Sessions

Lead With What You Have: Leveraging Your Power Skills for Career Growth

Presenter: April McHugh and Kelsey Harrington
Track: Career Management  |  Participation Level: Collaborative Engagement

Women leaders bring a powerful set of skills to their work—yet they may be under-recognized, under-leveraged, or not fully owned. In this interactive workshop, participants will identify their unique power skills and explore how those skills can be intentionally applied to grow their careers.

Using a hands-on card sort, participants will identify the skills that energize them and distinguish their leadership. Through guided small- and large-group discussions, we will examine how these power skills influence impact, opportunity, and career direction. The session concludes with focused reflection and action planning so participants leave with clear, practical next steps to strengthen their career development with confidence and purpose.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify and articulate your core power skills to see the connection between your abilities and possible career growth, development, and opportunities.
• Increase confidence in naming and owning your value as a leader
• Leave with next steps, greater clarity, and agency in shaping your career path using their strengths.

Intercultural Competence as Practice: Strengthening Communication and Relationships Compassionately Across Differences

Presenters: Nola Walker and Fatima Sartbay
Track: Relationship Building and Communication  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

What if intercultural competence is not something we achieve, but a lifelong practice that shapes how we communicate and build relationships across differences, both at home in the United States and globally?

This session explores intercultural competence as an ongoing, reflective process that strengthens communication and the quality of relationships in academic and professional settings. Grounded in both scholarship and lived experience, the presenters examine how identity, context, and communication influence engagement across diverse environments.

Participants will engage in guided self-reflection, explore higher education scenarios, and practice evidence-informed strategies to support more inclusive, responsive, and effective communication. The session is designed to enhance participants’ capacity to build meaningful relationships and foster inclusive engagement across their work and communities.

Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge and awareness of intercultural literacy as an essential ongoing life skill.
• Assess personal intercultural awareness, identity, and communication patterns to identify growth areas.
• Apply two strategies to enhance inclusive, responsive communication across academic and professional contexts.
• Analyze scenarios and develop approaches that strengthen intercultural relationships, trust, and engagement.
• Identify one immediate action to integrate intercultural competence into daily practice

Navigating Gendered Double Standards During Workplace Conflict

Presenter: Andrea Luke
Track: Relationship Building and Communication  |  Participation Level: Collaborative Engagement

Conflict is inevitable, particularly in the practice of leadership. And for women and non-binary leaders, the stakes of handling conflict often feel higher in a professional landscape built on rigid gender norms. Navigating gendered double standards, where the same assertive behavior is praised in men but labeled as “aggressive” in women, can make workplace disagreements feel like a professional minefield. This interactive session transforms conflict from a source of exhaustion into a catalyst for organizational progress.

We will define and analyze the four types of conflict goals, topic, relational, identity, and process, through a lens that accounts for the unique professional hurdles women face . Participants will identify their natural conflict-handling styles and learn how to move away from avoiding or accommodating toward high-impact integrating strategies that preserve both their authority and their workplace relationships . By practicing framing and reframing techniques, attendees will leave with a practical toolkit to address real issues, build trust, and lead through tension with confidence.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify and differentiate between topic, relational, identity, and process goals to determine what is truly at stake during a disagreement.
• Assess the advantages and disadvantages of five primary styles, integrating, dominating, compromising, accommodating, and avoiding, and strategically choose the most effective approach for a given situation.
• Use framing and reframing strategies to shift unproductive or personal interactions into actionable, solution-oriented professional dialogues.
• Cultivate high-trust environments by implement specific behaviors, such as active listening and open information sharing, to reduce work disruptions and prevent project failure.
• Strategically select conflict responses that allow for assertive problem-solving while managing the complex social expectations and double standards placed on women in leadership.

The 10 C’s of Inclusive Leadership

Presenter: Dr. Holly Stevenson
Track: Inclusive Excellence  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Inclusive leadership is a style of leadership that values team members for their uniqueness and their diverse perspectives. Such leaders intentionally create an environment where people feel valued, able to contribute and celebrated. This interactive presentation will work through ten skills that the inclusive leader has, as well as providing tools to grow each skill.

