2018 Agenda

CAREER ADVANCEMENT: Designed for the mid/senior level professional with significant experience looking for advice around professional skills and job advancement
Session II: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Whether climbing the corporate ladder, or striking out on your own as an entrepreneur, the very skills and habits that made you successful early on could actually be holding you back as you advance to the next stage of your working life. Leadership guru Sally Helgesen will identify the specific behaviors that may keep women from realizing their full potential, no matter the stage of their career. A panel of senior executive will share why certain strategies worked for them in the past, or didn’t get them where they want to go in the future—and how to finally shed those behaviors so you can advance to the next level.

Speaker: Sally Helgesen, author, How Women Rise

Panelists: 
⚬ Bobbi Dangerfield, SVP, global business services, Dell
⚬ Dani Rylan, founder, National Women’s Hockey League and Fast Company “Most Creative People in Business 2016”
⚬ Kim Read, SVP, operations, RetailMeNot

Emcee:  Marian Cabanillas, president, South Texas, UnitedHealthcare

• Author Signings & Meet and Greets
• Resume Review & Coaches Corner
• Health & Wellness Pavilion and Classroom
• Donation and Volunteer Opportunities
• Local and women-owned businesses
• Small Business & Tech Roundtables

Remember to print and cut out your badge before you arrive!

With printed badge in hand, you can proceed directly to the Exhibit Hall to pick up your badge holder and tote bag.

Take advantage of free one-on-one “speed coaching” sessions and/or get help perfecting your resume from 7:30 am – 5:00 pm (excluding keynote sessions). Learn more. To sign up, just join the standby line in the Career Pavilion.

Career Pavilion Workshops

Coming soon!

3:15 pm – 3:45 pm: Better Skin from the Inside Out

Speaker: Dr. Rajani Katta, dermatologist
Research now proves what many of us have long recognized: what you eat impacts your skin. In this session, dermatologist and author Dr. Rajani Katta describes how the right foods and nutrients can fight the processes that lead to premature skin aging. You’ll learn how herbs, spices, power fats, probiotics, prebiotics, and antioxidant-rich foods all work to promote youthful, glowing skin.

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm: Mindfulness & Meditation

Speaker: Kristi Grosse, instructor, Yoga Pod Austin
We know that meditation creates a feeling of calm, but research shows a vast number of other benefits from improving immune function and boosting antibodies to increasing both our ability to be creative and our overall level of happiness.  Taking time out of our day to meditate is a goal for many, but is very often hard to attain. This session will show you the practical applications of meditation to your own busy lifestyle. Participants will be provided with strategies for how to live a more mindful life in both theory and practice, and will gain a new perspective on techniques to proactively incorporate meditation into our lives.

At the Luncheon Keynote session, refer to your printed badge for your table assignment.

Author lineup coming soon!

LEADERSHIP: Designed for a seasoned or aspiring leader looking to climb the ladder and shatter the glass ceiling
Session I: 10:00 – 11:00 am

Why do some careers take off while others stall? Common wisdom says that successful people attended elite an MBA program, landed high-powered jobs right out of school, and climbed the ladder straight to the top. But the CEO Genome Project shattered these myths. This 10-year study of more than 17,000 C-suite revealed some surprising choices that set successful CEO apart. Join this session to learn the four key behaviors of successful CEOs—and three moves that can catapult your career. Emily Sheeren, one of the principals of this study, and a panel of executives will share how to:

• Fast-track your career by deploying career catapults
• Overcome hidden handicaps to getting the job you want.
• Avoid common hazards that can derail people promoted into a new role.

Thought Leader: Emily Sheeren, principal, ghSMART & Company

Panelists: 
⚬ Penny Baldwin, SVP, CMO, Qualcomm Technologies
⚬ Ann M. Oglesby, VP, Technology, Phillips 66 
⚬ Dr. Jen Welter, first female NFL coach and author, Play Big

Emcee: Melinda Franklin, managing director, corporate & government affairs, United Airlines

CAREER ADVANCEMENT: Designed for the mid/senior level professional with significant experience looking for advice around professional skills and job advancement
Session I: 10:00 – 11:00 am

Whether you are at a mid-career inflection point, wanting to advance professionally, or returning from a child-rearing hiatus, uncertainty about your path may cause you to feel stuck. Career planning isn’t easy, and this session can give you the nudge you need to approach a career transition with confidence. Join this panel of experts to identify opportunities, better market yourself, and develop the skill-expanding and relationship building steps to get where you want to go.  This session will inspire you to challenge your status quo, get unstuck and pivot into your next role.

