The 2024 NAED Women in Industry Forum … 1100 Strong

Last week NAED held its Women in Industry Forum. It was the largest NAED event in years.

Our friend and ElectricalTrends contributor, Desiree Grace, attended the event and graciously shared her observations:

“It was an electrifying 3 days for the over 1100 women (and a few men) who attended NAED’s 17^th Women in Industry Forum held June 3-5 in Arlington, Texas.  This was a conference designed for professional women at all stages of their career, and the objective of the board was clear: provide actionable takeaways for all attendees to improve or enhance their professional and personal lives.

The event started out with a pay it forward activity, packing “Calm Down Kits” for children in stressful situations. This continued Women in Industry’s long-standing partnership with Girls, Inc.

The theme of paying it forward continued with the “fireside chat” between this year’s Trailblazer award winner, Farrah Mittel, President of Schaedler-Yesco Distribution (here’s her acceptance speech). Nominated, in part, for her clear and steady leadership during the pandemic and during acquisitions, Farrah exhibited strong, empathetic leadership during her conversation with NAED Women in Industry Chair Christy Tilton of Signify. She emphasized the importance of clear and consistent communications, especially during times of organizational challenge, and the need to be an asset within your organization, key takeaways for all attendees.

Tuesday offered a variety of strong speakers, including Wall Street Journal endorsed author and executive coach Randi Braun, who shared tools for breaking the confidence code, followed by an extremely enlightening presentation of Artificial Intelligence and how it can support human ingenuity. Noelle Russell presented real-world case studies, as well as the “I HEART AI” community if one wants to continue the learning.  Molly Murphy, SVP Eaton, closed out the morning with a comprehensive overview of industry trends and what the near-term future looks like. She covered relevant topics like electrification, infrastructure, and how these trends impact our industry.

Attendees spent the balance of the day choosing from an al a carte menu of breakout sessions, starting with roundtables based on functional areas such as Finance/Accounting/Credit, Pricing/Purchasing/Supplier Relations, and 5 others. They then had the opportunity to build skills in Propelling Change, Mastering the Art of Negotiation, Maximizing Efficiency, and other areas that will be an asset to their organization and themselves.

The evening offered a variety of opportunities for Networking, including attending a Texas Rangers baseball game.

The final day was equally strong on content and actionable takeaways. Author Alison Fragale, an organizational psychologist and UNC PhD, delivered tactics for how to get things done by being warm and assertive, with an emphasis on building status and respect.

A leadership panel followed, with an equal mix of Industry experts, both male and female, including NAED Chair and President and CEO of Dakota Supply Group Paul Kennedy, Angie McMillin, President of Energy Solutions and Services, Eaton, Farrah Mittel, and Jason Seger, President and CEO Border States. They shared leadership principles, change management best practices, and how to navigate the evolving business environment. Not only did the panel take questions from moderator Lindey Cernik, Border States, and questions from the audience added to the interactive panel discussion.

The final afternoon once again offered comprehensive professional development breakout sessions on topics such as building powerful partnerships, effective decision-making, career paths and time management, among other topics. An economic update by ITR also offered education on the short- and medium-term macroeconomic trends that impact our businesses.

The finale was a networking dinner at the home of the Dallas Cowboys—AT&T stadium. Networking continued, as attendees built relationships and added to their network.

Some notable differences between this event and prior ones included the attendance and participation of Wes Smith, newly appointed President and CEO of NAED, as well as that of Paul Kennedy, NAED’s Chairman of the Board for 2024.  These roles were not represented at the forum in recent history and the obvious support was impressive.  It speaks to the fact that 20% of the electrical industry is female, according to data presented at the forum.

The support of the industry showed, as the forum had its largest attendance yet—the event was sold out!  Many companies not only sent women to the event, but there was also sponsorship and support by ABB, Atkore, Blue Volt, Border States, CED, Crescent, Eaton, Enable, Hubbell, Keystone Technologies, Ledvance, Legrand, Light Efficient Design, McNaughton-McKay, PROS, RAB Lighting, Representative Materials Company, Rexel, Satco/Nuvo, Schneider, Siemens, Sonepar, Wesco and Zekelman. Infor, Cembre, Dakota Supply Group and Service Wire also contributed.

The board and the NAED staffers who put on this event should be proud of themselves—this event offered multiple high-quality sessions with the aforementioned actionable takeaways, as well as enhancements like a photographer for professional headshots and physical fitness morning activities like running and yoga. All of this yielded a cadre of attendees motivated, committed and prepared to be an even greater asset to their organizations when they returned home ready to electrify their careers, their organizations, and their network!”

Desiree Grace is an advisor, consultant, and mentor with 30+ years as a senior leader in the electrical distribution and manufacturing sectors. Currently, Desiree is General Manager of Flex-Wind North America and an associate with River Heights Consulting.  She builds brands, grows revenue and motivates teams, facilitates strategy and execution, and offers special expertise in helping offshore companies enter the North American market.

Observations

• Congratulations to NAED on the growth of this event and congratulations to the women who started the Women in Industry group 17 years ago and had the vision, and the conviction, to drive this event.
• 1100 people, amazing. According to a LinkedIn post I saw, Eaton had 250 attendees. From speaking with others, LinkedIn posts and pictures, a number of companies had strong attendance … some with over 50 women in attendance – CED, Sonepar, ABB, Wesco to name a few (and if your company sent a significant contingent, or wants to be mentioned, please share in the comment section.)
• From seeing the LinkedIn postings in my feed, it appeared that 1) attendees had fun, 2) the speakers brought much value and 3) NAED developed engaging activities that added to the experience. It made me wonder, why are the regionals so “boring” and why can’t we get comparable speaker topics and talent?

What’s the attendance goal for 2025?

A powerful event, and more importantly, a movement. NAED, getting people engaged.