REGISTRATION OPENS

WELCOME REMARKS

By David Barista, Editorial Director, BD+C

WORKSHOP

The Human Connection: Bring Your Presentations to Life!

By Carol Doscher, President, Chief Encouragement Officer, Graceworks

Want to raise your shortlist interview hit rate? Want to better connect with your colleagues? Want more confidence when speaking in public? Strengthen your presentation skills in this fun, highly interactive workshop. Through teaching/discussion and interactive exercises, you will learn to:

• connect with your audience
• identify & drop nervous habits
• experience freedom & self confidence as a presenter
• simplify & strengthen your message
• make technical material interesting
• prepare & practice your material.

You'll learn more than just public speaking skills. These principles apply to all interpersonal communication, from one-on-one and team meetings to networking/social events and phone/video calls. Due to our interactive approach, this teaching goes well beyond intellectual understanding. You will experience the presentation/communication principles being taught.

PARTNER TALK

TALK

Lessons From an AEC Veteran

By Ginger Johnson, Architect, Cherokee Nation Businesses, Principal, Founder, GSJohnson PLLC

Women in design- and construction-related positions who want to be successful and fulfilled are challenged. In this historically male-dominated field, women often experience their work being diminished even to the point of feeling incompetent while having the same experience or advanced credentials as their male counterparts. In this interactive talk, the women in attendance will discover the shortcuts to their success which include the following challenges they face: What it takes to be able to speak up and be seen as someone who can contribute to the team; how to have their contribution stand out in the workplace; how to earn the respect they deserve and avoid being negatively labeled; how to take initiative in their career trajectory while maintaining a healthy work/life balance. As a 26-year veteran female architect with experience in both private and public sectors I have faced and overcome all of these challenges. It is my honor to pass along lessons learned for future generations of women in design and construction related fields.

PARTNER TALK

TALK

Learning From Leaders: The Design Voice Podcast

By Catherine Meng, Architect, DLR Group|Kwan Henmi, Creator and Host, Design Voice Podcast

Founded in March 2018 by architect Catherine Meng, the Design Voice Podcast seeks to elevate and amplify the voices of women in the architecture, engineering, and construction professions. Over the course of 26 episodes, Catherine has had the opportunity to interview many of the leaders in these fields, gathering their lessons, learning about their struggles, and sharing their triumphs. In this talk, she will share some of the common lessons and themes she has gathered from deep conversations with these women who exemplify what it means to achieve and succeed in our line of work.

OPENING RECEPTION

BREAKFAST

OPENING REMARKS

By David Barista, Editorial Director, BD+C

KEYNOTE PANEL

Journey to Making an Impact

Panelists:
Mary-Jean Eastman, FAIA, Vice Chair, Perkins Eastman, Managing Principal, NYC Studio
Barbara Mullenex, AIA, Managing Principal, Washington, D.C., Studio, Perkins Eastman
Rachel Birnboim, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Senior Associate, Perkins Eastman

This Fireside Chat will include stories from two award-winning women pioneers in the field of architecture. Mary-Jean Eastman, FAIA, Vice Chair of Perkins Eastman and Managing Principal of its New York City studio, and Barbara Mullenex, AIA, Managing Principal of Perkins Eastman's Washington, D.C. studio, the firm's two largest and most diverse offices, will share powerful anecdotes about their personal journeys to the top of a global architecture, design, and planning firm, which has 17 studios worldwide. Rachel Birnboim, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Senior Associate and member of the Futures Council of Perkins Eastman and Advisory Board Member of Building Design+Construction, will moderate as Eastman and Mullenex discuss the twists, turns, setbacks, and surprises they've faced through their long, glass-shattering careers and how they not only met those challenges, but made a positive impact along the way.

PARTNER TALK

TALK

Masters Class in Project Management

By Laura Davidson, Senior Project Manager, Solutions Delivery, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)

Ever wonder how project managers do what they do? How do they keep up with the current state of so many moving parts? Project managers and construction professionals share some similar responsibilities, such as working across the organization and handling time-sensitive, prickly stakeholders. Come find out what you can you learn from the project manager's toolbox that will improve your day-to-day skills and give your productivity (and sanity!) an instant boost. Learn skills, tips, and tricks to drive productivity; build a better plan; improve communications; and engage executive stakeholders.

BREAK

PANEL

Lessons from Firm Founders and Leaders

Moderator:
Sheryl Van Anne, Project Executive, Mortenson

Panelists:
Danielle Dy Buncio, Co-Founder and CEO, VIATechnik
Mary-Jean Eastman, FAIA, Vice Chair, Perkins Eastman, Managing Principal, NYC Studio
Kelly Farrell, AIA, President and CEO, CallisonRTKL
Tammy Miller, Outgoing CEO, Border States Electric

This panel of firm founders and top AEC executives will delve into the tough issues that all AEC professionals face today. This session will include extended time for Q&A with these firm leaders.

PEER TO PEER NETWORKING LUNCH

Make the most of your WiDC experience by participating in the Peer to Peer Networking Lunch. This optional complimentary program will pair like-minded AEC professionals in small groups for a semi-structured discussion during the lunch break. WiDC Advisory Board members and other volunteers will serve as facilitators for the discussions.

TALK

Enacting Change Within Your Organization: How to Turn the Job you Have into the Job You Want

Sarah Weissman Dirsa, Associate, Project Manager/Project Architect, KG&D Architects

In 2010, I co-founded HOK IMPACT, the corporate social responsibility initiative for one of the world's largest architecture and engineering firms. What started as a personal desire to combine design with social outreach turned into a grassroots mechanism for employee engagement and, ultimately, a firm-wide strategy for employee and client recruitment and retention, while benefitting the communities we serve through design. In the five years that I served as the first ever Global Chair of Social Responsibility at HOK I learned much about the processes involved in creating change internally, such as how to grow employee support; engage firm leaders and find your advocates; align your passions with overarching firm goals; and exercise patience when initiatives take longer to implement than you might expect. This talk will focus on the takeaways and lessons from my journey.

BREAK

WORKSHOP

Overcoming Biases in the Workplace

Nancy Novak, Above Glass Ceilings Visionary Champion Compass Datacenters National VP of Operations
Patricia Dziuk, Above Glass Ceilings Co-founder

In this workshop we will learn how to "hack" our bias and will dig into what bias looks like, how every human has bias, the influence we get from the media and real life stories of implicit bias happening with the best of intentions. Have some fun with role reversals to clarify the importance of words and awareness.

TALK

Utilizing the Five Bases of Power to Influence Effective Action

Maisha Christian Hagan, Owner & Coach, Beauty & the Boss

Leaders often rise or fall based on their ability to influence others towards effective action. A notable study conducted by social psychologists John R. P. French and Bertram Raven divided power and influence into five separate and distinct forms — coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert. Maisha Christian Hagan wants to help you advance within your personal and professional life by teaching you when and how to utilize the Five Bases of Power.

Outcomes:

• Better understand why you're influenced by others.
• Better recognize your own natural sources of power and how you tend to influence others.
• Build your leadership skills by using and developing your own sources of power, appropriately, and for the best effect.
• Develop strategies to respond/manage others' styles of influence.

AXE THROWING COMPETITION + CLOSING RECEPTION

Join the WiD+C participates for a night out in Scottsdale!