Learning Outcomes

• An understanding of their personal strengths and areas of potential improvement as they pertain to fostering inclusive leadership.
• An increased comprehension of the importance of being an inclusive leader.
• Tangible tools to begin implementing immediately which will enhance inclusion on their teams.

Lead Well, Live Well: Supervising with Purpose, Compassion, and Strength

Presenter: Shaddai Amor Legaspi Solidum
Track: Building Influence  |  Participation Level: Collaborative Engagement

What separates good leaders from truly effective supervisors? Contemporary leadership research across Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Oxford, Yale, and UW‑Madison points to a powerful, integrated formula: Trust, Clarity, Accountability, and Humanity = Strong Leadership

This session translates elite, evidence‑based research into practical leadership behaviors that strengthen supervision, elevate performance, and sustain well‑being particularly in complex, high‑pressure environments where women often lead through influence rather than authority.

Participants will explore how trust serves as the emotional foundation of leadership, how clarity transforms trust into aligned action, how accountability builds ownership rather than fear, and how humanity sustains resilience and long‑term success. Drawing on real‑world supervision examples and research‑validated leadership practices, this session reframes “soft skills” as measurable drivers of performance, engagement, and organizational impact.

Whether you supervise staff, lead teams, or influence across systems, this session offers a research‑backed framework for leading with confidence, credibility, and compassion without sacrificing results.

Learning Outcomes

Apply an evidence‑based leadership framework to:

• strengthen supervision by intentionally integrating trust, clarity, accountability, and humanity in daily leadership interactions.
• translate research into action by identifying concrete behaviors that build trust, reduce uncertainty, promote shared accountability, and enhance team resilience especially in fast‑changing or high‑stakes environments.
• reframe leadership impact by recognizing how empathy, compassion, and clear expectations function together to improve performance, engagement, and well‑being rather than compete with them.

The Helping Continuum: When to Advise, When to Coach, and How to Avoid Rescuing

Presenter: Takondwa Mwasi
Track: Relationship Building and Communication  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Many of us lead with care – and that care can unintentionally pull us into fixing, over-functioning, and solving problems that are not ours to own. This interactive session introduces a simple, coaching-informed framework for choosing the right kind of support in the moment: when direct advice is useful, when helping turns into rescuing, and how coaching-informed conversations can build clarity, ownership, and growth instead. Participants will practice a repeatable conversation structure and leave with a practical question set they can use immediately in one-on-ones, peer support, supervision, and project-leadership conversations. Grounded in evidence-informed approaches to autonomy-supportive leadership, motivational interviewing, and workplace coaching, this session offers practical tools for supporting others without taking over.

Learning Outcomes

• Distinguish advising, rescuing, and coaching-informed leadership support, and identify when each approach is most and least effective.
• Use a simple, repeatable conversation framework to shift from “fixing” problems to clarifying goals, strengthening ownership, and supporting next steps.
• Apply a practical set of coaching-informed prompts and listening strategies to one real workplace conversation.

Normalizing Failure: Architecting a Culture of Psychological Safety for Everyone

Presenter: Amanda Thornton, Sabrina Messer, Salima Currimbhoy, Sean Bossinger, and Prasanta Anumolu
Track: Personal Development and Workplace Skills  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

While the technical cost of failure is the same for everyone, the social and professional ‘tax’ of making a mistake often falls heavier on women in male-dominated spaces. In our day-to-day work, we tend to focus on celebrating successes—this panel session explores how we can also normalize failure as part of growth.

Social Media (e.g., LinkedIn) is rife with examples of people boosting themselves and others, describing the successes and accomplishments that they’ve achieved. Similarly, resumes and CVs are full of our achievements, and, as these tend to serve as our professional introductions to one another, it’s no wonder many are afraid to talk about those not-so-successful outcomes that are as much a part of workplace life as the successes we achieve. This is where normalizing failure comes into play! Creating an environment where team members are comfortable trying new initiatives, developing creative, innovative ways of tackling challenges, and then determining what works, figuring out what doesn’t, and helping others learn from the lessons we experience, helps to build a psychologically safe environment that people crave working in and that often celebrates ever-better achievements. Learn creative ways to make this happen in your environment… even if you have been afraid to fail before.

