Light your fire at Leadercast Washington County
Janet Heim
janeth@herald-mail.com
It's only two months until Leadercast Live lights a fire in the community, with its inspiring and motivating slate of speakers.
Leadercast Live is the world's largest one-day leadership event in the world and is broadcast live from Atlanta to hundreds of host sites. Globally respected leadership experts share their knowledge and insights.
It was first attended by Laura Wallace, creative director of Worx Graphic Design Inc. in Hagerstown, with her team when it was broadcast at Bridge of Life Church in downtown Hagerstown in 2008.
After that, Wallace and her colleagues had to travel to Columbia, Md., Bethesda, Md., and Shippensburg, Pa., for the event.
They decided it was time to bring the conference and its positive energy back to Hagerstown. Worx, a branding firm, has a similar mission to Leadercast Live and opened up space in their Mulberry Lofts office to host 35 participants for Leadercast Women in October 2017.
Leadercast Live is held in the spring and Leadercast Women is in the fall.
Bonnie Saunders and Jenna Lamblin attended for the first time. Both are Hagerstown Community College employees and met each other for the first time at the event.
A couple of weeks after the sold-out event, Saunders emailed Wallace about how Leadercast Women changed her life. The networking, connection to Lamblin and the motivating speakers inspired Saunders to move forward with a project at HCC she'd been thinking about.
"Having listened to the message, I let it soak in," said Saunders, who is coordinator, internship and job services at HCC. "It gave me the notion I could launch Career Closet as a result of that."
Career Closet provides donated new and gently used professional clothing for HCC students for job interviews and internships.
Saunders and Lamblin were both energized by the conference and started working with Wallace on making an event of that caliber accessible to even more people locally.
Planning began for the Leadercast Live event in May 2018. This time it was held at the HCC Student Center.
There were 110 tickets available and it took more marketing and education to make people aware of the opportunity, which sold out just before the event.
"It's something we're all passionate about," said Lamblin, who is personal enrichment and youth programs manager at HCC.
The next Leadercast Live conference is coming to HCC on Friday, May 10, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., this time in the Kepler Theater.
The theme is "Leading Healthy Teams."
Wallace said a diverse group attended previously, from large corporations, to solopreneurs, small teams, nonprofits and up-and-coming businesses. Citi brought in a group of top-performing employees as a reward.
Attendees range in age from 20 and up and can earn continuing education units. It's open to all levels within an organization, not just leaders.
"At least one speaker said something you needed to hear that day," Wallace said.
Think of it as a company retreat, with all of the planning already done. Besides all the physical details like place, parking and meals, the local leadership team is also planning sponsor booths, networking opportunities and creating a fun atmosphere.
"Each one goes a little bit deeper," Wallace said.
Last year they got involved with Girls Inc. and had attendees write notes to future female leaders that were later delivered to the nonprofit organization. The memory still gives Wallace chills.
"It's about getting out of the ordinary day-to-day, getting lifted up and infusing it back to the community," Wallace said.
Lamblin said she attended Leadercast Women for the first time for personal development and came away with so much more. She said every attendee walks away from the event with something that "resonates" with them.
"Who doesn't need a shot of inspiration?" Saunders said.
"Come light your fire," Wallace said.
What: Leadercast Washington County, "Leading Heathy Teams"
When: Friday, May 10, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Kepler Theater, Hagerstown Community College, 1140 Robinwood Drive, Hagerstown
Cost: $115 regular tickets through May 6; nonprofit tickets $75; student tickets $65. For groups of five or more, enter code TEAM5 to save $8 per ticket. For groups of 10 or more, enter code TEAM10 to save $12 per ticket. Tickets available on Facebook at Worx Graphic Design or at www.eventbrite.com/e/leadercast-2019-tickets-51263511543.
Contact: Still seeking sponsors/vendors for the interactive zone. Email kelli@worxgd.com for more information.
• Andy Stanley will kick off the event with several points on leadership in leading healthy teams
• Ginger Hardage on unstoppable cultures and building a team culture that is not only irresistible to the employee but to the customers
• Juliet Funt on creating cultures of creativity
• Patrick Lencioni on five dysfunctions of a team and making meetings matter
• Caroline Leaf on the effects of negativity in the workplace on the brain and how to rid your organization of toxic negativity
• Craig Springer on change management, specifically the fine art of making mistakes and how teams rise or fall based on how a leader manages through mistakes
• Marcus Samuellson and Gayle King will moderate Q&A about leadership in their environments, specifically about culture of healthy teams in which they thrive in.
• Carla Harris on how to take care of oneself when in a position to lead others