WIB-Chicago: Leadership Appreciation Event

On August 14, 2024, WIB-Chicago hosted a special appreciation event to thank the leadership team volunteers for their hard work. Leaders provided a half-year review, enjoyed networking with refreshments, and participated in a workshop. Special guest speaker Janine MacLachlan guided the team in elevating leadership voices using techniques from her Say It Shorter workshop to help attendees accomplish more and get to the point. MacLachlan noted that individuals involved in the STEM arena are her passion audience! She provided these tips on communicating with confidence:

• In your communication strategy, remember that people will remember only three points. Your job is to curate, so elevate the three most important points.
• Utilizing others to help improve any presentations that you are working on. Test your presentation on a friend, colleague, or manager.
• Celebrate the hero! The hero is not you, but rather it’s your audience.
• Amplify your voice in the workplace (for example, when overlooked or interrupted by colleagues)
• Be brief. Be bright. Be gone.

The speaker asked each participant to come prepared with a two-minute talk, and two volunteers delivered their talks and received live feedback during the event.

Submitted by Heather Lewis