WE20 Week 1 Recap

WE20 week one is officially on the books, and week two is now here! Today, I want to share with you a summary and my review of my favorite sessions from week one, and what I’m most looking forward to attending in week two.

1. Digital Body Language: The New Rules of Trust and Collaboration

This was the first and definitely my favorite session of all that I attended. Presented live by Erica Dhawan, CEO of Cotential, this session demystified some of the biggest challenges surrounding digital communication.

In this session, Erica highlighted 5 key principles of digital body language:

1. Brevity creates confusion. A brief message doesn’t mean its clear! Communicate clear expectations to your colleagues in order to prevent confusion.  
2. “Communicate your mind” mindset. People can’t read your mind, and tone gets easily lost through text. Communicate where your head is at so that people can better understand you.
3. Hold Your Horse. Give people time to respond to you, and create response time expectations. Know that an email is not going to usually be treated as an urgent request unless you communicate that it is.
4. Assume the best intent. If you are unsure of the tone of a message, assume positive intentions. Most people aren’t out there to sabotage or call you out on things. If you need more clarity, switch the virtual medium. Instead of text, try a phone or video call.
5. Find your voice. Express yourself authentically.  Don’t be afraid to show who you are. Ultimately, it will benefit you and your work relationships.

My key takeaway from this session: Assume the best intent. While this was only one of Erica’s main speaking points, it definitely resonated with me the most. I tend to presume that most people have a frustrated tone when they are communicating with me via text or email, which can lead to strained relationships over time. Assuming that people have the best intent when speaking can help alleviate unnecessary stress that only exists in your head.

2. Engage Systems You Need to Live the Life You Want

This semi-live webinar was presented by Alisha Taylor, Program Manager and Life Coach. In this session, mostly geared towards working moms, Alisha spoke on how to go after your goals in life, and how to ask for help so that you can have more time to go after those goals.

Alisha’s #1 productivity tip is to ask for help, and she explains how there is an art to asking:

• Eliminate the “just” from your ask
• Consider “What’s in it for them?”
• Pick the right time to ask
• Assume good intentions
• Start with appreciation – “Thank you for _____”
• Be prepared to help train people as you ask

Using these tips in your ask will likely increase your chance in getting a “yes” response. However, sometimes you’ll get a “no”, and that’s okay too. Alisha explains that “no” typically means “not yet”, and you can always ask again in the future. However, she also highlights that if you are asking for something for a long time, such as a promotion at work, and you haven’t received it or any feedback on it for a long time, it may be time to go elsewhere.

My key takeaway from this session: the art of asking and communication. Alisha emphasized that getting help really relies on how you ask. I tend to have a hard time considering what the other party’s needs/wants are when I’m asking for help, so keeping in mind “what’s in it for them” will help me out a lot when I’m making requests in the future.

3. Make a Difference! Empower the (SWE) Next Generation

My third favorite session was a live discussion on SWE Next by Mary Zeis, FY20 Chair of SWE’s Student Programs SWENext Committee, and Fiona Redmond, Program Manager of Hughes Network Systems & SWE’s Student Programs SWENext Committee. In this session, Mary and Fiona spoke on ways to recruit more K12 students into STEM outreach programs, specifically SWE Next.

This session was definitely more SWE business focused, but I still learned a lot of great tips for engaging with K12 students in these unprecedented times we’re now in. Even though we are all still primarily virtual, you can still create mentoring programs, find volunteers for events, and host events for K12 students. Getting these students involved in SWE at an early age can help them find a path and network in the STEM community.

My key takeaway from this session: don’t let this new virtual world we are in prevent you from doing community outreach! There are tons of ways to work with your community while still practicing social distancing. You can host virtual meet ups, competitions, and mentoring programs all online, and SWE has resources on how to start up all of them.  

Week Two Forecast

Today is the start of the second and last week of WE20, and I’m hoping to attend even more sessions than in the 1^st week! Here is what I have scheduled for myself so far:

• Monday – Keynote: Linda DuCharme, President of Upstream and Integrated Solutions, ExxonMobil
• Tuesday – Mega Session: Gloria Cotton, Microaggressions: A New Way to Define and Address These Subtle Acts of Exclusion in the Workplace
• Wednesday – Get Those Voices in Your Head to Work for You
• Thursday – Time Satisfaction: Because There Are No More Minutes!
• Friday – Right User, Right Context, Right Time: Study of Manufacturing Data

WE20 week one may be done, but I can’t wait for all that’s in store this week at the conference! Stay tuned for my WE20 wrap up review, coming next Monday. Let me know in the comments which of these sessions resonates with you the most right now.

Are you attending WE20? What sessions have you been enjoying? Which are you looking forward to?