Lindsey Brill, Marketing & Event Coordinator for WomenIFuture Conference
Although it is only a few weeks since the fifth WomenIFuture Conference ended, Lindsey Brill and her colleagues have been busy reading and recording all the feedback they have received from participants so that they can enhance and develop various aspects of this fast-paced virtual event for 2023.
After so many months of careful preparation, Lindsey Brill and her colleagues are celebrating a successful event and will shortly be starting work on next year’s event.
Love for event planning
Lindsey Brill was the Marketing and Event Coordinator for the 2022 conference, and this was her second WomenIFuture Conference. Like her colleagues, she is delighted with how the conference is developing and that it is already regarded as one of the top virtual conferences for women in the world. Lindsey’s role is certainly a busy one as she explains-
‘I work alongside Ruslana Milikhiker (the company’s Senior Manager, Events) in organizing all aspects of the event such as creating the agenda framework, reviewing speaker applications, setting up Swapcard, reaching out to sponsors, and much more. In addition to the logistical aspects, I create all social media schedules and design the digital advertising collateral.
Lindsey has been working for Stevie Awards for 18 months and finds her role both interesting and rewarding, as she enjoys all the challenges that event planning brings –
‘I began my event planning career while at Clemson University where I received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. Over the past six years, my love for event planning has blossomed as I have gained valuable experience in the hotel, hospitality, and corporate industry’.
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Each business concept had a unique mission
Certainly, the dynamic growth and success of the WomenIFuture Conference is impressive. Back in 2020, the Conference was still in its infancy when the global pandemic forced the organising team to quickly convert from an ‘in person’ to virtual conference. This format has certainly proved successful as women from around the world can now easily join the presentations and discussions and many more of them are able to do so as there is no travel time or expense incurred. The ‘catch up’ facility enables them to access any of the events they have missed at a time to suit them and this service will be available until November 2023.
The 2022 WomenIFuture Conference was the biggest event yet and behind the scenes, Lindsey and her colleagues were working hard to ensure that everything went smoothly. What did she find was the highlight of the conference?
‘Our pitch competition was definitely a highlight for me not only because the funds go directly towards funding a woman-owned business, but also because this year’s finalists really took the competition to the next level. Each business concept had a unique mission that was inspiring to hear about’.
Conference’s biggest strength is its mission to encourage women to empower other women
Behind the scenes, Lindsey is one of the company’s ‘troubleshooters’ who has to deal with any problems quickly and efficiently – what challenges were posed during this year’s event?
‘We had a few speakers that were unable to join their discussions due to unforeseen conflicts. We were still able to move forward with the sessions and the remaining speakers all did a wonderful job adapting at short notice’.
Certainly, Lindsey has been delighted with the positive feedback that they have received from participants and is currently working through post-show surveys and Swapcard analytics with her colleagues to assess the best aspects of this year’s conference for when they begin planning the 2023 event in a few weeks’ time –
‘I believe the conference’s biggest strength is its overall mission to encourage women to empower other women. The community and connections made during the conference are invaluable to women in business who are trying to grow and learn from other ambitious women’.
Lindsey found many of the discussions thought-provoking and her personal take-away was –
‘A topic brought up in many of the sessions is: you have to start somewhere. I think a lot of women are intimidated to begin their business journey due to obstacles and the unknown. It was encouraging to hear the panellists discuss the beginning of their careers and that taking the first step is often the most difficult step in the process of becoming successful.’
With their sights on the 2023 Conference already, Lindsey and her colleagues are already thinking about new features that could be incorporated in the 2023 event –
‘We are currently looking at the stats from this year’s conference to determine what topics and features would be best to include in next year’s conference. Each year we try to be creative and try new things!’
One aspect that many participants have found to be invaluable is the opportunity that the Conference gives them to meet like-minded women and to be able to discuss a variety of topics as well as any problems that they are encountering at work so that they can brainstorm ways in which to successfully tackle them –
‘We certainly want to develop the networking opportunities within the platform to ensure each and every attendee walks away with a growing network and community of supportive women’.
Lindsey pauses to read some feedback from someone in the group of Nigerian women who attended the Conference for the first time last month and smiles as she admits –
‘Reading how valuable she found all the sessions we organised really gives me great job satisfaction….’
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