PDC Winter Meeting Agenda

Consciously Cultivating Connections - Keys to Making Your Most Career-Impacting Relationships Stick!

The full agenda of this year's Winter Meeting is below. Times and sessions are subject to change.

• 9:00 AM - Registration Opens
• 9:30 AM - Welcome Remarks
• 9:45 AM - The Power of Networks: Drop the "ing" and the Rest is Magic - Presented by Scott Westfahl, Harvard Law School Executive Education
  This interactive session will explore what research has revealed (often surprising) about networks and what you should know about networks in order to help yourself and those whom you counsel and coach. We will explore and share specific examples of networks in action and work hands-on with a very basic network mapping tool that you can adapt for you own use and use at your firm/organization. We will then engage in an interactive exercise to leverage participants’ networks to help each other through the potential creation of opportunities and new connections.
• 11:15 AM - Break
• 11:30 AM - Assessing, Maintaining and Nurturing Impactful Relationships - Presented by Werten Bellamy, Stakeholders, Inc.
  The experiences, investments, and opportunities that drive careers, are all transacted in the context of relationships. Problem is, without a sound set of relationship building habits, we become consumed by the increasing demands of work and developing and sustaining high impact relationships becomes just a great idea that never really happens. In this high energy interactive presentation, Werten Bellamy will lead the audience through a “relationship readiness” diagnostic – a group exercise directed to uncovering the self-investments needed to build high impact relationships. Werten will deconstruct the mindset and relationship feeding habits of performers skilled at building deep relationships and offer a practical framework that time constrained performers can use to elevate the quality of their relationships.
• 1:00 PM - Networking Lunch - Feeding Yourself and Your Relationships
• 2:30 PM - Success Stories: Relationship-Building Case Studies for Legal PD Professionals
  • Being Connected: One Story of Delivering Value & Enhancing Relationships Through Client Education Programs - Presented by Karen Bell, McCarthy Tétrault LLP
    It is expected that lawyers build connections with clients to be able to serve them effectively. But there are connections that other members of a law firm can make to show clients they care and to meet their needs. In this "short" story, you will hear how a PD professional and her team have connected with clients directly to provide a range of educational opportunities that deliver value and enhance the relationship.
  • Using Live Events To Facilitate Connection - Presented by Erin Walczewski, Cooley LLP and Sonya Gavankar, the Newseum
    When you host a live event, whether it's a firm-wide conference, a practice group meeting, or a panel discussion, you have a golden opportunity to create connections among your attorneys. Learn what you can do-and what you can coach your presenters to do-to capitalize on your live event format.
• 3:15 PM - Break
• 3:30 PM - Creating a Workable Relationship Building and Maintenance Plan - Presented by Jennifer Greiner and Joi Bourgeois, Greiner Consulting
  Joi and Jennifer will lead a lively working session, serving as facilitators for exercises and group interaction, based on content from the days’ earlier programs. This portion of the day will help participants to process, internalize, and personalize the information shared in the morning programs on networking and how PDC members can create and build consequential connections and relationships for their own career interests and advancement. The program’s goal is to provide a comfortable workshop environment during which participants develop a step-by-step process to explore, identify, and target “connections” and professional relationships of longstanding consequence. They will move on to working on a committed action plan that begins in the room, carries on through the PDI conference and establishes a set of time specific goals that will be executed throughout the coming year. The presenters will focus on engaging the participants, encouraging role-playing, considering different approaches to outreach and relationship building, with exercises and Q&A. A written handout will be provided and “homework” and other follow up will be highly recommended.
• 5:15 PM - Closing Remarks
• 6:15 PM - Small Group Dinners