Learning Outcomes

• Learn how other organizations have normalized failure, and how it has made them better organizations.
• Learn steps you can take, no matter how small you may think they are, to move the needle to making your workplace more tolerant of failure in the pursuit of potentially greater achievements.
• Learn how colleagues and leaders can actively ease the pressure to be perfect, creating space where people feel safe to contribute and support a more balanced growth for everyone.

Your Career Compass: Using Values to Guide Pivotal Decisions

Presenter: Amy Schubert
Track: Well-Being  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Have you ever looked back on your career and realized that a single decision, moment, or unexpected nudge quietly reshaped everything that came after?

In this interactive session, a physical therapist and the current Director of Admissions for the UW–Madison Doctor of Physical Therapy Program will share the pivotal moments—some planned, many surprising—that guided her journey from clinician and private practice owner to university administrator.

Through reflective activities and pair‑and‑share conversations, you’ll uncover your own “pivot points,” explore what they might be telling you about your future, and leave with practical pearls to help you navigate your next steps with clarity and confidence.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify pivotal points in your individual career.
• Reflect on identified pivotal points in your individual career.
• Generate ideas for future actions.

Small Systems, Big Impact: How Busy Leaders Stay Focused and Move Work Forward

Presenter: Claire Lauer
Track: Personal Development and Workplace Skills  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Many professionals feel overwhelmed by competing priorities, constant communication, and the pressure to do more. But meaningful progress doesn’t come from working longer hours; it comes from working with greater clarity and intention.

In this session, Claire Lauer shares simple systems and habits that help busy leaders reduce overwhelm, protect their focus, and consistently move important work forward. Drawing from her experience running a successful business in three focused workdays per week, Claire offers a practical framework that attendees can immediately apply to their own roles.

Participants will leave with clear, actionable strategies to simplify their workload, prioritize what matters most, and build sustainable momentum in both their personal and professional lives.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify the work that truly moves priorities forward
• Create simple structures that reduce overwhelm and decision fatigue
• Break large goals into manageable steps that build consistent momentum

You Might Be Carrying Too Much: Rethinking How Women Experience Leadership

Presenter: Brittany Coleman and Deborah Biddle
Track: Well-Being  |  Participation Level: Collaborative Engagement

Women in leadership are often carrying more than they were ever meant to. Not just their roles, but the expectations no one names, the emotional weight no one acknowledges, and the pressure to hold everything together. Over time, that can become exhausting. Not because of a lack of capability, but because of what leadership has quietly required of them.

Brittany Coleman and Deborah Biddle will lead a candid, thought-provoking experience that goes beyond surface-level advice. Through guided reflection, shared dialogue, and practical tools, participants will identify what they are carrying, understand why they are carrying it, and rethink how leadership shows up in their day-to-day work.

This session is not about doing more or pushing harder. It is about recognizing what may not be yours to hold and making a different choice.

Participants will leave with practical strategies to create more shared ownership, lead with greater clarity, and reduce the pressure to operate as if everything depends on them.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify aspects of leadership responsibility that may be unnecessarily carried individually
• Understand the patterns and expectations that contribute to taking on additional load
• Apply one practical strategy to create shared ownership and lead with greater clarity

Power Without Position: Leading When You’re Not in Charge

Presenter: Caitlin Quillen
Track: Building Influence  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

You don’t need a title to be a leader—but you do need influence.

In many workplaces—especially fast-paced, high-pressure environments like collegiate athletics—you’re expected to lead, make decisions, and deliver results without always being the one “in charge.” Priorities shift, timelines move, and somehow you’re still expected to figure it out and bring people with you.

