GET SMART 2020

VIRTUAL HALF-DAY CONFERENCE

Friday, October 16, 2020

Networking Over Coffee: 9 to 9:50 a.m.*

Conference Sessions: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.*

*Central time zone

Can’t attend the whole conference? No worries!
All paid registrants will have access to on-demand recordings for all sessions, which will be available immediately.

The velocity of change and its impact on our lives has reached a crescendo in 2020. Over the past decade, we’ve learned to adapt and persevere through financial volatility, digital transformation, unequal playing fields, changing business models, and an increasingly competitive career environment. Yet this year is like no other. Do we choose to simply survive—or thrive?

Get Smart 2020 will focus on Resilience—at the intersection of business, career, and life. We’ll explore the resilient mindset and how we can tackle today’s challenges, seize opportunities, adopt new approaches, and chart new courses. For today and for tomorrow. 

And like you, we’re adapting with the times. This year Get Smart is going virtual, providing the added convenience of attending from the comfort and safety of your home office, dining room table or patio.

NETWORKING OVER COFFEE

Join us before the conference at 9 a.m. for a virtual networking event, hosted by Leadership and Business Coach Sonya Stattmann.

HOW TO SHAPESHIFT INTO YOUR IDEAL LIFE

Gini Dietrich, CEO and Founder, Spin Sucks

If there is anything we’ve learned in 2020, it’s to expect the unexpected. But what if the unexpected were not the problem? What if we could manage change outside of our control and be comfortable with it? Thrive on it? Focus on where our lives could be, instead of where they are or have been? Perhaps we can be OK with chaos and focus on what we can control.

Join entrepreneur and author, Gini Dietrich, as she helps you imagine your future and learn to enjoy the constant change life throws at us. In this session, you’ll learn:

• How to imagine your future—and create a plan to achieve it
• How to create an options-based routine
• How to be agile in life and in business
• How to embrace chaos and come out better for it

ABOUT GINI: Gini Dietrich is the founder, CEO and author of Spin Sucks, a media group on a mission to prove the work we do as PR and marketing professionals is an investment, not an expense. She is also the host of the Spin Sucks podcast and author of Spin Sucks (the book). Gini is a seasoned entrepreneur having run and grown a communications agency for the past 15 years and is the creator of the PESO Model for public relations, which is now offered as a certification in partnership with Syracuse University. She is also the co-author of Marketing in the Round, co-host of Inside PR, and co-host of The Agency Leadership podcast.

MORNING SESSION: A CONVERSATION

ADOPTING THE ATHLETE MINDSET TO BUILD RESILIENCE

Rashanna Moss, CEO of Modern Muse and Leah Heck, Communication & Culture Consultant

What do world-class athletes possess to make them physically and mentally stronger and more resilient to injury and emotional setbacks? A dedication to getting to know themselves: their bodies and their minds, in the every-day and under intense stress. 

What if we apply aspects of the athletic training mindset to our roles as leaders in the workplace? How can we take ownership over our own performance and stress levels while also understanding and supporting our teams, clients, and colleagues?  

Combining expertise in performance principles, personality types, and workplace communication, Rashanna and Leah invite us into their conversation about how we can begin to understand ourselves, learn how to refuel, and more intentionally manage through challenging times. They’ll share insights on how we can persevere and adapt in healthy and productive ways. Listen in on their ideas for coaching our inner athletes, and strengthening our resolve as we embrace our new normal.

INSPIRATION BREAK: A STORY

FROM WAR SURVIVOR TO SOCIAL ACTIVIST – A STORY OF COURAGE, SURVIVAL & PURPOSE

Evelyn Apoko

Evelyn Apoko has faced insurmountable odds. After being kidnapped at 12 years old by a Ugandan warlord with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), she was held captive as a child soldier for three years. It was while serving her captors in a skirmish with the Ugandan government that a bomb blew up in front of her face and she suffered severe injuries that she continues to live with today. She’ll share how she found the courage to escape her captors and forge a new life and purpose in America. Evelyn brings us a powerful example of perseverance and resilience. Her story of survival inspires us to look within as she works to redefine outward beauty in the fashion industry, be a voice of child victims of war and empower others to rise above darkness.

MEET THE MENTORS

Join us during the lunch break at noon to learn about WCA’s well-established Peer Mentor Program from Program Chair Lani Rosales and fellow mentors.

AFTERNOON SESSION: A PANEL DISCUSSION

FROM CHALLENGE TO TRANSFORMATION: STORIES & IDEAS FOR MOVING FORWARD IN UNCERTAIN TIMES

Nik Sallie, Attorney, Online Marketing Expert, High-Performance Business Coach & Intuitive Empath 

Jessica Hendrick Scanlon, Founder & Managing Director, Hot Dog Marketing

Moderated by Jenny Magic

The question on so many minds this year: How do we make decisions with imperfect information? How do we know the “right” next step when the future is so uncertain? 

In this panel, we’ll talk with a pair of successful professional women whose careers are full of zigs and zags. They’ll share their stories of the challenges they faced, both external (recessions, pandemic, running a business) and internal (imposter syndrome, perfectionism, parenting). They’ll discuss how they’ve made major transitions in their careers and their work with clients. And share the frameworks and reminders that keep them focused on the big picture—even when the current moment seems overwhelming.

2020 has pushed us all to make adjustments to how we live and work in response to so many factors outside our control. Join us for a lively discussion on how to reframe those challenges into opportunities for transformation.

RESILIENCE RESET

Anne Grady, Speaker, Author and Entrepreneur

The ability to successfully navigate change, rise above adversity, and triumph in our lives boils down to one word: RESILIENCE.

When faced with challenges, ambiguity, and adversity, those who practice resilience refuse to let fear hold them back and they break through the barriers keeping them stuck—to not only survive difficult times, but also thrive as a result. 

Anne will provide practical guidance and actionable resources to help you develop the critical skills and habits you need to cultivate courage, improve resilience and triumph over setbacks. She’ll focus on three areas:

• Mindset: Understand your brain, habits, emotional intelligence, and beliefs
• Skillset: Develop positive emotions, manage stress and engage in self-care 
• Reset: Move out of a reactive mode and focus on what is most important

ABOUT ANNE: Anne Grady has a master’s degree in organizational communication and has spent the last twenty years working with some of the largest organizations around the globe. She is known as a leading expert on resilience, emotional intelligence and leadership, contributing to Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Inc., FOX Business, and CNN, among other media. And she is a two-time TEDx speaker. Anne is also the best selling author of two books, with a third coming out October 2020 called Mind Over Moment: Harness the Power of Resilience.

SCHEDULE 

Get Smart is a half-day professional development conference designed to provide Austin communications professionals with engaging, knowledge-building sessions that provide inspiration, insight, and know-how.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? 

The conference attracts professionals from all aspects of communications, including writers, editors, marketing and communications directors, photographers, graphic designers, journalists, public relations professionals, and more. They represent the freelance industry as well as non-profits, state agencies and small, medium, and large-sized private companies.

COST

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, the Early Bird registration deadline has been extended to October 9.

Early Bird Registration (extended now through October 9): $40 Members; $60 Non-Members
Regular Registration (October 5 through October 15): $50 Members; $70 Non-Members
Student Registration: $20

THANK YOU TO OUR GET SMART SPONSORS!