Thought Leader:  Wendy Sachs, author, Fearless and Free: How Smart Women Pivot and Relaunch Their Careers

Panelists:
⚬ Maxie McCoy, author, You’re Not Lost
⚬ Gwen Wunderlich, CEO & founder, Wunderlich Kaplan Communications and creator, The Enternship

CAREER ADVANCEMENT: Designed for the mid/senior level professional with significant experience looking for advice around professional skills and job advancement
Session I: 10:00 – 11:00 am

The #MeToo movement is accomplishing what the laws created to prevent sexual harassment didn’t do. Sexual harassment is finally being taken seriously and numerous companies are working to put an end to it. While this massive movement is a welcome shift for women, it is also changing the landscape for many. What are the consequences of this movement? How should it be discussed in the workplace? Are men less willing to mentor women out of fear? Do female entrepreneurs and potential job recruits have less opportunity because men are avoiding engaging with women? Come listen to this panel of experts discuss the ins and outs of a new workplace with a heightened awareness surrounding about harassment.

Thought Leader: Emily Ramshaw, editor-in -chief, Texas Tribune

Panelists:
⚬ Nina Shaw, entertainment attorney and co-founder, Time’s Up
⚬ Denise Shepard, senior manager and lead, strategic talent & inclusion, Deloitte
⚬ Whitney Wolfe, CEO, Bumble

TRANSITIONS: Offering expertise for maneuvering career and life transitions
Session I: 10:00 – 11:00 am

Everyone has a certain reputation (or “brand”) that they’re known for in the workplace, but for most people, that brand has been created by default, rather than by intentional design. The people you work with have built up their own perceptions, opinions, and judgments about who you are, what you’re good at—and possibly even what you’re not good at. They have “branded” you in their own minds. Have you allowed others to define your reputation? If so, you have the ability to re-brand yourself. This panel of branding experts will show you how to re-assess your brand –in person, online and when sending emails –  and adjust your communication to that you can attract high-profile projects and solidify your reputation as a leader.

Thought Leader: Catherine Kaputa, founder, Selfbrand   

Panelists:
⚬ Kailei Carr, branding expert & CEO, The Asbury Group
⚬ Kristen Naiman, SVP, brand creative, Kate Spade & Company

EMERGING PROFESSIONALS: Designed for Millennials and newer professionals entering or re-entering the workforce
Session I: 10:00 – 11:00 am

Texas women who work full-time have seen little headway when it comes to closing the gender gap in pay. Women are the majority of today’s college graduates, but less than a quarter make it past middle management. And we are being paid 80% of what men make. Now is the time to change this staggering reality. Whether you’re interviewing for a new job or want a raise in a current one, this panel of experts will discuss how to prepare, best ways to present yourself, and what to say when you’re getting pushback during a negotiation. Leave this session with the courage to get paid what you deserve.

Thought Leader: Claire Wasserman, founder, Ladies Get Paid  

Panelists:
⚬ Alison Green, author, Ask a Manager
⚬ Selena Rezvani, VP, Be Leaderly and author, Pushback
⚬ Lindsey Lurie, chief marketing officer, IBM Security

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT offering advice to help you enhance your life, grow and create more positive personal experiences outside of the workplace
Session I: 10:00 – 11:00 am

Shawn Achor, best-selling author and one of the most popular TED speakers of all time, is one of the world’s leading authorities on the vital connection between success and happiness. In this session, Shawn will show that success and happiness are not competitive sports but depend almost entirely on how well we connect with, relate to, and learn from others. He will share 5 strategies for lifting the ceiling on our achievements—and returning happiness and meaning to our lives. Shawn will inspire you to move beyond the “small potential” you can achieve alone to the “big potential” we can achieve together.

