Personal Statement: I know, once again, this is not a post about Lafayette, LA...but like NOLA being 2 hrs away or the Emerald Coast in FL being 5 hrs depending (on good or bad driving)--Houston, TX is just 4 or 4 1/2 hrs away--so close enough & it is what I'm doing while I live here...am still bummed I have not gotten into a plane for a year, but will work on that resolution next year instead?!
The Texas Conference for Women
November 17, 2011 - 12th Annual
George R. Brown Convention Center
Houston, TX
7:30a - 5:00p
Link to webpage...
http://www.txconferenceforwomen.org/conference
Link to Facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/texasconferenceforwomen
on Twitter...
@TexasWomen Houston, TX
or follow the hashtag...
#txconfwomen
on LinkedIn (or 'in') there is a Group
Theme this year: Live Fearlessly...
this is in the main hall of the convention center, the stage is off to the far edge left in the photo above & on either side/center were these great giant screens so you could see all the 'fearless' women speaking from where ever you were seated among approx 5,000 women--after 11 previous years of setting this conference up am guessing they get a lot of things right with this process...
from where I sat--the beautiful, inside & out, Lisa Swayze...
Speakers I heard...
Barbara Bradley Baekgaard - co-founder of Vera Bradley
Link to Vera Bradley...
http://www.verabradley.com/
Tory Johnson - CEO Women for Hire
Link to Women for Hire...
http://womenforhire.com/
Sparkle & Hustle - Small Business Boot Camp
November 16, 2011 (the day before the conference)
Link to Sparkle & Hustle...
http://sparkandhustle.com/
Martha Beck - life coach & 'O' columnist
Link to her webpage...
http://marthabeck.com/
(author of "Expecting Adam")
Turk Pipkin & Rose Mapendo - The Nobelity Project & Congo Survivor
Link to The Nobelity Project...
http://nobelity.org/
(note: Rose was heart wrenching to hear speak, you just cannot imagine what this women of 7 children did in a Death Camp--her only crime? being from another tribe! & to find out weeks later her husband was killed & she was pregnant & pregnant with twins...on & on this true life horrific story goes & thankfully we can see she is beautifully - fearlessly - alive?!)
Lisa Niemi Swayze - pancreatic cancer advocate
(note: Yes, Patrick Swayze's spouse & she wrote a book - The Time of My Life...here's a Hollywood Access peek into all that, plus found out there's a wax figure of the Dirty Dancing actor unveiled w/his wife in a dance pose for the promo, 2 yrs after he passed...can you imagine your dead husband in wax, on public display at Madame Tussands?!
http://www.accesshollywood.com/lisa-niemi )
Link to Pancreatic Cancer webpage & she's the Nat'l Spokesperson...
http://www.pancan.org/section_about/national_spokesperson/
(note: we all had tiny purple ribbons on the lunch tables to wear for support & a reminder there's a "purplestride" in Houston on Dec 3rd...)
Cindy Hensley McCain - board member Eastern Congo Initiative (following a Ben Affleck video*)
Link to Eastern Congo Initiative...
http://www.easterncongo.org/
photo credit: from
www.popsugar.tv - The Eastern Congo Initiative - Ben Affleck speaking out in Congress w/Cindy McCain by his side at the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing
*Link to article/video of the 'odd couple' McCain/Affleck - of course would not be able to find the video at the conference, unless someone filmed it on their phone maybe who was there & uploaded it to YouTube or Vimeo (another time, I may look for it yet...)
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/political-odd-couple-connect-in-the-congo-ben-affleck-and-cindy-mccain/
or more photos on ABC News of their travels together to refugee camps...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/slideshow/cindy-mccain-ben-affleck-travel-congo-13077023
Jody Conradt - legendary UT women's basketball coach
Deborah Duncan - Channel 11 - host Great Day Houston
Lisa Hernandez - Channel 11 - co-anchor
Breakout Sessions I went to - both 1 & 2 I chose Social Marketing...
(note: had to pick 1 each & that was tough--sooo many great speakers, wanted to go to them all?!)
