Note: I’m posting this a few weeks after the event, but dating it back to the actual day I started it!

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This past Friday and Saturday, I attended a networking conference with my co-worker, hosted by the Women’s Business Association. They are based at the Owen School of Business here at Vanderbilt and I received an invitation because I am an alum.

The conference started off with a networking “fair” on Friday night where local and regional women-owned businesses set up booths and answered questions. It seemed like some of the vendors really got the jist of the evening and promoted the fact that they were women-owned businesses. Others just seemed to be advertising their products, which was a bit annoying.

One of the first booths we came to was all natural body products, with burning candles, lotion and many other goodies. I asked a few questions about the products and then my co-worker (a very successful Mary Kay consultant) started asking questions about the business, which is really why we were there in the first place. The woman behind the table seemed uncomfortable that she was asking her these questions, or maybe she just wasn’t ready. Who knows.

On Saturday, the Keynote speaker was Beth Canavan, EVP of Tiffany’s. She was a great speaker and had some interesting things to say about being a mother/wife/woman in the capital business market. However, she comes from a company that embraces family life, flexibility, etc., and I got the impression many women there wanted to know how to deal with the pressure that comes from being a woman in an environment that is not as welcoming. She either missed the point of the questions asked of her, or she couldn’t relate, because most of her answers didn’t really seem to address the questions.

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(added today, 2/29/08)
After the keynote, we were separated into small sessions focusing on women in business (as you might imagine). Some were more interesting than others. I unfortunately had to leave the conference early, but I met some great women who are in similar work environments and made a few good contacts. I hope to do more things like this in the future.