DALLAS – The Women's Industry Network (WIN) will hold its annual conference in Dallas March 22 - 24.
This is the third conference for the group, which was formed in 2007 to develop opportunities for women in the collision industry. The event is being held at the Omni Dallas Hotel Park West.
“We are pleased with the number of new attendees we have for this year’s conference,” noted Frederica Carter, communication manager for AkzoNobel Coatings as well as WIN conference chair. "For people to choose to invest in this conference during these challenging economic times speaks to the perceived value that it brings to both the individual and the industry.”
The WIN organization and conference is primarily supported by 16 industry sponsors. These leader organizations represent a cross section of the automotive industry from both OE and aftermarket.
Attendees at the conferences typically include women who are involved in all aspects of the collision repair process, including representatives from collision shops, the insurance industry, vendor companies, technical school instructors, students and recent graduates.
The conference includes a number of general and break-out sessions. The keynote speaker will be executive coach Marjorie Brody, who has appeared as a commentator on CNN.com, Fox-TV and Oxygen Network. Brody's speech on March 23 is titled "Market Your Magic," and will focus on self-marketing strategies. Brody will also lead a break-out session on communication.
State Farm's Victoria Jankowski will follow Brody with a session on networking skills.
"We're a very young organization and every year we learn more and more about what our attendees want," Carter said. "We pay very close attention to the evaluations from the conference so we can try to meet the needs of the women who attend. Our goal is to offer a good mix of educational and personal development sessions."
I-CAR president and CEO John Edelen will present this year's collision repair industry update on March 24. Stacy Bartnik, assistant vice president and director of franchise services at CARSTAR, will lead a session that explains the "alphabet soup" of collision industry associations and the benefits of getting involved in these groups.
Other sessions will focus on understanding financial documents, conflict management, process improvements, and breaking down gender barriers in the workplace, and Nancy Ng of PPG will lead a roundtable discussion focused on recruiting women into the collision repair industry.
WIN will present its second annual Cornerstone Award during the conference as well. The award is given in recognition of outstanding leadership and support for the advancement of the collision industry and WIN. The conference will also feature a voluntary WIN Industry Scholarship Walk to raise money for one of the group's scholarship funds, along with a number of networking events.
"One of the most important things about this conference is being able to network and learn from other women," Carter said. "The people you meet may not be in your segment, but their knowledge in specific areas of the industry may be greater than yours, so you have an opportunity to learn from them."
For more information, visit www.womensindustrynetwork.com.
