ILTA Idea Blast - Finding Your Purpose
What lights you up vs what drains you?

Speaker: Danette Shaifer (Chicago)

Panel: Building Your Career - How do you progress, grow, and succeed?
This panel will focus on thoughts surrounding career growth and how to build a successful career or even change job paths. It will balance changing priorities through life with career success and how to know when you have grown your job into a career.

Panelists: 

Jessica Aries (Virtual)

Tony Capecci (Chicago)

Terry Brankin (Chicago)

Moderator: David Neary (Chicago)

ILTA Idea Blast - Future Proofing Your Skill Set

Speaker: Adam Wehler (Atlanta)

Workshop - Over the Horizon: Designing three, five, and ten year plans
This hands-on workshop focuses on creating intentional career plans using design thinking principles. Attendees will reflect on personal values, define meaningful career goals, generate possibilities, and explore small experiments to test future directions.

Speakers:

Panel - From Managing Projects to Managing People - Now What?
This session will have leaders who have made the transition to managing people and leading teams. What are the best ways to develop yourself to be ready for the transition.

Panelists: 

Renee Boodhoo (New York)

Marc Alscher (Chicago)

Donna Frugoli (Chicago)

Moderator: Danette Shaifer (Chicago)

Lunch
Lunch provided. An opportunity to continue conversations and build connections.

Workshop: Networking, Not Collecting Contacts; Creating Connection
As leaders grow in responsibility, they are increasingly expected to walk into rooms where they don’t know anyone, engage confidently with diverse personalities, and communicate clearly without overthinking or performing.

This interactive workshop focuses on networking with intention, helping participants communicate authentically while adapting to different communication styles. Attendees will learn how to enter conversations with confidence, engage meaningfully with new people, and speak up in group settings in ways that feel natural and grounded. The emphasis is on presence, clarity, and connection, not scripts or sales pitches.

Speakers: 

Panel: Chicken Little is right - the sky is falling and I'm crumbling - How do I continue?

This panel will focus on all things destructive that can come up within us when our lives are seemingly falling apart. This panel will focus on how to interact professionally when things are going horrible wrong personally, and vice versa. When things feel unstable, grounding ourselves in what’s true—and prioritizing safety over achievement—helps us reset and rebuild.

Panelist: 

Jannise Vinson (New York)

Raquel Lewis (Virtual)

Deedra Smith (virtual)

Moderator: Adam Wehler (Atlanta)

ILTA Idea Blast - Executive Presence - What is it, really?

Speakers: Sandra Bang (New York)

Panel: C-Suite Roundtable
Leadership comes with complexity and responsibility. In this closing roundtable, senior leaders share candid perspectives on how they make key decisions, what they value in emerging leaders, and how executive judgment develops over time. The conversation also explores how technology and AI factor into leadership decisions without losing sight of people and risk.

Panelists: 

Michelle Friends (Virtual)

Ed Empamano (Chicago)

Pramesh Naik (Atlanta)

Moderator: Johnny Wong (New York)