WILB Conference Heads To Calgary
The 6th Annual Women in Leadership and Business Conference on November 23rd & 24th, 2015, is a national, 2-day interactive learning and professional development event being held at Hyatt Regency in Calgary, Alberta. The platform of the conference is: Grow your Business and Advance your Career. The event is designed to engage delegates with speakers and other attendees and includes a total of 12 workshops and keynotes that allows for participation in discussion groups and networking. Keynote and workshop topics focus on current leadership and business topics from experts, authors and accomplished business people from around Canada and the US.
The 200+ delegates that this conference, are made up of 79% senior corporate executives and 21% established entrepreneurs from across Canada. This high caliber group of delegates hold positions ranging from CEO to Vice Presidents, Directors, Owners and Partners from industries including finance, education, health care, media, marketing, communications, technology, consumer goods and services, government and manufacturing.
All discounts and promotions are stand-alone offers and may not be combined with any other discounts or promotional offers unless otherwise indicated in writing.
Hyatt Regency Hotel Calgary
Topics and Sessions – View Full Program
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2015
Registration: 2:00 – 8:00 p.m.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
Registration Opens: 7:00 a.m.
Breakfast: 7:oo -8:30 a.m.
Opening Remarks: 8:30 a.m.
Sessions: 8:55 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Networking Reception: 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Don’t Dine Alone Seating Times: 6:00 p.m.; 6:30 p.m.; 7:00 p.m.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015
Breakfast: 7:00 – 8:30 a.m.
Opening Remarks: 8:30 a.m.
Sessions: 8:45 a.m. – 4:05 p.m.
Closing Remarks: 4:05 p.m.
Conference Adjourned: 4:15 p.m.
We’re excited to present the following speakers in 2015. Stay tuned for additional speaker announcements.
Click on a speakers name or photo to read their full biography.
BARB STEGEMANN, CEO, Celebrated Entrepreneur & Best Selling Author, The 7 Virtues
Barbara’s entrepreneurial vision was formed after her best friend—a soldier—was severely wounded in Afghanistan. Understanding that supporting Afghanistan’s economy was a key to building stability for its people, Stegemann created The 7 Virtues Beauty—a company that sources organic oils from countries experiencing turmoil (such as Afghanistan, Haiti and the Middle East) to encourage change and to reverse the effects of war and poverty.
Stegemann became the first woman from Atlantic Canada to land a venture-capital deal on the CBC TV show Dragons’ Den for The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc. She became the “Top Game Changer” in the show’s history.
Since then, Stegemann was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada; won the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the emerging Entrepreneur category for Atlantic Canada” (2012); was ranked as one of Profit Guide magazine’s “Top 30 Cool & Fabulous Canadian Entrepreneurs” (2012); her fragrance collection won Chatelaine’s “Beauty 100 Award” (2012); received the “Women Innovators Award” from the US State Department at the APEC Women and the Economy Summit; and was made the first female Honorary Colonel for 14 Wing Greenwood base, Royal
Canadian Air Force.
She has opened for Erin Brockovich, emceed for Rudy Giuliani, and Danny Williams, and is often invited to moderate panels and attend events as a delegate with world leaders such as Bill Clinton.
Stegemann is the author of the bestselling book, The 7 Virtues of a Philosophy Queen.
MARK BOWDEN, Communication Expert |Performance Trainer, Truthplane
Today’s executives need to do more than simply succeed: they need to stand out. Communications expert Mark Bowden takes the audience on an exciting journey as he illustrates how you can use persuasive communication skills to set yourself apart, win trust, and gain credibility. Mark’s trademark techniques are used by top leaders and political players around the world who want to gain an advantage—beyond words—when they speak.
Learn More About Mark
MARIA GAMB, Founder & CEO, NMS Communications LLC
How to Create Powerful Alliances and Loyal Teams
People follow leaders: leaders without the ability to have their team follow them are not effective leaders at all. What makes some business leaders so highly effective and influential? Why is it that some have devoted followers and teams that will do anything for them?
Staff, vendors and other circle of influences want to partner with them all the time. What is that special sauce that makes them so irresistible? The answer is that they know the secrets to exercising their influence and building relationships using tried and true rules of engagement that make others so loyal to them. Value based leadership is the key tool used to facilitate results.
Deliverables:
- – How to appropriately influence others in all your business relationships
- – Creating a respectful and mutually beneficial, value based leadership style others will respond to.
- – Build powerful alliances and loyal teams who will support you for years to come.
Learn More about Maria
TAMMY HEERMANN, Vice President, Global Leadership Development, Lee Hecht Harrison Knightsbridge
BEING STRATEGIC – HOW TO BE STRATEGIC AND GET CREDIT FOR IT
Strategic; it’s the label that everyone’s looking for. We lead with it on our resumes, we search for it on our 360 feedback, and we yearn for it from partners and funders. After all, strategic people are more successful, better paid, and have greater leadership potential. The quest to be perceived as more strategic is an even more difficult battle for women than men. One surprising study found that strategic ability was, in fact, women’s Achilles heel.