Shama Kabani - CEO The Zen Marketing Group
Link to her webpage...
http://www.marketingzen.com/speaking/
Seminar Session 1
SOCIAL MEDIA
The Zen of Social Media Marketing (workshop)
Speaker: Shama Kabani, president, The Zen Marketing Group and named one of the 10 Most Influential and Powerful Women in Social Media
Yes – you are on Facebook, LinkedIn, and maybe even Twitter. But now what? It has never been as easy, as efficient or as quick as it is now to reach people and get known. How can you take your social media game to the next level? This intermediate workshop goes beyond the basics and offers something for everyone – whether you are a professional looking to use social media to build your brand and network, or an entrepreneur looking to market and land new business. Shama Kabani, dubbed an “online marketing shaman and a master millennial of the universe” by Fast Company.com shows you how—and how to not get overwhelmed in the process. Focused on easy-to-implement, “Zen-minded” methods and techniques, you will learn:
- How to drive traffic to your sites to generate qualified leads and expand your networks
- How to use social media to brand yourself online and proactively manage your reputation
- How to find and create strategic joint venture (JV) relationships using social media
- Where social media marketing fits in the bigger marketing picture and how to measure your efforts
- The #1 reason people fail at social media marketing… and how to avoid that mistake
Host: Crystal Washington, social media marketing strategist
http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Social-Media-Marketing-Credibility/dp/1935251732/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321902479&sr=1-1
###
Panel:
Tammy Tibbettts - founder She's the First
Link to her organizations webpage...
http://www.shesthefirst.org/
(where you'll see the tie-dye cupcake idea took off big time?!)
Nicole Williams - author of Girl on Top & the current Connection Director for LinkedIn
Link to the book...
http://www.girlontopbook.com/
( Link to the blog...especially caught my eye "Pick a card" - when I kept thinking/hearing that business cards might be a thing of the past, it's not looking like that...love these - must work on a new card no matter no business yet...can you have 'personal brand' cards--then that's what mine will be in the meantime...
http://www.girlontopbook.com/blog/ - rubbing my hands together, mwah hah hah, should I start with: "Hello my Name is...")
A quote of hers, from an article...about men being savvier networkers than women (as I'm thinking oh you mean that good ole' boy network) Link...
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/152791/
"Women can sometimes shy away from networking because they associate it with schmoozing or doling out business cards, when in reality, it's about building relationships before you actually need them," said Nicole Williams, connection director at LinkedIn, and author of the book "Girl on Top."
the famous cupcake that started it all - from BakeSpace Blog - read more here...
http://www.shesthefirst.org/2011/07/the-cupcake-that-started-it-all/
Babette Pepaj - CEO BakeSpace.com
(note: there were a number of cupcake examples along the way--but no samples, probably best...)
Link
http://www.bakespace.com/
Host:
Sara Tays - ExxonMobil
Find her on LinkedIn...
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sara-tays/b/886/573
(note: she mentioned there was a Blog for ExxonMobil even...so here is the only one I found online - Perspectives: http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/ )
Moderator:
Samantha Ettus - personal brand expert, author, TV personality
Link to her webpage...
http://www.samanthaettus.com/
Seminar Session 2
SOCIAL MEDIA
The New Era of Networking: Innovative Ways to Engage and Mobilize (panel)
Moderator: Samantha Ettus, personal branding expert, best-selling author and TV personality
Panelists:
Tammy Tibbetts, founder and president, She’s the First
Babette Pepaj, founder, Bakespace
Nicole Williams, connection director, LinkedIn, best-selling author, “Girl on Top: Your Guide to Turning Dating Rules into Career Success” and founder, WORKS by Nicole Williams
Social networking has changed the way we as individuals and corporations engage, mobilize and network with clients, customers and each other. This panel will explore the latest social networking tools and provide tactical tips for how you can be successful in the new era of networking by engaging and mobilizing people and initiatives. Whether you are leading a nonprofit, embarking on a new career or growing a corporation, this session offers something for everyone.
Host: Sara Tays, southwest government relations manager, ExxonMobil
Speakers I missed that I wanted to hear...
Anita Perry - First Lady of Texas (aka Rick Perry's spouse)
(note: I was in the vendor's hall after getting my badge & just couldn't get in the main hall fast enough - what a crowd & a maze of vendor booths to pass along the way...plus on arrival I 'had' to have a coffee?!)
