Technology

Neil Malek 

PowerPoint Emergency Surgery 

Any good presenter will tell you - creating a great presentation involves planning and time. Sometimes, though, you don't have the luxury of time. In this session, we will be focused on the quickest, easiest changes to a presentation you can make to improve the presentation the most. This will involve hidden tools and features of PowerPoint, as well as simple design choices that can be applied to any scenario.

We’ll examine:

• Updating an entire presentation with only a few clicks
• Creating multi-element slides in seconds
• Organizing and controlling elements with the Selection Pane
• Unifying concepts throughout your presentation with color
• Applying essential accessibility rules to confusing slides 

Leadership

Chrissy Scivicque

The Executive Lens: How to Gain Big Picture Understanding

As a high-level assistant, you have a lot on your plate. It can be easy to get so focused on your own job and growing to-do list that you totally miss important things happening all around you. This limited perspective can reduce your effectiveness and ultimately, shrink your power as an assistant. However, you can choose to widen your perspective by seeking to understand the Big Picture and in doing so, you will have more confidence, courage, and competence to step into your role in a bigger way.

We’ll discuss how to:

• What the Big Picture consists of, why it matters, and the consequences of failing to expand your understanding of it
• Why “Systems Thinking” is the basis for this level of understanding and how to train yourself to think in this way
• The 7 Points of Perspective assistants must pay attention to (and how to do it)
• Success strategies to leverage your Big Picture Understanding effectively

Task Management

Sandra Lane

Stop Procrastinating & Start Producing 

Procrastination is a habit that everyone experiences. It's a pricey form of self-sabotage that can prevent you from finishing important projects, accomplishing big goals, and enjoying the results of a job well done. If you've been putting off important work, this presentation teaches participants essential strategies to outsmart procrastination and enjoy productive workdays.

This session covers:

• Understanding the not-so-complicated brain science behind why we procrastinate and why it's not going away.
• Recognizing the personal and professional impact which results from delaying your work.
• Learning actionable strategies to accomplish tasks you put off and beat procrastination.
• Gaining a new appreciation for the value of time. 

Technology

Corinne Hoisington

In-Depth OneNote Power User  

Prepare to earn your OneNote Microsoft Badge by learning dozens of time-saving secrets, tips, and tricks to become a OneNote power user. You'll gain confidence navigating the OneNote interface, mastering drawing tools, adding screen clips, and more. See how to connect your Outlook meetings with OneNote to take notes and share action items. Get organized and more productive from home and from the office allowing us to dive deeper into the ever-changing world of technology and enable us to work smarter.

You’ll get to see the latest tools, like:

• Share Notebooks With Sharepoint Team Sites – Sharepoint is a useful Microsoft platform for teams. When you create a team site, everyone can collaborate using OneNote notebooks.
• OneNote lets you import items from the Office Lens app. This app lets you scan documents, posters, business cards, receipts, and handwritten notes and save them to OneNote.
• Use notes that link to external data sources like Word, Excel, or Outlook

Leadership

Pauline Wallner 

Understanding & Managing Stakeholder Needs in a Diverse Organization  

Organizations are becoming increasingly diverse at all levels, including senior leadership. With these societal progressions comes the need for increased focus on equity, accessibility, inclusion, and belonging. It is more important now than ever that executive business partners know how to navigate diverse organizational landscapes and develop meaningful relationships with key decision-makers.

We’ll discuss how to:

• Understand the varying needs, roles, purpose, interests, and perspectives of key stakeholders
• Leverage stakeholder insights, mentorship, and support to improve diverse cultures and climate
• Integrate stakeholder feedback to build expert and relationship credibility
• Harness stakeholder support for capacity building and advancement opportunities  

Task Management

Melissa Peoples

An Evolving Profession: How to Stay at the Top of the EA Game 

It’s not only the technology and tools that we use that are rapidly evolving: workplaces, organizational practices and culture, and industries have all changed significantly just within the past few years. Our profession is evolving as well, and it is crucial that we stay ahead of the curve to compete in fast-paced, changing markets. Take a deep-dive into the industry's changes and what you can do to future-proof your career.