In this interactive session, Tammy shows that being perceived as strategic is well within your reach; and it’s probably not what you thought. It’s not just the ability to produce a great looking strategy document. It doesn’t require that you have the authority to make organization-wide decisions. It requires only that you be more deliberate about your thoughts and your actions. It demands that you put the smallest decision in the context of your broader goals. Being strategic is about stepping out of the day-to-day madness and recognizing moments of choice that serve tomorrow.
During this session, you’ll gain a whole new perspective as Tammy confronts the misguided ideas and half truths about what being strategic means—myths that need to be debunked. It’s time to get clear on what it really means to be strategic and to get serious about building up our strategic muscles.
You will learn how to:
- -Communicate with context using strategic dialect
- -Master the use of strategic questions and points of view
- -Navigate relationships with organizational savvy
CAROLYN ELLIS, Award-Winning Coach and Leadership Trainer, Brilliance Mastery
Doodling for Decision-Makers: How Visual Tools Help Leaders Ignite Creativity, Clarity & Engagement
In this fast-paced and ever-changing world, effective leadership and business success requires the ability to see think outside the box and engage your team in your vision. In this Learning Pod, visual catalyst and leadership expert Carolyn Ellis will teach participants:
- – The brain science behind why doodling can help improve decision-making, communication and engagement
- -6 different ways visual images can be used in any business to have more impact in sales, marketing and branding
- -Two essential tools to help you apply doodling as a decision-making tool in your daily life (no drawing skills required, honest!)
BILL GREENHALGH, CEO, Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA)
Workplace 2025: Rethinking your Business Strategy
Is a camera company in the business of frames and lenses—or preserving memories? Is QuickBooks just software—or an efficient way for entrepreneurs to manage books and free up time to grow their business?
Ultimately, the business you’re in is what your customers say it is—and your business strategy must reflect this if you want to succeed. Using examples from both Fortune 500 firms and his own experience leading Canadian organizations including the Globe and Mail, Cinram and Nortel, Bill Greenhalgh will examine the successes—and failures—businesses have made in building strategy around providing value to customers; and how you can re-examine the business you’re in to better meet your customer’s needs.
BRANDON KLAYMAN, CEO & Founder of Conscious Commerce/Constant Contact
Standout Subject Lines: Get Open, Get Read, Get Results with Award Winning #1 Rated Solution Provider
Ignored – or Engaging? How are your subject lines working – or NOT working – to capture the attention and interest of your audience?
This fast-paced seminar will take a deeper dive into the mechanics of truly effective subject lines. We’ll cover:
- -The three keys that make or break your subject line (and how short your window really is..)
- -What works – and what does NOT work – in capturing your readers’ attention – Length, brand, urgency and offers – make them work for your subject lines – Before and examples that make it crystal clear how to improve your results
- -Get their attention – get in the door – and get the response you desire. Whether you are trying to get read, realize revenue, increase your reach or inspire referrals, your subject lines are a key to your success!
DAWN O’CONNOR, Director & Productivity Ninja, Think Productive Canada
How to be a Productivity Ninja: Worry less, achieve more, love what you do
Information overload is a big problem. We’re all overwhelmed with the amount of information and potential distraction we face in our work. It’s no longer enough to just focus on your time management: it’s time to think about how you manage your attention and focus, your projects and actions and your choices and habits. A Productivity Ninja™ is calm and prepared, but also skilled and ruthless in how he or she deals with the enemy that is information overload.
What you’ll learn:
- -The 9 characteristics of the Productivity Ninja™
- -How to stop email and the internet taking up your whole day ? Beating procrastination – How to replace demoralising lists with a more productive personal productivity system – – Fighting distraction and interruption
- -Staying focused, on task, and “in the zone”
- -Replacing constant fire-fighting and confusion with a purposeful structure and plan
- -Managing your energy, concentration and motivation in a sustainable way
You will leave the session with some practical tools to boost your productivity, reduce your stress-levels and ultimately make things happen in your work and life.
JULIE ANNE CHRISTOPH, Co-Founder, Conscious Changes
Conscious Business: The Next Corporate Evolution
Are you constantly introducing new skills and assessments in the workplace but after a bump in enthusiasm, find nothing really changes?; or
In spite of your best efforts do you still struggle with employee engagement and commitment?
If you answered yes to either, then you’re not alone. Today there is an increasing number of people waking up to the reality that something is missing in the way we run our organizations.
Conscious Business is being advocated as the next evolution in corporate reinvention – but what exactly is it? (Pete Burden & Rob Warwick)
If we’re to bring our best selves to the workplace, positively impact employee engagement and thus improve the bottom line, we need to start acknowledging that at the core we are all complex beings with thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams operating within that workplace.