Speaker: Shawn Achor, New York Times best-selling author, The Happiness Advantage and Big Potential and one of the most popular TED speakers of all time

Emcee: Laysha Ward, EVP and chief external engagement officer, Target

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: Offering advice to help you enhance your life, grow and create more positive personal experiences outside of the workplace
Session I: 10:00 – 11:00 am

When “The Budgetnista” started writing her book at 25, she was a teacher earning $35,000 a year and saved $40,000 within two years. She now dedicates herself to financial literacy and helping others live a richer life. In this session, you will learn her invaluable money management system with 12 steps that that can be completed in one week. Discover the practical and easy tools to complete the One Week Budget challenge and enjoy a richer life.

Speaker: Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche, award-winning personal finance educator and author, The One Week Budget and Live Richer Challenge

YOUNG WOMEN’S PROGRAM: Designed for high school junior and senior girls
Session I: 10:00 am – 11:00 am

We all have blind spots or biases about people from other cultures, religions, and genders. These hidden biases influence the friends we choose, the organizations we join—and can influence our careers. Recognizing and braving our own blind spots is challenging enough, but how do we ensure others are assessing us in a fair and accurate way? Whether negative or positive, these stereotypes influence others’ behavior towards us. Join this panel of leaders to learn how they overcame broad generalizations about who they were to accomplish their lofty goals.

Speaker: Ashley Diaz Mejias, author, Overcoming Bias

Panelists: 
⚬ Luvvie Ajayi, award-winning writer, speaker and digital strategist and New York Times best-selling author, I’m Judging You
⚬ Michelle Morse, VP, Girls and Women Strategy, United Nations Foundation

Author lineup coming soon!

LEADERSHIP: Designed for a seasoned or aspiring leader looking to climb the ladder and shatter the glass ceiling
Session II: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Are you tired of waiting for C-level directives to address the equity and diversity gaps in your organization? Don’t sit around and wait! Be a pioneer and create the change you want. Using best practices and lessons learned from first-hand experiences, this panel of experts will share expert advice on gender partnership and diversity initiatives. Get ready to leave this session armed with knowledge, actionable tips, and the motivation to make change in your organization.

Thought Leader: Lori Nishiura Mackenzie,executive director, Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Stanford University

Panelists: 
⚬ Carol Fulp, author, Success through Diversity
⚬ Emily O’Halloran, managing director and Southwest digital lead, Accenture 

Emcee: Carolina Barcenas, Visa

CAREER ADVANCEMENT: Designed for the mid/senior level professional with significant experience looking for advice around professional skills and job advancement
Session II: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Whether climbing the corporate ladder, or striking out on your own as an entrepreneur, the very skills and habits that made you successful early on could actually be holding you back as you advance to the next stage of your working life. Leadership guru Sally Helgesen will identify the specific behaviors that may keep women from realizing their full potential, no matter the stage of their career. A panel of senior executive will share why certain strategies worked for them in the past, or didn’t get them where they want to go in the future—and how to finally shed those behaviors so you can advance to the next level.

Speaker: Sally Helgesen, author, How Women Rise

Panelists: 
⚬ Bobbi Dangerfield, SVP, global business services, Dell
⚬ Dani Rylan, founder, National Women’s Hockey League and Fast Company “Most Creative People in Business 2016”
⚬ Kim Read, SVP, operations, RetailMeNot

Emcee:  Marian Cabanillas, president, South Texas, UnitedHealthcare

EMERGING PROFESSIONALS: Designed for Millennials and newer professionals entering or re-entering the workforce
Session II: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Comedian, activist, and hugely popular culture blogger, Luvvie Ajayi is a go-to source for her smart takes on pop culture. In this session, Luvvie will serve up the necessary advice for all the life’s strange twists and turns as well as what to do about the bad behavior we all see in our increasingly digital, connected lives. With a lighthearted, razor-sharp wit and a unique perspective, Luvvie will dole out the hard truths and present a roadmap for bringing some “act right” into our lives, social media, and popular culture.