Book Cover - Amazon.com - The Beauty of Different
Observations of a Confident Misfit - Karen Walrond
Karen Walrond - photographer & author, The Beauty of Different
(note: which I own & wanted to meet her, but could not be in the same place at the same time no matter how hard I tried--missed as well finding her at a book signing table too?! continue to follow her on Twitter in the meantime...)
Link to her blog...
http://www.chookooloonks.com/
Also on Twitter under the same (fun) name...
About the book - The Beauty of Different...
http://www.chookooloonks.com/the-beauty-of-different-mai
Jenny Blake - life coach & author/blogger, Life After College
(note: follow her on Twitter too...)
Link to her webpage...
http://www.lifeaftercollege.org/
Find her on Twitter...
@Jenny_Blake (easy enough--her name)
Link to her shop...go here & get - Free - Organize like a Ninja Toolkit...I sooo need this...
http://www.lifeaftercollege.org/shop/
America Ferrera - aka "Ugly Betty" - was not there, we were told by a speaker due to taking a part that required her to fly overseas
(note: so unfair for us, but great for her?! - read on a fanpage she'll be in How to Train Your Dragon 2, she does the voice of Astrid, in pre-production coming out in 2014 - but 2 other movies in post-production for 2012 so really don't know which one would have her traveling & not speaking to us 5,000 plus women...)
Career Pavilion...
Resume Review - Univ Career Counselor
note: with lazer vision (I swear) she looked over my resume for less than 20 min's & totally turned it all around...she was in the Peace Corp so could relate with my 'non-traditional' work/volunteer experience as an ExPat a lot of the time, so I think she was able to help me the best
LinkedIn Connection Lounge - review/questions & makeup/prof photos
note: I tried 3 times to get into line for the makeup, while listening to the people asking questions for review of their LinkedIn Profiles along the way...but I had to get out of the line, to go to the Resume Review at a particular time & before that a toilet break & before that it was time to go to lunch...in the end I did have someone pull up my LinkedIn Profile to review what I needed to complete to be a 100% & after my Resume Review I realized if I did a Summary for that I could use that for the Summary on LinkedIn as well...followed by a How do I do a 'Please Introduce' me request on LinkedIn from someone I know who know's someone I'd like to be introduced to...so I guess waiting in line paid off well enough--next year would hope they double their efforts all the way around (tho I may not attend another year, but we'll see--neva say neva?!)
Mentor Match...
note: Did not do - was thinking "am I really ready for a mentor" - I didn't even have my resume done & haven't a clue what I want to do with it...read over the backgrounds for the mentors & though I would of loved to just have a chat with 1 or 2 or 3 of them, was not sure any of them could mentor me in whatever it was I end up doing?!
Personal Brand Audits...
note: was too late in the day when I wandered up to the queque & found out they were only then doing 5 min's with one of the free brand audit people - if you didn't sign up at the beginning of the day?! besides I found that rather a scary idea--do I want someone telling me anything in 5 min's, after looking at me or my resume or am not even sure if they would of gotten out their laptops to Google my name or what...so I passed & left to drive home 4 1/2 hrs (with a new book on CD - Spook Country, a SciFi story called political thriller, by William Gibson - got used from Half Price Books while in town...last book I read of his was Neuromancer)
And other
misc goodies (or not)...
there was a Swag Bag...*see below, all the way to the bottom, \/ for a free one \/
there was lunch - chicken salad, tea, coffee, water...
(note: skipped the roll & the cookie...table all set, I mistakenly thought the salad was the first course--but with 5,000 plus women there I guess that was expecting a bit much out of the event planner...)
there was the free Vera Bradley clip on zip bag for change/ID/etc - mine was a purple mix of floral...
(amazingly 'everyone' got one of these, after Barbara Bradley's talk during lunch - or for those that stayed seated until after all the speakers...people with swag bags came around to all the tables to pass out the Free Gift from Vera Bradly...we were so pleasantly surprised, or I was for sure?! the newspaper called it the "Oprah Moment" - I mean really? it was 'not' a car...but still a lovely little gift...)
Link to Vera Bradley & the cute little Clip Zip ID compact case under Wallets & Wristlets...
http://www.verabradley.com/product/Category/Wallets-and-Wristlets/Clip-Zip-ID/154801/defaultColor/Happy+Snails/pc/638/c/0/sc/890/p/154801.uts
there were freebies from the vendor booths...
note: all I managed was a NPR sticker....
