2020 Agenda

Melinda Gates, co-founder, Gates Foundation and CEO, Pivotal Ventures

M. Tamra Chandler, people maven, CEO, and founding partner, PeopleFirm

For many of us, providing “feedback” is one of the toughest parts of being a leader. We want to motivate our team to improve, learn new skills and strive for success, but often employees receive the feedback with resentment and self-doubt. Understanding how others experience us provides valuable opportunities for us to learn and grow in any work environment, including a virtual one. This session will help you learn how to take the sting out of providing feedback and reclaim it as a motivating, empowering experience. You will gain insight into how to minimize the negative physical and emotional responses that can erode trust and shut down communication. You will learn how to give and receive effective, focused and fair feedback so you can put these ideas into action.

James Clear, author, Atomic Habits

As daily life has shifted in unprecedented ways, so have our habits – both good and bad. Many people struggle when they try to drop bad habits and develop good ones—simply because they lack the right system. No matter your goals, this session will offer a proven framework for making improvements every day. Led by James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habits, you will explore practical strategies for how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. Learn how to:

• Make time for new habits (even when life is this crazy)
• Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower
• Design your environment to make success easier
• Get back on track when you fall off course

This session will offer a fresh perspective on how to make progress now and arm you with the tools and strategies you need to get 1% better every day.

Amber Rae, author, Choose Wonder Over Worry

Anxious? Overwhelmed? Scared? Hopeful? This is an unsettling time for many of us, and whatever you’re feeling—you’re not alone. While you might think that anxiety and fear are obstacles to overcome, author, artist, and coach Amber Rae invites you to consider: what if your uncomfortable emotions are friends on the path to unlocking your full potential? In this session, you’ll learn to reframe your relationship with your emotions. You’ll learn to see your feelings as wise messengers, not enemies—so that you can walk authentically and courageously through an ever-changing world. You will leave with strategies for both life and work, so that you can be the best YOU now.

To be announced soon!

Nataly Kogan, author, Happier Now

Emotional health and happiness are more than nice-to-have feelings. They are essential skills, that can make you a more effective leader who is better able to lead your team to be their best and improve productivity, creativity, communication, and performance. And the good news is that emotional health can be improved and cultivated, even in challenging times. In this practical workshop, nationally recognized emotional health expert, Nataly Kogan, shares the mindset shifts and skills that can help you boost your well-being and emotional health skills so that you and your team will thrive. Using the science-backed Happier Method™, you will learn strategies to manage stress, develop a culture of gratitude, and build trust so that everyone feels more uplifted, resilient, motivated, and connected, even when working remotely.

Reshma Saujani, author, Brave, Not Perfect

In these crazy times when we’re all trying to keep our heads above water, imagine what it would feel like to finally embrace imperfection. To not worry about pleasing everyone all the time and to feel courageous enough to step outside your comfort zone or risk rejection to seize exciting new opportunities. In this session, Girls Who Code founder and CEO, Reshma Saujani, will share inspiring insights into how to end women’s love affair with perfection and rewire ourselves for bravery. She’ll share why perfectionism sets us on a path that may feel safe in the moment, but bravery is what will lead us to the path we’re authentically meant to follow to live our biggest, boldest and most joyful life.

Priya Parker, author, The Art of Gathering

This year has rocked our vision of what a gathering should look like, and what is even possible. But it is also an opportunity to re-evaluate the quality of our past gatherings and re-envision future ones. Expert facilitator, Priya Parker, has spent 15 years helping leaders and communities navigate complicated conversations about community and identity. In this session, she will reveal how our past gatherings relied too much on routine and conventions instead of distinctiveness and people. Looking forward, Parker will show what works, what doesn’t, and explain how simple changes can invigorate any group experience. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker will share how to find a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, in person or remotely, for work and for play.

To be announced soon!

Wade Davis, feminist, educator and former NFL player

We are at a significant turning point in challenging systemic inequality. How do we fully use this moment to permanently remove the barriers faced by marginalized communities? Drawing on his firsthand experiences defusing and redirecting hate, former NFL player, Wade Davis, will share his personal story and real-world solutions to combat unconscious racism, sexism and bias. This session will enable you to become an action-oriented change-maker rather than someone who just checks the I and D box, and will also help you dispel fear and mistrust, as we work together to create workplaces that work for everyone.

Valorie Burton, author, It’s About Time

For many years, it’s felt like we’ve been racing the clock every day – and still not getting everything done. At least, that’s how we felt at the beginning of 2020. Enter a global pandemic and now we aren’t even racing anymore. Instead, the hectic pace of our new lives is threatening to overwhelm us. We may even worry that there’s no time for some of our most important goals and dreams in this new normal. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In Valorie Burton’s national bestseller, Successful Women Think Differently, she showed that successful women think differently, make decisions differently, set goals differently, and bounce back from failure and adversity differently. Now, she has written a new book about helping women climb out of “time poverty” and create a meaningful life, lived at a more natural pace with a more reasonable load of activities. You will leave this session equipped with the practical tools you need to re-allocate your time to reflect the values and experiences that matter to you most.