This session breaks down how to build credibility, navigate power dynamics, and actually get things done across teams—without relying on a title to do the work for you. Drawing from real experiences managing large-scale initiatives, cross-functional teams, and ever-changing priorities, we’ll focus on practical strategies to manage up, down, and across with clarity and confidence.

Through a mix of real wins, honest missteps, and lessons learned along the way, participants will gain practical tools they can immediately apply in their own work.

No fluff, no buzzwords, just real strategies that work when things get messy.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify strategies to quickly build credibility and trust across teams, regardless of formal title or position.
• Apply clear, actionable communication techniques to manage up, down, and across—resulting in more efficient decision-making and stronger collaboration.
• Navigate workplace dynamics and competing priorities with confidence, using practical tools to influence outcomes and move work forward.

From Conflict to Collaboration: Turn differing perspectives into productive solutions

Presenter: Wendy Johnson, PhD
Track: Relationship Building and Communication  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Conflict is inevitable; however, it doesn’t have to be destructive. When managed effectively, conflict becomes a powerful catalyst for creativity, innovation, and stronger team relationships. This interactive session helps leaders and professionals transform tension into collaboration by learning how to communicate with empathy, listen for understanding, and find common ground.

Participants will explore how emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and perspective-taking can shift conversations from defensive to productive. Through real-world examples, guided reflection, and peer dialogue, attendees will gain practical tools for navigating difficult discussions, balancing diverse viewpoints, and fostering a culture of mutual respect and trust. By the end of the session, participants will walk away with strategies to transform everyday workplace conflict into opportunities for connection, problem-solving, and performance growth, turning disagreement into forward momentum.

Learning Outcomes

• Differentiate between common types and sources of conflict and assess how perceptions, assumptions, and leadership behaviors influence conflict escalation or resolution.
• Apply self-awareness and emotional intelligence strategies to regulate responses, facilitate constructive dialogue, and create psychological safety during moments of disagreement.
• Develop an actionable conflict-to-collaboration plan that leverages differing perspectives to strengthen relationships, support shared decision-making, and produce productive solutions within their organizations or communities.

From Solo to Supported: How a Personal Board of Directors Can Transform Your Career

Presenter: Shana Campbell
Track: Career Management  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

You have a vision for your career; big goals, bold aspirations, and a path you’re eager to follow. But as you push forward, the journey can feel overwhelming, and at times, uncertain. You’re putting in the work, making strategic moves, yet you wonder: What am I missing?

Here’s the truth: No one succeeds alone. The professionals who move forward with clarity and confidence aren’t doing it alone—they’re intentional about who they learn from, who challenges them, and who helps open the right doors.

In this engaging and interactive session, you’ll be introduced to a practical framework to help you build that kind of support system; one that aligns with your goals and evolves as you grow. We won’t just talk about it, you’ll actively map your current network, identify gaps, and explore how to strengthen the relationships that matter most.

You’ll leave with tools, reflection prompts, and a clear plan to take immediate action. Whether you’re stepping into something new or expanding where you are, this session will give you a clear, repeatable strategy to stop navigating alone and start building the support system that helps you move forward with more clarity, confidence, and support.

Learning Outcomes

• Recognize the key roles that make up a Personal Board of Directors and their impact on career success.
• Evaluate current professional networks to identify mentorship and sponsorship gaps.
• Apply the B.O.A.R.D. Framework to build and sustain strategic career-boosting relationships

Equity on the Agenda: Process, Transparency, and Structures to Support Equitable Engagement in Meetings

Presenter: Jules Arensdorf
Track: Inclusive Excellence  |  Participation Level: Collaborative Engagement

Many UW-Madison staff members spend a significant amount of their working hours in meetings. This workshop will explore the benefits of clearly articulating outcomes and processes in meeting agendas to support equitable engagement by all participants. By stating what you hope to achieve, as well as the process by which you will reach this outcome, you are making transparent the means by which meeting attendees can contribute their voices. By participating in this workshop, attendees will explore a meeting agenda model in-depth, participate in several decision-making processes, and apply the principles to transform a typical meeting agenda. Participants will also explore strategies for adopting this model if they are not in leadership positions. By sharing and building on this model with others, my hope is to empower staff in both non-leadership and leadership roles to effect change in one of the most fundamental higher-ed environments: the meeting.

