Speakers

FEED THE FIRE
HOW TAKING A MINUTE TO THINK CHANGES THE NATURE OF WORK
Do you wish you could stop the mayhem of work and life for a brief moment and just take a minute? Do you sense you could contribute more if there was a little more room in the day? Many people feel this way, but taking a restorative pause has felt impossible—until now.

You’re not alone in yearning for freedom from constant reactivity. Today’s global workforce is so fried that it belongs in the food court of a county fair. We’re relentlessly behind the curve, dousing fires everywhere, and our 3 a.m. insomnia provides the day’s only unscheduled time to think.

What we need again in our lives is the missing element of white space—short periods of open, unscheduled time that, when recaptured, change the very nature of work. White space is the stepping back, the strategic pause, and the oxygen that allows the sparks of our efforts to catch fire. It’s yours to reclaim, and this session will show you how.

In this lively session based on Juliet Funt’s new book, A Minute to Think, you’ll receive the permission, framework, and direction you need to regain control of your overloaded, caffeinated, inbox-worshiping workday and find a precious minute. Using memorable stories and razor-sharp instruction, Juliet will help you rediscover the meaning of your work, the way out of burnout and the liberty of your time.

THE NEXT NORMAL
HOW TO UNIFY LOCATION-HYBRID TEAMS
As many of us, but not all of us, return to the office — our workflow had begun to involve location-varied teams as never before.

The key to thriving in this new environment will be a focus not on where people work but on how. Teams that have common language, mindsets, and practices will transcend their differences in setting. Others will struggle without these commonalities. It is actually possible for teams to come together around all sorts of norms that support them regardless of where they work because efficiency is portable.

The way the team makes communication choices, uses time, sets boundaries around technology, respects off time, and facilitates work with shortcuts are all portable. In this loving yet highly tactical session, Juliet Funt will share new research on the fatigue and morale challenges that teams across industries are facing as they enter phase two of COVID-19 professional recovery, a phase that will be arduous and devoid of the helpful adrenaline of phase one. She’ll give tactical advice on how to unify around a critical tool called a “Reductive Mindset,” and give your attendees a playbook for success regardless of what work challenges they walk into next.

VIRTUAL PRESENTATIONS

THE WORK-FROM-HOME EFFICIENCY GAP
Teams across the world have been forced to work from home because of COVID-19. Dedicated employees worked quickly to create a functional workflow, but then learning stopped. This situation is worrisome because a functional workflow is different from an optimized workflow. The signs of this skill gap are showing. According to Bloomberg, 45 percent of workers are already burned out. The workday has become three hours longer. It is clear that a self-taught work-from-home approach will not get us through this next phase. It is time to go to the advanced level of WFH thoughtfulness and structure. In this session, Juliet will teach your team a repeatable framework that will increase focus and effectiveness. The tools and practices that she will share in the presentation will give inexperienced virtual and in-office workers the boost they need to succeed during these unprecedented times and will allow more experienced workers to master every task they tackle. She will also share fresh data on employee morale and fatigue and dive into customized content from a selection of the following

• How the most efficient workers plan the day
• Setting boundaries between work and family
• Replacing live training with virtual education
• Using strategic pauses to overcome stress and change
• Optimizing email in the new environment
• Meeting skills in a virtual environment
• Streamlining team communication

Most companies were much more tolerant of wasted time before the pandemic. Improving efficiency and team communication skills were merely nice to have. Now and for the foreseeable future, these skill sets have become critical for success. Juliet is the perfect guide for helping you master them.

THE VIRTUAL PITCH
Many sales professionals, executives, and other client-facing professionals have spent decades learning to be charismatic and effective in front of an audience— in person, that is. But when circumstances force them to present through the tiny, intimidating lens of a webcam,
many find their skills sorely lacking and their confidence evaporating. The truth is that creating vitality, connection, and content flow in a virtual presentation is harder than it looks. But like so many things, with training, practice, and a little loving feedback, the live/virtual gap can be closed. In this action-packed session, you’ll meet Juliet Funt, a globally beloved veteran of the keynote stage and a frequent
virtual presenter to audiences of thousands. In this content-packed session, she’ll walk through the specific, detailed process of converting a live presentation for the virtual audience.

Customized content may include the following:
• How to optimize lighting
• Backgrounds and visual distractions
• Relating to the camera
• Reducing nerves and self-consciousness
• “Body noise” and how to tame our tics
• The arc of the presentation
• Easy ways to keep focused
• Making slides more satisfying
• The new authenticity

A content-rich opening will segue into live coaching of up to three participants, allowing interactive learning to take place as the rest of your audience observes. Also included will be a pre-presentation checklist right from Juliet’s personal files. Whatever you are saying in your business presentations, chances are it has never been more important. Elevate your skills and you’ll elevate your results.

Activity is not Productivity: Raising Execution Through Reclaiming WhiteSpace
Every executive and team has only a select handful of true priorities. And they’ll do anything to move them forward quickly and triumphantly. But when talented workers are lost in unnecessary emails, meetings, reporting and other low-value tasks, they crawl toward these pivotal objectives. Distraction, interruption and unnecessary complexity further addle their creative spark. And they have no time to think.

Imagine instead a workplace where a majority of time is spent on tasks of true importance. Where thoughtful time is a priority and where norms and habits protect employees from touching work that drains them. This is a WhiteSpace culture, one where strategic pauses allow time for strategy and insight — and its creation may be more possible than you think.

In this high-energy session, we’ll learn the basics of bringing positive changes such as these to you and your organization by examining the critical difference between activity and true productivity, between cramming in more tasks and selectively choosing to dive into the right ones with thoughtfulness.

We also meet and arm ourselves against The Thieves of Productivity, a group of positive assets that can often run amuck. By examining the surprising downside of these attributes, we create a customized road map toward more WhiteSpace at the individual, team and organizational level.

Performing to the Level of Culture: How to liberate talented teams from busywork and complexity
(A program designed for senior leaders)

Employees drive themselves hard in the Age of Overload. We’re fooled into thinking they’re more productive than ever. But is that true? Overloaded populations often habituate to their discomfort. But their companies tend to suffer from one or more deficits that affect the bottom line: the QQS Deficits – downfalls in Quantity, Quality or Sustainability.

Sometimes it’s a quantity problem with constant complaints about headcount and bandwidth. Sometimes it’s a quality issue; work level is slipping, and time to think high-altitude thoughts has evaporated. Or it’s a sustainability issue; employees are surviving but collectively (or subconsciously) asking, “How long can we keep this up?” Most companies endure a mixture of two or even all three.

Seventy-seven percent of surveyed CEOs noted that their organizational complexity is higher than three years ago. In this program, we consider a different path, one where a reductive lens helps pare back busyness and make room to reclaim and effectively use mental capacity. Also featured is actionable content that combats The Tools that Turn on You. These are support systems and devices that promise to improve our work style. In reality, they tend to defy boundaries, hijacking time and resources — think email, meetings, decks and more.

Lastly, we will discuss the relevance of WhiteSpace to leadership legacy, the story about us that is yet to be written.

“Hands down the most dynamic speaker I’ve ever seen.”

— AMY CASCONE, Generali USA