We are women...hear us Roar!!!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend The Power Within for Women Speakers Series at the convention centre. The day started with a long walk around the convention centre trying to find the end of the line, only to end up where we started from.
There were 9 speakers scheduled for the day. That's a lot of people to listen to. Teri Hatcher was scheduled to speak but to my disappointment we found out after lunch that she was unable to make it, so they replaced her with a lady who was Bill Clinton's economic advisor.

Our host of the day was James Cunningham, a comedian. He was very entertaining and helped make the day flow quite well. With 5000 women in a room he managed very well.

I thought I would share with you the key messages I got out of each of the speakers.

1. Gloria Steinem - Writer, lecturer, editor, and feminist activist

Leadership by example happens in our everyday lives. Consider this, every time we are critical of ourselves there is a little girl watching us and learning to be self-critical and every time we are positive about ourselves there is a little girl watching us learning to be proud of themselves. Which would you prefer?

2. Loretta Laroche - Comedian

A) Express the freedom to choose your attitude
B) Be zestful and engaging
C) Let go of grudges
D) Give yourself and others the gift of time

3. Judy Sharma- Educator for a publicly traded company

Financial health is no different than physical health.
This speaker was the worst. It turned into an infomercial and by the end I think almost every woman in the room just wanted her to get off the stage. She was speaking about a product that helps you buy and sell stocks (much like a day trader). My question is, if this is such a great product why aren't more people using it and becoming rich?

4. Chin-Ning Chu - Author

This was a surprising speaker. She was really good. Chin-Ning presents a warrior philosophy in that Women are warriors. Be a Warrior to be the Best that you can be. She suggests there are 5 Strategic Building Blocks. I don't know the chinese terms so I'll just share the English ones. Righteousness (Is it the right thing to do?, Timing (point of which unconsiousness awareness is pushing up into the consciousness), Earth (Turning your negatives into your assets), Leadership (Involves wisdom, trustworthiness, benevolance, strictness, courage), Execution (Do the impossible!)

5. Jean Chatsky - You may recognize her from Oprah's Debt Diet series

4 Things to do to stay out of debt.

A) Make a decent living
B) Spend less than you make
C) Invest money you aren't spending
D) Protect yourself in case of disaster

After lunch we had a great performance by the Canadian Tenors. I think they are the Canadian version of Il Divo. I enjoyed it and it made a nice break to the day.

6. Dr. Laura D'Andrea Tyson - Former Economic Advisor to Bill Clinton

She talked a lot about economics and to be honest I wasn't paying attention as I had a super bad migraine, so I wasn't paying a lot of attention. She mentioned something about a concept of "Wage Insurance" By paying a premium if something were to happen and you lost your job and had to get a lower paying one, this would top you up to the amount you were used to making.

7. Jeannette Walls - Author of the"The Glass Castle"

She told the story of living in poverty and coming out of it. And how she became a successful journalist but her parents were homeless and she tried to hide it. Her message was to Face your fears. It makes you stronger in the long run.

8. Petra Nemcova - Supermodel, Tsunami survivor

Her story was so compelling I was so absorbed in it.
Her message was - Throughout adversity you see the true colours of people. Every experience has a positive and negative side. We have a choice as to which one we will focus on.

9. Dr. Mehmet Oz - You know him from Oprah as well

His talk was all about health and I left early because my migraine had gotten much worse by this point and I felt like I was in Biology class, which I have no interest in. He did share what he felt were the 5 biggest adjustments you needed to make in life to be healthy.

A) Blood pressure (Ideal 115/75)
B) No cigarettes
C) Exercise 30 min. daily
D) Healthy diet that is easy-to-love
E) Stress control

You can check out more of his stuff at oprah.com