This session will explore:
-What “consciousness” is in the business context;
-What changes you can expect to see from introducing more of it;
-How to choose how you respond to situations, rather than react;
-How to achieve greater levels of consciousness in business; and
-How a closer examination of ourselves and the impact we are having on those around us.
Learn More about Julie Anne
TAMMY SWEENEY, VP Program Development, Learn2
I Want a Stronger Team! Leverage the Strengths of Your Team to Impact Engagement at the Source
Do you struggle with how to engage your team one on one, in their own unique way while still delivering on results? Aspire 2 Success is a process that generates an in-depth conversation between a team member and manager, so that you are better able to fully understand your employee’s motivation and take immediate action based on their unique needs. What if you had a system that allowed you to build the strong team you need to ensure success? Join us and find out…
You will leave with…
– A tool and process to build your stronger team and stronger relationships
– Practical exercises that you can use on the spot with your team to build higher level of engagement
– A process to minimize challenges associated with the generation gap
– Immediate actionable insights into how to communicate better
– Tools to impact engagement – where it occurs at employee manager level
DOUG BOLGER, Founder & Chief Learning Officer, Learn2
BreaktHRough Leadership: Lead So Your Organization Thrives
We are in an age where people and culture have become a true strategic advantage for companies. Organizational culture is the last meaningful differentiator, yet very few organizations mobilize this opportunity. Take a more active leadership stance and start to measure people and culture with the same care that you measure sales, finance or operations. What if you had a tool that allowed you to see and measure the gaps in your organization and identify proven solutions to bridge those gaps? The Culture Gap Index allows you to think about your team differently and to leverage your leadership where you know it will make a difference to your team.
What You’ll Leave With:
- – Learn how the right data drives better diagnosis, faster choices, better solutions and most important – an advantage in the market
- – A process that will challenge you to step up your leadership efforts and results
- – A process that will help drive your organizational results forward
- – Test drive the Culture Gap Index to identify the biggest gaps in your team or organization and identify solutions to bridge those gaps
TERESA DE GROSBOIS, President, Wildfire Workshops Inc.
Mass Influence – Mastering the Habits of the Highly Influential
With work becoming more complex, the profile of a top leader has changed in more than 89% of successful organizations. It is no longer sufficient in leadership to simply respond effectively to change; top performers must be masterful at influencing change. Mass Influence is an innovative exploration into the key elements for influencing change by embodying the habits that create influence.
What is that “thing” that creates a leader so compelling and influential that the world turns when they speak? Mass Influence explores the identifiable habits and unspoken etiquette of the highly influential that are a mystery to most successful entrepreneurs and business leaders, yet that anyone can obtain.
Most leaders can’t put their finger on what makes a Martin Luther King Jr. or a Steve Jobs. Whether influencing within an organization, an industry, or society as a whole, the principles for creating stronger business influence and word-of-mouth marketing skills remain the same.
Participants will learn:
- – The top habits high influencers have mastered to forward their reputation and brand
- – The etiquette you must understand to successfully connect with high- level influencers
- – The recipe for becoming the most magnetic go-to person in your field
- – The 3 key steps to create massive word-of-mouth around your project, organization or cause
MIA PEARSON,Co-Founder, North Strategic
“It’s not good enough to be good at what you do, you need to be seen as being good at what you do.”
Would you launch a new product or service within your organization without developing a strategic plan and carefully laying out the brand positioning?
Of course not.
And yet, when it comes to our personal brands, all too often we throw up LinkedIn profiles and post corporate biographies with little thought to direction or consideration of a strategy around what it is we want to be known for. There’s no denying it, ownership over your professional brand should be a major priority for every professional.
In this hands-on session, Mia Pearson explores the evolution of personal brand communications and the role public relations and social media play in developing your personal brand. You will learn how to develop a personal PR strategy that positively influences your career, and a bio that positions you in the best light possible.
You will also acquire the tools to make yourself known to the people that matter most, including how to:
-Create a foundation for your own personal PR program
-Elevate your personal brand and how others perceive it
-Manage your reputation in controlled and uncontrolled environments
-Leverage existing PR activities at your company
-Become a thought leader and get positive coverage about issues you are passionate about
ANNE GRAHAM, Author, Speaker, Accelerator
P.R.O.F.I+T In Plain Sight: How Savvy Business Leaders Uncover Hidden Customer Value and Turn it Into Bottom Line Results
Profit is the applause customers give a company that creates great value for them, and it should be louder in your business! You don’t have to wait for a turnaround in the economy, reduced regulation, better exchange rates, or lower taxes to have more to show for all your hard work.
It’s time to take back control and push the proven buttons for profitable growth by selling more of the right products and services to more of your ideal customers, at higher prices and lower costs.
