Women in the Home Industries holding annual conference

Jay Forte will be keynote speaker for Aug. 11-13 event

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, June 17, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Women in the Home Industries (WithIt) will feature performance consultant and author Jay Forte as its keynote speaker for its annual professional conference.

The event, set for Aug. 11-13 at the Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord, just north of Charlotte, N.C., will have the theme, "Women Doing Business: Thought Leaders, Creative Innovators and Influencers."
Forte, a former financial executive and educator, has more than 20 years experience teaching adults work performance skills. He will address evolutionary changes in business and industry that affect the workplace and job performance with his presentation "Right Brain, Right Time."

"Today, an engage-and-inspire approach is required, one more core to fundamental feminine thinking," said Forte. "This focus on right brain thinking - connection, communication, consensus and community - is the key to activating and engaging today's employees."

Other speakers on the two-day agenda include:

• Broyhill President Jeff Cook, who will offer creative solutions to businesses in flux.
• Beth Sweetman, senior vice president of human resources for Furniture Brands International, on "The Art of Negotiating."
• Leslie Carothers, principal, The Kaleidoscope Partnership, and Julia Rosien, social media manager for bedding specialist Natura World, on social media strategy and benefits.
• Leslie Haskin, a former insurance industry executive who survived the 9-11 attack on the Twin Towers, with an inspiring story of survival and what comes next.

Introduced at last year's event and back by popular demand, according to WithIt, are Round Table Discussions featuring more industry experts acting as group discussion moderators.

"For the lowest conference rates available, the WithIt Professional Conference is an investment in future success that companies can't actually afford to miss," said Liz O'Brien, 2009 WithIt president. "Each attendee will have exposure to the highest caliber of content, ideas and action plans which they can return to their office with."

Registration is open to all at www.withit.org.