Thought Leader: Luvvie Ajayi, award-winning writer, speaker and digital strategist and New York Times best-selling author, I’m Judging You

Emcee: Alison D. Frey, member, Dickinson Wright

CAREER ADVANCEMENT: Designed for the mid/senior level professional with significant experience looking for advice around professional skills and job advancement
Session II: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm     

Managing up is one of the most valuable soft skills you can develop in your career. It’s about building a relationship that fosters more communication, collaboration, and understanding between people at different levels of power, perspectives, and skills. Mastering these skills will help you build your reputation for effectiveness and grow a successful career. Leadership consultant Mary Abbajay and a panel of experts will share actionable tips to:

• Understand your manager’s work and behavioral style and adjust yours accordingly
• Enhance your self-awareness and become more adaptable
• Read body language better
• Develop true, lasting connections

Thought Leader: Mary Abbajay, author, Managing Up

Panelists:
⚬ Alison Green, author, Ask a Manager
⚬ Alice Rutkowski, body language expert and VP, SAGIN
⚬ Christy Schumann, Rackspace

TRANSITIONS: Offering expertise for maneuvering career and life transitions
Session II: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Many people feel like they spend their days drowning in mundane tasks—attending meetings, responding to emails, and completing reports—that prevent them from getting to the meaningful work they truly want to be doing. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Join this session to learn how to eliminate redundancies, communicate with clarity, and make simplification a habit. Find out how to create lasting value, feel more empowered, and spend each day doing more things that matter. Lisa Bodell’s method will show you how to eliminate the busy work that puts a chokehold on us every day, and instead spend time on the work that we value.

Speaker: Lisa Bodell, globally recognized innovation leader and futurist, founder and CEO, futurethink and author, Why Simple Wins

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT offering advice to help you enhance your life, grow and create more positive personal experiences outside of the workplace
Session II: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Whether we have a good day or not depends partly on things we can’t control – perhaps we run into an unexpected crisis, or our colleagues seem unusually cranky. But behavioral science shows us that many things that seem “fixed” or “random” can be surprisingly strongly influenced by our own actions, once we understand just a little of how the brain works. Caroline Webb, economist and former partner at consulting powerhouse McKinsey, will demonstrate how tiny tweaks to our daily routines can transform our experience of what happens around us, the number of hours in the day, our level of intelligence, and even other people’s moods. She will teach you to be at your best under pressure, equipping you to handle common challenges such as co-worker conflicts and pressing deadlines. Learn how to change your “luck” and obtain more control over the quality of your days. You will leave armed with the power to transform your approach for boosted workplace performance and enjoyment.

Thought Leader:  Caroline Webb, economist, author and former partner, McKinsey

Emcee: Colette Pierce Burnette, president & CEO, Ed.D. Huston-Tillotson University

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT offering advice to help you enhance your life, grow and create more positive personal experiences outside of the workplace
Session II: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Talent and luck play a big part on your road to success, but what role do grit and perseverance play? When Dr. Jen Welter joined the Arizona Cardinals in 2015, she was the first woman to ever break the glass sideline of the NFL and became a trailblazer in the ultimate boys’ club. In this session, Dr. Welter will provide specifics as to how she succeeded despite the odds, through force of will and determination, and reveal the wisdom she gained over countless setbacks and challenges. With vivid wit and candor, she will share her hard-earned advice for cultivating true perseverance and toughness so that you can get big things done.

Speaker: Dr. Jen Welter, first female NFL coach and author, Play Big

Emcee:  Laysha Ward, EVP and chief external engagement officer, Target

YOUNG WOMEN’S PROGRAM: Designed for high school junior and senior girls
Session II: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Figuring out your next step in life is not always an easy task. And once you figure it out, believing in yourself enough to take that step can be even harder. Wouldn’t you like to just trust your instincts and go for it? In this session, women’s leadership expert Maxie McCoy will discuss how to drop the panic-inducing, big-picture obsession over “Where am I going with my life?” and shine a spotlight on the small yet impactful decisions that will take you from lost to found. She will share her three-step “Ditch, Create and Rise” program for overcoming doubts so you can get on to the amazing career and life you deserve.

Speaker: Maxie McCoy, author, You’re Not Lost

Author lineup coming soon!

Speaker lineup coming soon!

Author lineup coming soon!

