- philippajdengler
Lasting impressions from the AWEsome event
Here I am here cabled up and ready to go on stage to talk about retiring the concept of retirement at the AWE Summit in Zurich. Looking calm and collected on the outside hiding the nerves of talking without slides or notes to remind me of all the things I want to convey.
Take a look at the gallery of photos taken by photographer Natalie von Harscher at Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs event, 27th October 2018.
The theme of the day kicked of by our host Tulia Lopes was "Be the change". Like Michael Jackson's song "Man in the mirror" - in order to create change in the world we first need to start with ourselves.
Followed by a series of female speakers with their inspiring, and often very personal, messages about understanding their talents, finding their voice and having the courage to do what is right for you and your loved ones. About the importance of happiness at work, about reframing how you see others and how you see yourself.
Catherine Schopfer's message particularly resonated with me: not to drift through life and wait for a crisis before taking action but to seize the opportunities we have and create new ones for ourselves. It's something I come across in my work on employability. It's human nature for us to adjust to the status quo and do everything we can stay within our comfort zone. And yet we all know stories of someone who has faced a personal crisis of some kind - and then finally found their true vocation only on the other side of that crisis. Her message was to be proactive - and skip the awful crisis bit.
For me it was an honour and a real pleasure to stand up and share my message with such an alert, attentive and intelligent group of people. (And yes - I remembered what I wanted to say without slides or notes!😃)
It's great when an audience nods or laughs in the right places (thank you!) and the conversations afterwards throughout the day confirmed that my talk resonated with many of the participants in different ways. It was a long day - packed with information and high energy attendees. In the afternoon we had short thought provoking workshops and the networking and discussion during the breaks, over lunch and into the evening provided much food for thought as well as great new connections.
Although it's already 5 months ago the photos bring it all back and refresh the messages and the energy of the day. Thank you Natalie von Harscher for that! Here's her link to the other photos: https://www.vonharscher.ch/awesummit
I wonder what all the other participants are doing this week and how many of them took action or changed something based on their experiences at the AWE Summit - and what memories they have of the event?