Learning Outcomes

• Articulate the benefits of defining outcomes and processes for meeting agendas
• Learn about and apply several processes for facilitating group decision-making
• Practice transforming a typical meeting agenda into one that supports equitable engagement by all attendees

Invisible Excellence: Sustaining and Advancing High-Performing Women

Presenter: Nikia Jack-Jones
Track: Inclusive Excellence  |  Participation Level: Collaborative Engagement

In workplaces where advancement pathways are structured and expectations for service and reliability are high, top-performing women are often relied upon for stability, operational excellence, and emotional labor yet their contributions may not translate into proportional visibility or advancement.

Research from Women in the Workplace (McKinsey & Lean In) and Deloitte’s burnout studies highlights persistent gaps in sponsorship, recognition, and workload equity that disproportionately affect women and underrepresented professionals.

Drawing from corporate leadership experience, internal workshop facilitation, and MBA-informed strategy frameworks, this session introduces the SUSTAIN Framework, a structured, replicable model for interrupting extraction-based performance cycles and strengthening equitable advancement systems.

Participants will engage in:

• Guided analysis of invisible labor patterns
• Small-group case scenario discussions
• A Visibility Gap Self-Assessment exercise
• Team-level implementation mapping and reflection

Learning Outcomes

• Identify systemic patterns that contribute to invisible labor and burnout among high-performing women and underrepresented colleagues.
• Analyze the gap between performance and strategic visibility in structured workplace systems.
• Apply the SUSTAIN Framework to evaluate sponsorship, recognition, and advancement equity within their teams.

Leaning out of Perfectionism – Using Tools of Self-Compassion to Fuel Growth

Presenter: Patrice Flanagan-Morris, LCSW
Track: Well-Being  |  Participation Level: Active Listening

Many women move through life feeling like they have to “get it all right” — at work, in relationships, in motherhood, and in their own healing. But perfectionism isn’t a personality trait; it’s a protective pattern the nervous system builds to keep us safe, accepted, and in control. In this session, we’ll explore what happens when we stop trying to earn our worth and start connecting to it. Through gentle reflection and nervous system–based practices, you’ll learn how self-compassion supports real, sustainable growth — not by pushing harder, but by leaning into kindness, presence, and trust in yourself. You’ll leave with tools to soften self-criticism, reconnect with your inner voice, and create space for the woman you’re becoming.

Learning Outcomes

• Learn about the nervous system and how perfectionism plays a part in that. Understand perfectionism as a nervous system response for protection, not a personality trait
• Understand what self-compassion is vs isn’t and what might make it challenging for us to embody it
• Learn three different tools of self-compassion to start incorporating

Who’s In Your Corner? How to build the personal team that helps you win

Panelists: Patti Epstein, Jeanan Yasiri Moe, Shayna Mace, and Allison Cramer
Moderator: Jennifer Garrett
Track: Relationship Building and Communication  |  Participation Level: Active Listening

Do you ever feel like it’s just one battle after another? And you’re always losing while others are winning the things you want? The job? The award? The opportunity? You know you are ready for a bigger stage, but you just can’t get a chance to contend. So maybe what’s missing isn’t talent or experience or connections.

Maybe what you need is the right support system to help you identify your strengths, hone your strategy, and pick you back up when you’re down.

This session will help you see that having a corner—a team behind the ropes pulling for you every step of the way and supporting you between rounds—might be what’s lacking in your career journey. You’ll hear from several experienced women who not only rely on their corners but who can also show you the way to build your own.

Who is going to give it to you straight when you keep missing that left hook to your chin? Who is going to patch you up so you can get in another swing? Who is going to convince you that you do have a fighting chance? That’s your corner.

