Join your fellow SMPS Oregon members at the Daily Journal of Commerce’s first women-focused educational event, A Better Workplace: Tools to Improve the Work Environment for women in the building industries.

Over the past half-decade, the DJC has seen unprecedented growth with their annual Women of Vision Awards Event. This culminated in 2018, where they received over 200 nominations, handed out over 50 awards and had more than 700 people in attendance at the October awards banquet. Because of this, the event lost a little bit of what always made it so special: a place for women in the building industries to get together in a safe and inviting environment to celebrate each other, meet new people and learn something along the way.

The DJC firmly believes that the awards portion of the Women of Vision program is valuable, and several of the previous honorees have made it clear what it meant to them. But they knew they needed to do better when it comes to the educational and networking portion of the event.

So, the folks at the DJC decided to survey the 200 pervious Women of Vision honorees to see what they’re looking for in an event. Overwhelmingly, they heard three things:

1. More actionable information and ideas that can be brought back to the office.
2. Presentations that are inspiring and motivating, and presenters that attendees can actually connect with.
3. More opportunities to meet other women in the industries.

From these results, they created A Better Workplace. The idea is to bring in local speakers that have real, actionable ideas about what companies, organizations and the industries as a whole can do to create a more inclusive and equitable work environment for all, coupled with ample small-group discussion and a speaker Q&A (Click here to learn more about the speakers: https://djcoregon.com/a-better-workplace/ ). They focused on local speakers so those in attendance could realistically work with the speakers beyond the event to assist in implementing the proposed ideas.

The event culminates with a networking happy hour where attendees can meet each other, and ultimately make lasting connections to implement these ideas across the industries.

While time will tell with what actually comes of the event, this isn’t a culmination of efforts, but rather a beginning. The DJC wants to harness the power and expertise of the previous honorees to create other, useful events. We’re hoping to produce everything from fun social outings to educational workshops that help develop needed skills or effective policy.

As a member of SMPS, we’re offering a 20% discount on tickets or table sponsorships to the A Better Workplace event. Just enter the promo code SMPS at registration. For more information and to register, click here: https://djcoregon.com/a-better-workplace/