Women's Leadership Conference: Day 2 Workshops

Dear Friends and Family,

I attended three workshops on Wednesday:

1. Share. Save. Spend.
2. Top Performer
3. The Power of Play

Share. Save. Spend.

This workshop focused on making you think about where your money goes. The facilitator advocated thinking about sharing some of your money first with causes you support, then saving a portion, and finally spending a portion. (Hence the clever clever name). He spoke about balancing money with your values and your culture. And, he went into things that lower your credit score and that improve your credit score.

We did an exercise that really stuck with me. Write down for an item to cost of:

1. a premium item
2. an average item
3. a no-name item
4. a used item

We did it for a pair of jeans. I put $110, $60, $17, $10 down for my numbers. Then, ask yourself two questions: What benefit do I get from buying a premium brand as opposed to an average or no-name brand? And, if I chose to purchase the less-costly alternative, what could I do with the money I saved? He was totally okay with the answer being, I'd buy more (which I wouldn't). He just wanted us to stop and think about it.

Top Performer

An average performer does it themselves. A top performer includes someone else. The same applies to leadership.

This class is about natural energy, the energy that is created when you reach out and authentically connect with someone else. It's about engaging others and inviting others to engage you.

Focused primarily on sales, but applicable in all situations, it talks about:

1. claim your pitch - own what it is that you're doing
2. build a circle - create a world and invite people in
3. juice the jam - when #$@! happens, work with it
4. pass the hat - ask for what you want

Taken from working with street performers, these concepts talk about how much more engaging improv and collaboration are vs. a scripted routine. Practice, yes. Rote, no.

The Power of Play

Unfortunately, the facilitator couldn't make it to the session due to a family emergency. Instead, two women I know from old work, put together some exercises for us to work through. It was fun, but I don't have any notes to share. Sorry.

All in all, I enjoyed the workshops. I tried to steer clear of any directly related to old work, since I thought that would be unfair and awkward. Instead, I focused on ones that were around personal development. I'm so glad I was able to attend. I have two action items I committed to that I still need to do. I promised to write to colleagues with notes from my first workshop. And, I promised to write to a colleague about forming a new group.


Cheers!
mouse