Learning Outcomes

• Participants will learn how to identify sources of support within their current networks and to strategically expand their networks to fill perceived gaps.
• Participants will discover approaches to asking for specific tailored help to advance their careers and personal goals.
• Participants will gain awareness of tactics for overcoming self doubt and for cultivating the kind of self advocacy that breeds comradery and strengthens relationships.

Keeping Cool Under Pressure: Leading with Composure When It Matters Most

Presenter: Martina Mathisen
Track: Personal Development and Workplace Skills  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Workplace interactions do not always go as planned. There are moments when others may be rude, reactive, or difficult, and how we respond in those moments can shape outcomes, relationships, and team culture.

This interactive session focuses on how leaders can remain calm, steady, and in control when faced with challenging behavior from others. Participants will explore practical strategies for maintaining composure under pressure, including how to pause before reacting, use non-engagement techniques to avoid escalation, and respond in ways that keep situations from intensifying.

Through guided discussion and real-world examples, attendees will learn how to navigate difficult behavior with greater confidence, protect their own energy, and contribute to a more respectful and focused work environment.

Participants will leave with tools they can apply immediately to stay grounded and lead with composure, even when others around them are not.

Learning Outcomes

• Distinguish between immediate reactions and intentional responses, allowing them to respond in ways that reflect professionalism and personal values.
• Use non-engagement strategies to navigate rude, reactive, or difficult behavior without escalating the situation.
• Apply practical communication approaches that maintain composure, protect their energy, and support a more calm and respectful work environment.

Lead From Where You Stand: Building Influence Without the Title

Presenter: Deborah Biddle
Track: Building Influence  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

You don’t need a corner office to change the culture around you, but you do need a strategy.

For many women in professional environments, influence often feels like something handed out to those with seniority, positional authority, or the loudest voice in the room. Yet the most effective leaders know that real influence is built quietly, consistently, and intentionally through trust, communication, and the courage to show up fully, even when the system doesn’t fully show up for you.

In this engaging, tools-forward session, Deborah Biddle draws on her REAL Work of Leadership framework and years of executive coaching to help participants understand how influence works and how to build it deliberately, ethically, and sustainably. Whether you’re navigating a new role, a difficult team dynamic, or an institution resistant to change, this session will help you identify your influence assets, close your gaps, and lead boldly from exactly where you are.

This isn’t about playing politics. It’s about understanding people and using that understanding to move things forward.

Learning Outcomes

• Map your influence. Participants will identify their current sources of informal and formal influence, including relationships, expertise, communication style, and credibility, and pinpoint at least one gap to address within the next 30 days.
• Build trust strategically. Participants will be able to apply at least two trust-building behaviors from the REAL Work of Leadership framework to strengthen their relationships with colleagues, supervisors, and direct reports, turning everyday interactions into opportunities to build influence.
• Communicate with impact. Participants will leave with a practical framework for positioning their ideas, navigating pushback, and making their contributions visible without resorting to self-promotion that feels inauthentic or uncomfortable.

Thriving in Change: Women leading the delicate and intentional balance of work and people

Presenter: Catherine Chan, Julie Janiak, and Laura Hiebing
Track: Building Influence  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Change is a constant, change is a process, and everyone moves through change differently. Leading through change requires a delicate and intentional balance between doing the necessary work to support the change and simultaneously caring for the impacted people and their emotions. How does a leader, especially a woman leader, successfully lead through a time of change? This presentation will use reflection, engagement, and documented strategies to address how women can thrive throughout change in both work and personal lives. When women leaders thrive, those around them thrive too. The presenters, with different work and life experiences and varied positions within the campus administrative structure (assistant vice provost, program director, and program manager), will share their thoughts, experiences, and useful considerations that are helpful for themselves and the teams they lead. They are eager to share the day-to-day practices as well as strategic tools that support their previous and current efforts in change management and will invite session participants to engage in reflections and discussions.

