WiA Events – Women in Agile

Recap of BAI Presents: Women in Agile

Posted on March 26, 2019March 26, 2019 by Natalie Warnert in WiA Events

Two weeks ago, the Conference Allyship program of Women in Agile partnered with a new conference for a new event format and new topic. The result was BAI Presents: Women in Agile (sponsored by Accenture | Solutions IQ). Our inaugural partnership with both Accenture | Solutions IQ and the Business Agility Institute was a great success. If you missed it, here’s the recap.

The event was held in New York City and was kicked off with a social hour and networking leading up to a fantastic keynote. Fabiola Eyholzer, CEO of Just Leading Solutions and Agile HR expert, keynoted for an audience of 80 people discussing diversity of thought and its importance in the workplace in The Power of Female Leaders in the Agile Enterprise. She highlighted some key problems to not having a diverse workplace and expressed greater overall diversity (not only gender) as a vital marker of successful organizations.

The targeted networking and skill building event of the evening was Speed Mentoring. Groups of 5-7 people sat together and made a backlog of topics they are experts on. They dot-voted to prioritize who would speak first and then one person practiced their speaking on the fly skills and mentoring the others in the group on their chosen (agile related or not) topic for 5-7 minutes. It was a great way to break the ice and practice teaching, speaking, and mentoring skills in a low pressure environment. (for more info and instructions please email)

Women sitting in a circle - speed mentoring — Speed Mentoring Group

Finally we ended the evening with a high stakes game of group Rock-Paper-Scissors with books for the winners. We hope to see you next year and at any of our other Conference Allyship / WiA Flagship Events. We look forward to continue helping grow this outstanding community through events like this in the future!

Resources: Slides from Fabiola’s Keynote

Thank you to our sponsors

BAI Presents: Women in Agile 2019

Posted on February 26, 2019February 26, 2019 by Eric Willeke in WiA Events

Join us for another edition and conference pairing of Women in Agile, sponsored by Solutions IQ and hosted by the Business Agility Conference. Great leaders come in all forms, and gender should not matter when determining if someone has the individual strengths and characteristics to lead employees. But even though men and women are equally qualified, many barriers still persist and women are still underrepresented in top leadership.

This is about to change: Feminine traits long considered as drawbacks to strong people management are the key strengths of 21st-century leadership. But the new leadership approach is about far more than equality and closing the gender gap. It is about creating workplaces that stand for empowering employees and embracing a diversity of thought while shaping the next generation of leaders, that can successfully guide people in an age of uncertainty and change.

Join us for Women in Agile, a half-day conference focused on implementing business agility through agile HR and active mentoring. The keynote speaker will be Fabiola Eyholzer. Fabiola Eyholzer is a pioneer in Lean | Agile People Operations and CEO of Just Leading Solutions LLC, a New York based consultancy for Agile HR. In two decades as Management Consultant and Executive Advisor, Fabiola has worked with numerous key players across various industries and countries. They seek her expertise in Business Agility, Human Resources, Compensation & Performance Management, Operations & Processes, and Strategy. Together with her team, she helps enterprises to accelerate their agile transformation by focusing on their crucial asset: their people.

After the keynote, participants will engage in interactive activities (speed mentoring and presentation karaoke) to discuss and implement what they’ve learned. We look forward to this exciting pre-conference event and hope you will join us for Women in Agile!

Date: 12 March, 2019 (4pm – 8pm EST)
Location: American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, 8th Floor, NY, 10019
Cost: $50
Register here! (WiA is halfway down the page)

Recap of the Women in Agile Conference at Agile2018

Posted on September 1, 2018March 10, 2019 by Joanna Vahlsing in WiA Events

By: Joanna Vahlsing @joannavahlsing

The Women in Agile Conference at Agile2018 was sold out this year at 230 registrants and a waitlist dozens long. Last year we had over a hundred participants, and the year before that around 80. Love all the support for the Women in Agile community.

Natalie Warnert kicked us off with a warm welcome, an overview of the logistics of the event and really spoke to the reasons why the work we’re doing is so important, and that everyone there was playing a role.

She turned it over to Paul Hammond and Becky Hartman, who gave a brief update to the Code of Conduct and asked for participation in a voting exercise on the frequency of various issues that one may have experienced and/or witnessed. This information was used in the Agile Tonight segment later that week, where there was be a session on diversity and inclusion and ideas for how to be more proactive to help elevate the learning for everyone. Psychological safety was also a topic.

Then it was time to welcome April Wensel, founder of Compassionate Coding to deliver our keynote. Her keynote was titled Expanding Your Circle of Compassion for Greater Impact.

The wonderful Tamsen Mitchell created the below graphic.

After the break, it was time to break into our groups for facilitated Lean Coffee topics. We had a lively discussion about the topics and were able to get a lot of great ideas and helpful content when the tables shared their biggest learnings.

Working session on ideas for how to support Women in Agile

After the final break, it was time for the Launching New Voices program.

Suzi Webber spoke on Working Collaboratively – the power for treating people like adults, where she shared a story of how she and her son worked through conflict and the techniques that she learned and applied. Suzi’s recap of her experience can be found here.

Then Farzenah Orak shared she very moving and motivating story about how she was able to overcome setbacks and reach her goals. Impressive all-around! Her recap of the experience can be found here.

It was a wonderful way to kick off the Agile2018 conference and looking forward to continued success. If you’re interested in helping Women in Agile, please reach out to info@womeninagile.org.

Women in Agile Hosts their 3rd Annual Women in Agile Conference at Agile2018

Posted on September 1, 2018March 10, 2019 by Joanna Vahlsing in WiA Events

On Sunday, August 5, 2018, Women in Agile held their third annual Women in Agile Conference at Agile2018. April Wensel, founder of Compassionate Coding, keynoted the sold-out event, and the group of over 200 participated in a Lean Coffee session before the two New Voices each took the stage to share their story. Huge appreciation to Tamsen Mitchell for the graphical recordings of the event.

Videos of the event can be found at the bottom of the Agile Alliance Initiative page.

For a recap of the event, check out this post, and we hope to see you at next year’s event. If you’re interested in helping Women in Agile, please reach out to info@womeninagile.org.