I think it's a Driinn...
...& a black plastic/rubber wall socket holder for your cell phone to sit on while charging...so far, surprisenly it's worked--as another one I bought earlier did not, so the phone would fall/clunk to the floor...
Link to what I'm guessing is the Original--the Driinn...
http://www.driinn.com/promotions.php
(they are, from what I read, either Italian made or American made & at this link you can see you can add your logo--which is what NPR did, on their black one at the base where the cell phone rests there is NPR printed on it...instead of the name/logo 'N2Cellular' from the image above)
Got a pin from these gals - didn't know there was one in each state...
http://www.operationhomefront.net/
(will be checking out what the Louisiana Chapter is doing now?!)
Lunar Achilles by GE Healthcare - example of such a machine the Walgreens Wellness Unit might have been using...(clever name that--Achilles, as in the mythical Achilles & his Achilles heel...which was the death of him, though having a bone density check hopefully will not be the death of anybody?!)
So yet another freebie--had my Bone Density checked, by my ankle - a first, that way - at the Walgreen's Wellness Unit/Vehicle parked inside the Vendor's section of the convention center...
(they took my personal info, they took my weight--I refused to look at the scale & told her right off do 'not' tell me what it is, I do 'not' want to know, I already know it's not good...)
I did not win the 3 pairs of Dansko shoes being given away - not even 1 pair & sadly not these...
Link to webpage...
http://www.dansko.com/Home/
love they have a Vegan flannel choice too...would of loved to win a pair of these?!
http://www.dansko.com/Womens/Footwear/Collections/Stapled%20Clog/Vegan%20Pro/Charcoal%20Geo%20Flannel/
I did not win the tablet the ATT booth had a drawing for - but I did use their Charging Station, which was great for my overused & so low battery Droid all day (I had to visit them twice?!)
(they were on Twitter live, followed them too & was great fun to pass by to say Hi while she was typing away on her laptop...)
/\/\/\
Recap of Texas Conference for Women on Culture Map Houston...
Ben Affleck and an Oprah Moment
Cindy McCain and Lisa Niemi Swayze shatter stereotypes at Texas Conference for Women
by Sarah Rufca
11/18/11
Link to article...
http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/11-18-11-lessons-of-loss-and-heartbreaking-stories-from-africa-set-the-scene-at-texas-conference-for-women/
Under Inspiration & Information on the main webpage there is a Resource Center...
Check it out, it's full of good/free stuff...
How-to Articles, Speaker Handouts, Videos, Testimonials, Social Media, News Articles, Supporting Organizations...
Discovery Park - across the street from George R Brown Convention Center
am thinking these look a lot like Miro - but find they're by Jean Debuffet, 20th century French sculptor (inspired, if I read correctly, by "L'Art Brut" of Houston) - it's called "Monument to the Phantom" or imaginary city in French "Monument au Fantome"
Link to more about the park across the street - when I lived in town it was 'not' there...
http://www.discoverygreen.com/
Note: OK, I am only a tiny bit bummed that I don't live in Houston, TX - I'm living in Lafayette, LA & will be looking for an equivalent women's conference to go to...they did have a Women Who Mean Business award luncheon with speakers, but though inspirational was not for the actual business side of things like this conference was in Houston (sigh...life in the big city no mo?!)
George R Brown Convention Center in the background, looking like a Cruise ship passing (or if we were in Stavanger, Norway's harbor it could possible look just like this - say Queen Mary size passing...) Read further there are 7 individual forms in this sculpture in Discovery Park in the foreground - a church, hedge, chimney, dog, phantom, tree & mast...(obviously I did not find the plaque to read while I was there snapping away in the twilight sun?!)
Note: Will review my notes all over my agenda & elsewhere to add some stories these speakers used during their talks - plus that first Social Media break out session I left my card (my vanity card or mommy card, as am not work/Working just yet--but I am 'working it' as they say, but not like a CarSalesman--never...) for a copy of the slides that were used for the presentation...so far nothing in my e-mail inbox, but will be & then I'll share those too?!
I love to share?!
There were extra Swag Bags at the end of the conference left on the check-in tables--I saved one, if anyone is interested, either color...just let me know, comment even--that would be Winning?! Thanks!!!
Comment Below = Free The TX Conferemce for Women Swag Bag