Learning Outcomes

• Gain insight into considerations and factors that promote successful change management, especially for women leaders, regardless of positionality
• Get tools and tips for successfully thriving in change for both the leader and their team
• Reflect on their own experiences regarding change management and what the presenters share and will consider how they may manage change differently next time

Leading from the Middle with Values and Intention

Presenter: Dr. Julie Hunt Johnson
Track: Relationship Building and Communication  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Culture is shaped every day by leaders working from the middle—often through influence rather than formal authority. This interactive session invites participants to explore how value‑informed leadership can shape culture through everyday decisions, relationships, and conversations. Participants will reflect on their core values and learn practical strategies for leading with clarity, credibility, and impact across teams and contexts—right from where they are.

Learning Outcomes

• Name your core leadership values and recognize how those values show up in daily decisions.
• Use values intentionally to navigate competing priorities and influence without formal authority.
• Lead with clarity and credibility by aligning actions and communication with values.

The Language We’re Missing – Emotional Literacy at Work

Presenter: Keana Shatteen
Track: Relationship Building and Communication  |  Participation Level: Collaborative Engagement

Most workplace communication issues are not about what people are saying. They’re about what people don’t have the language to say.

In professional environments, emotions show up every day in the form of tension, miscommunication, disengagement, and conflict. But instead of addressing what’s underneath, most people default to silence, avoidance, or reaction. That’s where breakdowns happen.

This session introduces emotional literacy as a practical workplace skill, not a concept. Participants will learn how to recognize what’s happening beneath the surface of conversations, understand the gap between what they feel and what they say, and communicate with greater clarity and intention.

Through guided reflection and real workplace scenarios, attendees will explore how emotional patterns impact communication, relationships, and decision-making. They will walk away with language, tools, and approaches they can immediately apply in conversations with colleagues, teams, and leadership.

This session is designed to help professionals move beyond miscommunication and assumptions toward clarity, confidence, and stronger workplace relationships.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify when communication breakdown is rooted in unspoken or unprocessed emotions, not just the words being said
• Use a clear emotional literacy approach to understand what they’re experiencing and communicate it with more intention in real-time conversations
• Apply a practical conversation method to navigate tension, reduce miscommunication, and strengthen workplace relationship

Through the Looking Glass: Gaining Clarity to Lead with Purpose and Impact

Presenter: Dr. Jen Halter
Track: Personal Development and Workplace Skills  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Leadership is often shaped by how we see ourselves—and how others experience us. Based on Dr. Jen Halter’s dissertation, Through the Looking Glass, this session explores the power of self-perception, reflection, and feedback in strengthening leadership effectiveness as a strong woman leader in a southern culture.

Participants will examine the gap that can exist between intention and impact and learn how increasing self-awareness leads to stronger communication, better decision-making, and more effective leadership. Grounded in research and real-world application, this session provides practical strategies to help leaders reflect, re-calibrate, and lead with greater clarity and purpose.

Attendees will engage in guided reflection and leave with tools to better understand their leadership lens, align their actions with their intentions, and create a more positive and productive environment for those they serve.

Learning Outcomes

• Participants will use a reflection tool to evaluate how their leadership is perceived and identify one area for growth
• Participants will apply a practical strategy to align their communication and actions with their leadership intentions
• Participants will implement a simple feedback approach to continuously improve their leadership effectiveness

From Stuck to Strategic: A Facilitated Approach to Making Better Decisions at Work

Presenter: Tammy Tom-Steinmetz and Gery Steinmetz
Track: Building Influence  |  Participation Level: Collaborative Engagement

Teams often spend significant time in meetings but still struggle to move from discussion to clear decisions and meaningful action. Without a structured approach, conversations can become unfocused, dominated by a few voices, or stalled by competing perspectives.

This interactive session introduces a practical, facilitation-based framework that helps individuals and teams move from confusion to clarity and from ideas to action. Drawing on proven organizational effectiveness and participatory decision-making practices, participants will learn a simple, replicable process for structuring conversations, engaging diverse perspectives, and guiding groups toward aligned decisions.