By the end of this high-value and practical workshop you’ll:
- Have two powerful insights that will shift the way you look at what is possible for your business
- Learn the practical 5Rs that create rapid results in your business by increasing customer loyalty
- Discover the easiest way to create a WOW experience for your customers and eliminate customer service issues
- Be surprised by the hidden power you have to price for value, even in highly competitive markets
- Uncover low-risk, low-cost ways for every employee help you innovate and keep ahead of your competition.
If you’re tired of saying or hearing “we don’t have the budget for that!”, cutting costs, putting spending on hold, dismayed that you don’t have much on the bottom line to show for all your effort, and feeling like the fun has gone out of your business, then P.R.O.F.I+T in Plain Sight is the roadmap you’ve been missing for turning up the applause in your business.
DEBORAH ROSATI, Corporate Director & Co-Founder, Women Get on Board
Are you Board Ready?
It is a journey to get yourself board-ready and you need to be realistic in your skills, experience and the value you bring to a board. Also you need to be mindful that it is a very competitive marketplace with an over-supply of qualified corporate directors for a limited supply of available corporate board seats.
So, how do you start your journey to get board-ready so you can compete for a corporate board seat? The first step is to ask yourself 10 questions to determine your readiness for leading and serving on a corporate board.
PAULA WORTHINGTON, Senior Account Director, North Strategic
Amplifying Your Message Through Creative PR
In just four short years, North Strategic is the fastest growing public relations and social media agency in Canada, redefining how strategic communications is done in Canada.
In today’s competitive media landscape, newsrooms and social media platforms are changing faster than ever. Making your brand or message stand out can feel challenging. This workshop will share innovative case studies of how some of Canada’s top brands are sharing their stories in creative and compelling ways through PR, social media and video.
Through this session, you will gain valuable insights through project examples and program, learning:
-What makes a great story or media pitch – what are editors looking for?
-What’s changing, what’s staying the same
-How to elevate your brand through storytelling and visual campaigns
-Ways to leverage the power of social media and video
-What’s in a PR toolkit, and how you can apply it to add creativity to your PR opportunities
DR ELISABETH SHERMAN, Director of Brain Health and Psychological Health, Copeman Healthcare Centre
The Leading Edge: Brain Health and Brain Power Under Pressure for Women
Your greatest business asset is your brain. What are you doing to protect it?
You know how it is: you’re good at taking on a lot of work, so you get more work. You get bigger projects, bigger budgets, more staff, more deadlines, more pressure. So you adjust. Home and family times starts feeling frantic, downtime gets squeezed out. You start cutting out sleep, skipping workouts, eating out more. You are accomplishing so much. Yet you’re distracted,frazzled and irritable, and can’t get your work done as efficiently as before. It’s like your head is in a vise and the weight is getting heavier every day.
Pressure, stress and multiple demands are painful. And they make your brain underperform at work and at home. The good news? By understanding how your brain works, you can increase your performance, leadership, and resilience under pressure.
This workshop will give you new tools, tips and insights to help you advance, thrive and stay strong in an increasingly pressurized work environment.
You will learn about:
-What makes a good leader: Maximizing your brain’s inner CEO
-Conserving brain power: Multitasking, Interruptions and other brain drains
-Age-proofing your brain
-Stress-proofing your brain
-The 8 things you can do for a better brain
-Your strategic plan for brain health
Come join us and learn how to give your brain the edge in business and life.
KAREN YOUNG,Chief Operating Officer, United Way of Calgary and Area
Karen Young joined United Way as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in June 2014, moving from The City of Calgary where she was Director of Community and
Neighbourhood Services. She is a catalyst for social change in the area of poverty, kids and communities and believes that by working together we can create a great city for all.
Karen is a visionary leader who believes in the value of partnerships and collaborations to achieve a common vision. She has been building momentum in communities since the 1980s, when she first started working with The City’s Parks and Recreation Department.
Through her leadership over nearly three decades at The City, Karen has worked to help build strong communities and to ensure all Calgarians can access the programs and services they need most. She was instrumental in securing $480 million to build four new recreation facilities in Calgary, driven by her belief that all Calgarians have the right to a good quality of life.
Karen has worked closely with community partners and The City on the Calgary Poverty Reduction Initiative (CPRI), which aims to cut the poverty rate in half. During the flood of 2013, she was asked by The City to lead Emergency Social Services, ensuring all vulnerable residents were connected with city services at a critical time.
Karen believes that positive change begins at the community level, and has served on the Calgary Housing Company Board of Directors, Calgary TELUS Convention Centre Board of Directors, Trustee of the Burns Memorial Fund, Calgary Poverty Reduction Initiative Stewardship Group, Calgary Local Immigration Partnership Council and the Calgary Economic Development Advisory Group.
