Women & Leadership Forum promotes ‘Be Effective!’

The 2006 Women & Leadership Forum at Washington State University will present a four-session program from February through March that will include a keynote address by businesswoman and author Carolyn N. “Lyn” Turknett.

“The theme of this 11th annual forum is ‘Be Effective!’ and participants will experience a spectrum of presentations and engage in interactive exercises aimed at helping them to boost their professional and personal effectiveness,” said Denise Blacker, chair of this year’s forum. Blacker is the budget officer for the WSU College of Sciences and leads a university-wide committee of volunteers that has spent eight months planning this year’s events. Sponsors of the annual event come from across campus. Funding is provided by the Office of the Provost and other university sponsors.

“In three noontime, pre-forum sessions starting Feb. 7, participants will get personality evaluations, communication guidelines and tips to successfully diffuse conflict. These sessions are spaced two weeks apart to give participants a chance to fully digest what they’ve learned about themselves before the next session. They will be facilitated by experts from within the WSU community. These sessions lead up to a half-day forum March 28 with a keynote address by a leadership expert as well as a panel discussion.

“By the close of the final forum day, participants will have many tools–some new and some refreshed in their minds–with which they can truly be more effective. We’re very excited about this year’s forum, and hope the community will enjoy it and find the experience valuable,” said Blacker.

Leading the first pre-forum session will be Kim Kidwell, from noon-1:30 p.m. Feb. 7 in the Compton Union Building Cascade rooms 123-7. The session is titled, “Be Effective!–Know Yourself.” Kidwell, who leads the spring wheat breeding and genetics program in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, is also the instructor of an undergraduate life skills enhancement course. In the pre-forum session, she will lead participants through exercises that will reveal to them more about their own personality, as well as personality types of others.

The second pre-forum session will be facilitated by Wendy Peterson, director of WSU Admissions, and Jennifer Kramer, former director of development for the College of Sciences. It will run from noon-1:30 p.m. Feb. 21, in the CUB Cascade rooms 123-7, and is titled, “Be Effective!-Frame Communications.” Participants will learn about communication styles and how to adapt them to different situations.

The third pre-forum session, “Be Effective!-Rethink Conflict,” will be led by Janina Robbins, WSU Career Services counselor, and Karen Kiessling, former Pullman mayor and a women’s leadership trainer. It is scheduled from noon-1:30 p.m. March 7, in the CUB Cascade room 123. This session is about the atmosphere that people generate by their presence, attitude, language and mindset at work, and how to foster good relationships there.

The doors to the facility rooms will open at 11:45 a.m. for each pre-forum session to allow participants to eat lunch before the session begins.

The half-day Women & Leadership Forum is set for March 28 in the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum. Events will kick off at 1 p.m. with the presentation of the WSU Mentor Awards-2006; nominations for the awards will be accepted throughout February and are available on the Forum Web site.

At 2 p.m., Lyn Turknett, president of Turknett Leadership Group in Atlanta, will present a speech on the day’s topic, “Be Effective!-Find Your Focus!” She co-founded her company with business and life partner Bob Turknett, and they recently published a book about their work, “Decent People, Decent Company: How to Lead with Character at Work and in Life.” The book is based on the Turknett Leadership Character Model that describes the kind of character “all of us need to lead wherever we are.”

A panel discussion on the “Be Effective!” topic will begin at 3:15 p.m., featuring Turknett and the facilitators from the pre-forum sessions. A reception will follow the forum at the Beasley facility.

As a supplement to this year’s forum and sessions, WSU Human Resource Services has compiled a listing of SkillSoft online training courses, simulations and books to help “Be Effective!” participants to further explore topics presented at the forum. It is available on the forum Web site at www.wla.wsu.edu.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to participate in all of the forum events at no cost. Participants are eligible to use release time to attend. Each pre-forum session will be available on the Web site following the event, and the forum on March 28 will be videostreamed live, as well as archived.

Registration online is requested, but not required. For more information, visit the Women & Leadership Forum Web site at www.wla.wsu.edu, or contact Blacker at blackerd@wsu.edu.