Two-day conference to bring together, empower area women
(Seguin) – Influence, power and a sense of personal renewal are the objectives at hand during the first ever Texas Women of Influence Conference in Seguin. The two-day conference being hosted by the Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce is a first of its kind and will run this Thursday and Friday at the Seguin Coliseum.
The event has been advertised as a showcase of some amazing women from Texas and the surrounding area.
Chairperson Natalie Jones says the event will not only be fun, inspiring, and empowering but will welcoming some special guests and award recipients to the podium. Among those is two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and Seguin native Lisa Falkenberg.
“Thursday night is celebrating the Local Woman of Influence but it is somebody from Guadalupe County that people nominated local people and it went through a group of judges, a panel that I think was a very strong panel and this person was selected from that panel as the winner out of a really strong group of wonderful women candidates and then Friday, is where we recognize and celebrate and get to listen to the keynote speech of Ms. Falkenberg and she is our Texas Woman of Influence Winner for the year and that’s what we are continuing on Friday during the conference,” said Jones.
Jones says Friday’s conference schedule continues with additional speakers, breakout sessions and vendors.
“Lisa Falkenberg will be speaking between 1 and 2 o’clock on Friday at the conference as our keynote speaker. That’s also where we will do our award presentation for her. That will be right before the wrap up and thank you happen. The morning actually starts with a couple of other speeches, presentations to the general audience and then around 10:30, we will split and go into some breakout sessions where the attendees actually get to design their own day and decide what they are most interested in learning about and developing around and they will pick which sessions they attend. There’s going to be an empowerment center that has the opportunity for people to have website reviews, get professional headshots done, have their resumes reviewed, social media topics, make-up tips. That part is very interactive, so they’ll be able to kind of design those couple of hours around listening to some specific topics that they pick to go to in these breakout sessions and also wrapping in these empowerment centers,” said Jones.
Jones says the chamber is hoping to welcome a number of area women to the conference. She says women continue to play vital roles in both the home and workplace.
“The Texas Women of Influence Conference and Gala, it is really a two day event so the gala is going to be the opportunity to just have a celebration, a kick-off, kind of a party that gets us going the night before and that event is going to be a time for everybody to get together and celebrate the women in their lives that have been influential and that are just big hitters, high achievers, have accomplished big things and everybody has those women in their lives. They are their moms, they are their sisters, they are their daughters, their granddaughters, their aunts, their best friends so it’s just a chance for people to come out and celebrate those women in their lives. The event is called ‘Hats Off to Her’ which I think says a lot about the event itself and what we are celebrating. It’s just the kickoff to celebrating all the things that the women in your life have accomplished and all the things that we are still trying to accomplish regarding equality and opportunity in our jobs and in just the workforce in general,” said Jones.
The chamber is preparing to welcome women from beyond the walls of Seguin. Jones says to fuel one person’s energy, it often takes a group or the experiences of many.
“The conference itself is a chance for women to get together from all over the area, the state, out of state, get together, network – share ideas and really fellowship together and talk about things that they have experienced, things they’ve overcome, journeys that they are on – things that they want to accomplish in life and it’s a day to feel inspired to do those things. I always leave these types of events feeling like my best me and feeling energized to go out and do great things the next day and the months to follow,” said Jones.
Those attending Gala night are encouraged to decorate a hat to wear for the event and to enter that night’s contest.
The Hats Off to Her Gala Night will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday followed by Friday’s conference from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tickets are $75 for Thursday’s Gala Night or $150 for Friday’s conference day. Cost for both days is $200. Purchase tickets online using the promo code “Flash” and attend both days for $150.
The last day to purchase tickets is Wednesday evening. To purchase tickets, visit seguinchamber.com.