Networking Night

Tonight I met some of the lovely WIDAC Brisbane women at an informative and fun night on goal setting and networking. The event was held at the new Max Sparrow showroom, which is gorgeous. Definitely some items for the ‘future home’ list…

The night started with interior designer Jane McConnell sharing her insights from finding herself at a personal and career crossroads twelve years ago and how she fashioned herself a new life using a 10-year plan. I hadn’t heard of this idea before but it seems to make sense – set your intention of where you want to be in ten years time and work back from there, with yearly goals and monthly plans. A scary thought though – where do I want to be when I am turning 50??? Eek!! I have always just gone with the flow of life and not thought too far in advance, but maybe that’s a clever way to do it!

Christina Elvin from Polytec told us about her journey from ‘not-quite-complete’ uni degree to State Manager, through hard work, skill and putting your hand up for all opportunities. In terms of planning and goal-settint, Christina believes in setting goals and plans in the start of the year and checking in again twelve months later. (Don’t check in at the end of the year when everyone is stressed and distracted.) And it’s ok if your goals or ideas change from what you expected – that’s life. But it’s important, whether in life or business, to set aside the time to assess where you’ve been and see where you are going. Also, set realistic and achievable goals, that still stretch you to grown and challenge yourself.

Author Louise Fitzgerald-Baker discussed what happens when you miss your goals and need to re-assess : you need to stay true to who you are and don’t let other’s expectations dictate your next moves. Think about who you want to be next, and what your story is.

After the formal session, we moved on to the networking activities, which is something WADIC does really, really well. For me, not knowing anyone in Brisbane (yet), these events can be difficult where everyone is already catching up with friends and acquaintances. So it’s nice to be put into random groups and made to answer questions or work together to achieve something. But last night I was pushed quite out of my comfort zone, and had to present ‘my story’ to twenty or so brilliant young ladies. Who were of course all lovely and supportive and friendly, but it’s still a little nerve-wracking. It was a good chance to voice the thoughts in my head and compile what has been going on the last twelve months, and what is coming up. It was incredible that people really opened up about their fears and vulnerabilities in this forum too. It is such an amazing community…

So that was my night. If you’re in Brisbane or Sydney, check out WIDAC, they are a powerhouse!

Oh, and congratulations to all the WIDAC Qld winners of their inaugural awards.

Happy Goal Setting!