning experience.