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT offering advice to help you enhance your life, grow and create more positive personal experiences outside of the workplace
Session III: 3:00 – 4:00 pm

When “The Budgetnista” started writing her book at 25, she was a teacher earning $35,000 a year and saved $40,000 within two years. She now dedicates herself to financial literacy and helping others live a richer life. In this session, you will learn her invaluable money management system with 12 steps that that can be completed in one week. Discover the practical and easy tools to complete the One Week Budget challenge and enjoy a richer life.

Speaker: Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche, award-winning personal finance educator and author, The One Week Budget and Live Richer Challenge

LEADERSHIP: Designed for a seasoned or aspiring leader looking to climb the ladder and shatter the glass ceiling
Session III: 3:00 – 4:00 pm

Whether in a meeting with your colleagues, selling a client on an idea or mingling at a networking event, understanding what others are trying to say is imperative to your success. Led by Alice Rutkowski, nicknamed the “People Whisperer,” this session will boost your nonverbal intelligence so you can better grasp someone’s true intent and influence others with your own body language. Rutkowski will share the five keys to reading body language: kinesics, posture, trusting what you can see, studying hands and arms, and being able to accurately assess facial cues—so that you can understand the body language in your own postures and in that of others. You will walk away with a whole new set of tools for your next interaction!

Speaker:  Alice Rutkowski, body language expert and VP, SAGIN

CAREER ADVANCEMENT: Designed for the mid/senior level professional with significant experience looking for advice around professional skills and job advancement
Session III: 3:00 – 4:00 pm

Your innovative idea could solve problems, create new paradigms, lead to breakthroughs, and possibly even change the world. What’s holding you back?  This panel of experts, led by serial entrepreneur Nathalie Molina Nino, will explore how you can unlock your boundless potential to create and innovate. You will learn how to clarify your vision, design for scalability, and take a few helpful shortcuts to navigate the obstacles that have kept that audacious idea of yours from becoming a reality.

Thought Leader: Nathalie Molina Nino, CEO, Brava Investments and author, Leap Frog

Panelists: 
⚬ Danielle Kayembe, female futurist and social entrepreneur
⚬ Amy Porter, founder & CEO, AffiniPay
⚬ Lea Sims, VP, employee & member Innovation, USAA

CAREER ADVANCEMENT: Designed for the mid/senior level professional with significant experience looking for advice around professional skills and job advancement
Session III: 3:00 – 4:00 pm

Whether personally or professionally, women face more stresses and strains than ever before. What if you could embrace life’s challenges, using them to catapult yourself forward instead of feeling weighed down by them? Join resilience expert Anne Grady as she presents a comedic spin on her story of being forced to build resilience to a positive end. She will share the important tools to enable you to cultivate your ability to adapt, learn from experience, and establish a healthy relationship with your key stressors. Attendees will learn how to:

• Identify triggers and manage self-defeating habits
• Use brain-based strategies to improve emotional regulation and attention
• Identify high pay-off activities and priorities
• Take advantage of risk, change, and adversity to rise up faster and stronger

Speaker: Anne Grady, resilience expert and best-selling author

Emcee: Renee Schroeder, SVP, core technology solutions, Charles Schwab Technology Services, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

TRANSITIONS: Offering expertise for maneuvering career and life transitions
Session III: 3:00 – 4:00 pm

Many people feel like they spend their days drowning in mundane tasks—attending meetings, responding to emails, and completing reports—that prevent them from getting to the meaningful work they truly want to be doing. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Join this session to learn how to eliminate redundancies, communicate with clarity, and make simplification a habit. Find out how to create lasting value, feel more empowered, and spend each day doing more things that matter. Lisa Bodell’s method will show you how to eliminate the busy work that puts a chokehold on us every day, and instead spend time on the work that we value.

