Just For Women

A first-time seminar at the 2010 Pumper & Cleaner Expo will help women in the industry handle their roles effectively

For the first time, women attending the 2010 Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville will find a workshop designed around their unique needs as contributors to family businesses and as members of the industry.

Ann Fry, an author, professional speaker, executive coach and corporate culture consultant, will help women learn how to manage their roles with joy and enthusiasm and spend less time living in “that place called stress.” Her Women in the Industry seminar runs from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday, Feb. 25.

‘Great multitaskers’

Fry’s specialty is helping people feel happy and fulfilled through her presentation: “The Regeneration Process: How to ReEnergize, RePurpose, ReInvent and Handle Everything!” Women will learn how to create balance in their work and personal lives, tap into their sense of humor, and figure out how to take care of themselves amid everything else they have to do.

“Women, the great multitaskers; they can handle everything,” says Fry. “They also are excellent at reaching out to and talking to each other, offering support and suggestions. Then why are so many stressed out, exhausted, frustrated and annoyed?”

Through hands-on activities with partners or small groups, and a workbook, Fry will help women diagram everything on their plate, then find ways to master the different kinds of stress.

“One playful activity I use is having a lady talk while another listens,” says Fry. “The person talking is downloading her stress — one experience or event that ate her lunch recently — in a fun, outrageous way. The exercise teaches how important it is to release stress from your system and not keep it bottled up.”

Positive thinking

Another activity focuses on interesting facts about perfectionism and how it can drive the perfectionist and everyone around her crazy. Most women, being nurturers and caregivers, say yes to everyone and everything, Fry says. Her exercises center on helping them say no without inducing a guilt trip.

“The perspective people have on events carries a lot of weight on how they are handled,” says Fry. “By using a little positive thinking and seeing the humor in things, I will teach women how to look at situations so that they appear on the lighter side. If you can put an episode in perspective, you can handle it.”

Fry admits the reinventing portion of her workshop can scare women. “They hear the word and think it means quitting their job, leaving their family and moving to China,” she says. “Reinventing actually means changing how you deal with things and adjusting your attitude.

“We’ll look at some steps to reinventing yourself, such as being willing to do a few things differently. For example, you should stop doing things that are not working for you and start doing things that are more helpful.

“By the time we reach this point in the presentation, everyone will know what those things are in her life. I guarantee that women will leave the room energized, with a new direction and purpose.”



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