Learning Objectives:

• Explore the mindset shift needed to evolve with the profession.
• Discover industry trends, best practices, and key processes you need to help you stay sharp
• Learn the tangible steps needed to pivot and maximize your career development fully 

Technology

Dawn Monroe

Excel Data Clean-up: Sidestep Problems Before They Happen

Preparing your spreadsheet data before you create charts and reports is an essential step in getting good analysis. But, data exports from other programs and messy data downloads can be tricky to fix. Learn how to address data list dealbreakers: Dates, Errors, Text, and Duplicates. Real world examples take you step-by-step through common data problems with solutions that get the job done.

You'll leave knowing:

• Date formats you can rely on
• How to eliminate errors from function calculations and join or split text
• Techniques to remove duplicates from your data set
• Fabulous filters that will slice your tables
• Validate for goodness sake: data validation that maintains clean data

Leadership

Starla West 

Collaborative Leadership Strategies for Today's EA 

Gone are the days when leaders commanded and controlled, and departments worked in silos with little communication or cooperation among them. Today, effective executives with formal authority over others recognize that a team-centric approach that cultivates engagement, empowerment, participatory decision-making, and accountability gets the best results. That’s good news for EA leaders who seek to work with and influence others up, down, and across the organization. Get tools for mastering these five essential skills for a more collaborative leadership approach: trust, transparency, communication, inclusion, and openness.

Learn how to:

• Establish the mindset and qualities of a collaborative leader
• Nurture group cohesion while avoiding the pitfalls of groupthink
• Design and facilitate effective group dialogue and decision-making 

Task Management

Varun Anand

Applying Agile Techniques to Deliver Projects More Effectively  

You may have heard the term “agile project management” and wondered whether you could use those techniques in your own project work. The answer is “Absolutely!” Agile techniques will be particularly helpful with large or complex projects. Agile techniques break a project down into manageable tasks in a manner that allows you to complete projects faster, adapt to change, incorporate feedback and optimize the workflow. Learn how a project is initiated, planned, executed, monitored and closed using Agile methods. Understand the principles of Agile and how they can guide you.

This session will make your life easier by:

• Showcasing automated templates which you can use in your day to day work.
• Sharing the four core values of agile PM.
• Providing a step by step roadmap for transitioning to an Agile method. 

Technology

Chris Menard

Microsoft 365 New & Upcoming Features

Are you using Microsoft 365 at work? Microsoft 365 keeps rolling out new features monthly. Learn from an Office Insider who has the opportunity to see new features still in development. In this session, we will look at recently rolled out features and unique features available in the next few months. We’ll be sure to explore the new dynamic array functions and the navigation pane, and 2022’s recently released Excel features. We will also look at new Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint features available soon.

Note: this is for Microsoft 365 users only. The shown features will not work in Office 2013, Office 2016, and Office 2019. Some of the features will work in Office 2021

Leadership

Steven Iwersen

Champions in the Chaos: Strategies for Success in a Disrupted World

"Organizations and individuals that thrive in a season of disruption do so based on a mindset, a methodology, and the right motive. That combination of intention and implementation is what Steven calls the C.H.A.O.S. Code. Regardless of the type of disruption you encounter, your capacity to succeed is determined by your ability to lead the way through inevitable changes. Learn a practical model based on leadership experience and research of champions in business, non-profits, churches, sports teams, and more. Hear stories, ideas, and principles that help you overcome a fear of change and discover the courage to develop your greatest potential.

Learning Objectives:

• Uncover opportunities for authentic growth.
• Inspire you to overcome setbacks.
• Show how to create a positive culture that people will embrace, and others will emulate.

Task Management

Madelyn Mackie

Landing the Interview: Dynamic Job Search Strategies  

Job Boards. LinkedIn. Networking. Career Fairs. Staffing Firms. Recruiters. Headhunters. Mobile apps. There are hundreds of ways to find a job today. Create your very own customized step-by-step job search strategic plan: identify your target companies, your good network contacts, and the best job boards to maximize your options. With a solid foundation and key tools you can bring it all together in a comprehensive document with a daily action list, weekly deadlines, and monthly targets so you know how to focus yourself to land your dream job.

Learning Outcomes:

• Discover the best job boards for your job search goals and how to create and automate leads with alerts and filters.
• Learn how to engage recruiters, staffing firms, and hiring managers or LinkedIn to get interviewed before the rest of the competition.
• Receive ready to send scripts that will engage your network and have colleagues sending you the best job leads before they are even posted.