Speaker: Lisa Bodell, globally recognized innovation leader and futurist, founder and CEO, futurethink and author, Why Simple Wins

EMERGING PROFESSIONALS: Designed for Millennials and newer professionals entering or re-entering the workforce
Session III: 3:00 – 4:00 pm

Faced with pivotal and thought-provoking moments in their careers, college friends Hana Schank and Elizabeth Wallace came back together decades post-graduation to embark on a project about women, ambition, transition, crisis and achievement. This workshop will share their rich insights, findings and first-hand experiences about the changing meaning of ambition. Drawing on their project, The Ambition Interviews,  they will offer insights into the variables that push women to make big decisions, and offer tools to help emerging professionals make those decisions easier.  For a new generation of working women or anyone at a crossroads, this session will explore the impact of modern parenting, a 24/7 work culture, and sexism in the workplace so that those big decisions become a little easier to make.

Speakers: Hana Schank & Elizabeth Wallace, co-authors, The Ambition Decisions

Emcee: Cindy Bond, surface transportation and logistics, Phillips 66

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: Offering advice to help you enhance your life, grow and create more positive personal experiences outside of the workplace
Session III: 3:00 – 4:00 pm

For most of us, a life with more time to do what you want and less stress would be optimal. But, making intentional, purposeful choices to create a life with more clarity and ease when you feel so harried is challenging. Whether you are a seasoned parent who has lost your love of parenting, a new parent returning to work and trying to manage the balance or are in a quest to earn and produce more and feel overwhelmed by busyness, this session will help you un-complicate to try and achieve the simpler, more intentional lives we desire. Join this panel of experts to learn:

• The nine common problem spots that cause parents the most grief and the doable steps you can take to make them better.
• How to boycott busy, get rid of excess, and create more with less—more space, more time, and less stress.
• How to establish sanity back into your life with practical tips for managing the mental, emotional, and physical challenges of returning to work as a new parent.
• Practical tips for returning joy back to your life

Thought Leader: KJ Dell’Antonia, columnist and contributing editor, New York Times and author, How to Be a Happier Parent

Panelists: 
⚬ Courtney Carver, author, Soulful Simplicity
⚬ Lauren Smith Brody, author, The Fifth Trimester 
⚬ Jackie Maniscalco, associate director, IT, Merck & Co.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: Offering advice to help you enhance your life, grow and create more positive personal experiences outside of the workplace
Session III: 3:00 – 4:00 pm

Feeling “hormonal” is not usually seen as a positive thing, even though it is entirely natural. But Martie Haselton, the world’s leading researcher on sexuality, argues that there is great value to be had in better understanding the hidden intelligence of hormones. In this session, she will clearly explain the biological processes that profoundly influence our behavior and offer a radical new understanding of our bodies, minds, and relationships. Once we embrace hormonal cycles as adaptive solutions to genuine biological challenges, we can stop letting these changes bring us down and use this information to make better-informed choices. Plan to leave less fearful of hormonal shifts and armed with a new appreciation for how hormones can empower you to succeed.

Thought Leader:  Martie Haselton, professor, UCLA and author, Hormonal

Have you ever felt that you’ve left money on the table in your business? Is your business ‘busy’ but there isn’t much left in the bank account to show for it? Join Leslie Hassler of Your Biz Rules to learn how to price your goods or services and capture more revenue with the inbound clients you already have. This session will help you Identify the cues in your business that will tell you when your pricing needs to change and once you establish you new price point, how to encourage purchasing.

Speaker: Leslie Hassler, Small Business Growth Strategist

Technology has given marketers more tools to reach customers than ever before. But mastering the basics are just as important as ever, especially if you are on a tight budget. How are today’s marketing leaders balancing medium, cost, and message? Serial entrepreneur Terry Mitchell will share her top marketing strategies to get the most bang for your buck.

Speaker: Terry Mitchell, serial entrepreneur and founder, The Austin Socialite

Businesses don’t plan to fail; they just fail to plan. For an aspiring entrepreneur, determining if you have a viable business idea, managing the many bumps you will encounter along the way and creating a plan for the business’ success are all key steps that will help you avoid being derailed. Veronica Garza, who brought to life her concept of tasty gluten-free tortillas, has lived through this process and will share those start-up steps, help you avoid common mistakes, identify your customers, understand your financing needs, and decide where and how you will operate.

Speaker:Veronica Garza, co-founder, Siete Family Foods

Building relationships through networking is crucial to growing your business.  But, what if your networking efforts are not producing the desired results? Join this session to learn how to establish real connections, which avenues are best for reaching your desired audience, successful follow up strategies to turn your contacts into business and how to use technology to stay connected.

