15th Annual Women's Leadership Conference

About the Conference

While many organizations still lag in the drive for gender parity, others are providing models for how to drive change today: Women CEOs, directors, and founders who have forged their own paths and are paving the way for others; men in the C-suite who are leading networks to advance women’s leadership; companies who have transformed recruitment, talent management, leadership development, mentorship, and approaches to mitigate bias. These leaders and their organizations have seen how inclusion can drive innovation and business results, and they have case studies, actionable strategies, and inspiration to share.

The Conference Board’s 2019 Women’s Leadership Conference is uniquely qualified to convene these leaders to demonstrate how we drive change in 2019. It is the remarkable confluence of Conference Board resources with a format that co-creates with our attendees that makes this experience different:

• All year long the Conference Board’s world-class human capital researchers and its Women’s Leadership Councils confer on how to advance gender parity and drive change. For two days this spring, they will be sharing their insights with Women’s Leadership Conference attendees
• The Conference will be limited to 200 participants, each of whom will have a voice in shaping the event. A participant survey before the Conference will shape what points are addressed in each session. At the Conference itself, every session will be interactive, giving each attendee an opportunity to reflect, to respond, and to vote on the questions they most want answered.
• Every session is designed to create a conversation among you, the speakers, and your fellow attendees on the issues that matter most to you.

Register before February 16th and save $400!

Who Should Attend

We recommend this conference for senior level women and men who support women’s advancement. Titles may include:

• Directors of diversity and inclusion
• Chief diversity officers
• Chief human resources officers
• Women’s initiative officers
• Vice president of learning and development
• Vice president and directors of talent management

Get Involved! If you would like to get involved in the 2019 conference, please contact us:

• Speaking Opportunities: joan.greco@conferenceboard.org 
  
• Sponsorship Opportunities: michael.felden@conferenceboard.org
• Marketing Partnerships: zoyna.dixon-glover@conferenceboard.org

Pre-Conference Workshop:

Negotiation Excellence Workshop

April 29, 2019

Master Negotiators and Coaches on How Women Can Elevate their Bargaining Prowess

Research – and often our own experiences – indicate that women do not get to negotiate on a level playing field. This reality makes the need to continuously elevate one’s negotiation skills and strategies even more crucial. The Negotiation Excellence Workshop is a fully immersive, interactive experience in which insights from master negotiators and coaches are accompanied by exercises, role-playing, and active training in negotiation skills. This one-day investment will leave you with insights and experiences that could change the course of your next negotiation with peers, vendors or clients.

 Agenda

9 - 9:30 am
Registration and Breakfast

9:30 – 9:45 am
Welcome and Introductions

9:45 – 10:30 am

Master Negotiator: Applying Lessons from Negotiations with 12 Unions

As Chief Human Resources Officer of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Mary Lee Hannell is responsible for a comprehensive labor relations strategy across 23 unions, including direct negotiations for twelve civilian and police unions. Discover what she’s learned negotiating while an agency’s labor relationships and some of the nation’s most important infrastructure are at stake – and how these lessons can be applied to crucial negotiations at every level. Then share insights and questions in small-group discussions and report-outs.

Mary Lee Hannell, Chief Human Resources Officer, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

10:30 am – 11:30 am

Closing the Confidence Gap

Some research suggests that women begin their careers with, on average, less confidence than their male peers. Other studies suggest that even when women are equally confident in their abilities, they are less likely to promote themselves – and may receive different reactions when they do than the reactions their male colleagues receive.

Closing this “confidence gap” is an essential element in strengthening one’s negotiating muscle. In this interactive session we will learn to understand the gap in
confidence and/or self-promotion, and learn and practice new strategies and exercises to close the gap for oneself or for others.

Christi Krautbauer,HR Consultant; Chair, Women @ Thomson Reuters Business Resource Group, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters

Carissa Schmitz, Senior Director, HR Strategy & Planning, Thomson Reuters

11:30 – 11:45 am
Refreshment Break

11:45 am – 1:00 pm

Tactics of an FBI Hostage Negotiator: Why Empathy and Active Listening are Power Moves

In this session Chip Massey, former FBI Special Agent and Hostage Negotiator, will provide skill sets and actionable tactics that you can begin using in almost any context immediately.

We will learn how to:

• De-escalate a tense conversation
• Bring someone to a more productive and positive mindset
• Lead and function optimally under stress
• Position yourself for success
• Build rapid trust and rapport
• And most importantly, how to harness the power of your own emotions

Chip Massey, Recent Special Agent, Crisis Negotiator, FBI

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Master Negotiator: Making the Tough Calls and Changing Workplaces for the Better

Terri Solomon is a national legal expert in improving fairness and inclusiveness in workplaces, and in heightening leaders’ effectiveness – including the ability to negotiate and mediate difficult conflicts. Learn crucial negotiation skills for one’s toughest leadership challenges, and actionable strategies for negotiating positive change in your workplace.

Terri Solomon, Shareholder; Co-Chair, Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group, Littler

3:00 pm – 3:15 pm
Refreshment Break

3:15 pm – 4:45 pm

Understanding Negotiation as a Leadership Strategy, and Activating Negotiation Superpowers

In this interactive workshop session, we will use and add to the insights we have gathered over the course of the day as we actively learn to:

• Better understand negotiation as a leadership strength and quality
• Have a clearer vision of one’s own negotiation capabilities and impact as a leader
• Apply seven strategies to enhance negotiation capability
• Create an action plan that identifies strategies to activate negotiation superpowers when needed

Annette Johnson, Director, Ethics Program, Global Business Ethics & Integrity, Prudential Financial

4:45 – 5:00 pm

Reflections and Responses

As we close the workshop, participants will share reflections, takeaways, and specific, concrete next steps.

5:00 pm
Closing Remarks