“How was the conference?” Everyone was so supportive as I was gearing up to speak at this year’s NAWMBA conference in Dallas and they started asking the moment I came back. The answer is, it was great.
It was powerful to be around so many smart and driven women in one place at the same time. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I’m not a big “girl power” kind of woman. But I fiercely support other women and this group inspired me. This was such an engaging group of participants that I found myself deeply appreciating this overwhelmingly all women experience.
Ever the student, I attended the first day as a participant and sat in on a few sessions. We heard from Karen Hough who talked about how unexpectedly her improvisational skills applied to business. I bought her book and I’m anxious to start reading. You can find it on Amazon here.
We also heard from Ginger Hardage, SVP of Culture & Communications for Southwest Airlines. She talk about the Southwest culture and what it means to provide a good experience for employees and customers. She had us in tears in the first 5 minutes and I’m not a weeper either.
Margaret Heffernan of BBC fame, spoke on day two about the complicated relationship women have with power. I got some good quotes from Margaret that I’m still thinking about.
Then there were the actual sessions. Jaime Lira talking about social media and Lisa Arie spoke on following your passion. I couldn’t get to all of them, but I heard great things about so many more.
My session was titled “Turn your Resume into a Job Offer.” The group that attended my session was fantastic. They asked the best questions–someone estimated over 45 questions over our short 90 minutes together. That’s a question every 2 minutes. To say that this group held up their end of the conversation is an understatement. As a speaker, nothing is better than when you don’t have to do all the work yourself. This was a fun, smart and engaged group of women who all have amazing careers and will continue to do brilliant things. I was honored to be a part of it.