Speaker: Toni Harris Taylor, founder, Drastic Steps Marketing

It’s crucial to make a memorable first impression because let’s face it:  you only get one first impression! Attend this roundtable and learn how to make a compelling 15-second elevator pitch to maximize your connections with potential clients, mentors, friends and business associates. Brand messaging coach Karie Price will share her tips for crafting an elevator pitch for your personal brand that will help you stand out from the rest.

Speaker: Karie Price, Brand Messaging Coach

How do you turn your idea into a business or brand that is ready to success? In this roundtable discussion, Margie Becker, who brought to life her concept of an online community that connects consumers with women-owned businesses, will share how she came up with a business plan, what it takes to compete, how to successfully manage your growth/failures and how she created what she hopes is a lasting entity that supports women-owned businesses.

Speaker: Margie Becker, founder, Pay Her Forward

You have a great idea for a book, but what’s the next step? If you are looking to get published, you have more choices than ever before. Should you seek a literary agent or a traditional publisher, employ an agency to publish your book, or self-publish? Natalia Sylvester, who recently published her second novel, will share her tips and strategies for getting you (and your book idea) where you want to go!

Speaker: Natalia Sylvester, author, Chasing the Sun and Everyone Knows You Go Home

Your marketing budget may be limited, so every dollar counts. Do you invest in Facebook Ads as part of your digital strategy? Facebook Ads allow you to find the people who will likely be interested in your business.  Join this session to find out why and learn how to use this effective tool to help your business find prospective customers.

Speaker: Rebecca Councill, owner, CLR Digital Media Services

You tweet, blog and post as part of your strategy to raise awareness of your brand. Sometimes the response is immediate and sometimes you might hear crickets chirping as you wait for someone to notice your latest post. Branding expert Vannessa Wade will share how to improve these responses. Attend this session to learn how to CONNECT to your audience, CONVERT and monetize your brand and CORRECT so you can better target your audience.   

Speaker: Vannessa Wade, CEO, Connect the Dots PR

Thanks to social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, consumers are looking to fellow consumers more and more to inform their purchasing decisions. Savvy brands can now connect more directly and organically with their customers through thoughtful influencer marketing. Come learn about this growing technique, including affiliate, social, and peer-to-peer marketing, and how you can get influencers to help your products take off.

Speaker: Kennetta Piper, digital marketer and brand strategist

Telling your story via video online is intimidating for many, but with 8 billion views every day, social video is becoming an essential, non-negotiable tool for us to connect with our audiences and customers as creatives, bloggers, and businesses. In this session, movie director and producer Sara Hirsh Bordo will provide the tools and strategies needed to create effective video and teach you how social video can help your brand, blog or business (no matter the size of your budget!).

Speaker: Sara Hirsh Bordo, founder, director & producer, Women Rising

Millennial women are changing the workplace and redefining what it means to be powerful. But, to become successful in the workplace, there are often biases that must be overcome. From lazy and entitled to self-obsessed and difficult, we’ve all heard these inaccurate stereotypes about millennials and know all too well how they can affect your career trajectory. Join this session to learn how to redefine any misconceptions you are facing as a millennial in the workplace and get the respect you deserve from your colleagues and superiors.

Speaker: Elsa Dithmer, senior manager, Planview

You’ve crafted a cause that we all want to believe in, but how do you get the word out? Meet Laura Donnelly, who saw a need for positive media representations of Latina women for young girls. When she couldn’t find it, she created it herself.  Using social media platforms, traditional media strategies and fundraising techniques, she grew support and found the funding for Latinitas, a digital magazine for young Latinas. Come learn her tips and strategies so you can create your own movement!

Speaker: Laura Donnelly, founder & CEO, Latinitas

Instagram has become the app of choice for many looking to promote their business, blog or passion. Find out how to use this image-based social network to connect and engage personally and professionally. Whether you work for a corporation, small business or a non-profit, you will leave inspired with ideas on how to propel your work forward. Be sure to bring your smartphone and be ready to dive in!

Speaker: Shauna Glenn, founder, Shauna Glenn Design

Author lineup coming soon!