Participants will apply the framework in real time to a current workplace challenge, gaining hands-on experience with tools they can immediately use in meetings, projects, and collaborative work. Whether or not they hold formal leadership roles, attendees will leave with concrete strategies to increase their effectiveness, influence, and impact in group settings.

Learning Outcomes

• Apply a simple, structured decision-making framework to move from discussion to clear, actionable outcomes
• Identify common barriers that prevent teams from making effective decisions, including unclear problem definition and unstructured dialogue
• Use facilitation techniques to engage diverse perspectives and increase inclusive participation in group conversations

Two‑Minute Toolkits: Reset Your Brain, Creating Focused Calm Productivity — Even Amidst Life’s Constant Curve Balls

Presenter: Dotty Posto
Track: Well-Being |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Life no longer throws the occasional curve ball — it’s a constant barrage. For many women leaders, the real challenge isn’t always the workload itself (though sometimes it absolutely is); it’s the nonstop emotional and cognitive whiplash that pulls them off center. This session introduces a set of rapid, two‑minute tools drawn from evidence‑based nervous system regulation that help you reset your brain in real time.

Participants will learn how to interrupt a stress spiral, take the charge out of the people or situations that set them off, and shift from reacting on autopilot to responding with intention. Whether it’s a coworker’s tone, a demanding supervisor, a project that suddenly veers off course, or the chaos waiting at home, these tools help you come back to a steadier, more focused version of yourself — quickly and reliably.

We’ll explore fast, simple techniques that show you just how quickly your brain can move out of stress and into clarity. Through short, guided exercises, you’ll experience what it feels like to go from frazzled to focused, from reactive to steady, and from overwhelmed to back‑in‑flow — even on the most unpredictable days. You’ll leave with practical tools you can use immediately to feel more in control, more present, and more like yourself again.

Learning Outcomes

• Learn rapid, two‑minute techniques that reset your brain and shift you from stress or reactivity into focused calm.
• Practice simple self‑hypnosis and anchoring methods to stay steady, clear, and productive during every day stress.
• Apply these micro‑practices to your everyday work and life situations to improve emotional resilience, communication, and leadership presence

Bold Transitions: Navigating Professional Change in Higher Education

Presenters: Heidi Tuescher-Gille, Anne Eckenrod, Kelly Norton, and Sara CW Sullivan
Track: Career Management  |  Participation Level: Interactive Participation

Change is inevitable, but transformation is a choice. In this panel discussion, higher education professionals who have made significant shifts—whether changing roles, departments, campuses, or entire career trajectories—will share their experiences, insights, and strategies for embracing professional evolution.

Learning Outcomes

Attendees will gain valuable perspectives on:

• Identifying personal and professional potential
• Stepping outside comfort zones and discovering new strengths
• Effective change management and transition strategies
• Advocacy, empowerment, and navigating promotion opportunities
• Lessons learned from challenges and triumphs along the way

Leading with Ambivalence: An Honest Look at AI, Risk, and What’s at Stake for Women

Presenter: Colleen Valdez
Track: Personal Development and Workplace Skills  |  Participation Level: Active Listening

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future consideration and is currently reshaping the way we work, learn, and lead. It’s already embedded in workflows, hiring systems, patient care platforms, and classroom tools. The question is no longer whether AI will affect your work; it’s whether you’ll be at the table when decisions about it are made. For many women, the honest reaction is complicated. You may find AI useful and unsettling at the same time. You may feel pressure to adopt tools you don’t fully trust, in workplaces that haven’t thought carefully about the risks. This tension isn’t a weakness, but a signal that is worth giving your attention.

This session is a practical introduction to AI literacy and workplace leadership for women who are ready to move from passive users to active decision-makers. Colleen will cover current research on AI, how AI tools work, how to use them effectively and responsibly, and what every professional needs to know about the risks of uncritical adoption.

Learning Outcomes

• Acknowledge the validity of risk aversion and mixed feelings as legitimate responses to AI adoption
• Distinguish between AI myths and evidence-based realities using current research
• Articulate a leadership stance on AI policy that reflects both organizational needs and ethical responsibility