Practitioner Leadership Labs
This pre-Summit program offers ERG/BRG leaders and DEI professionals an opportunity to deep dive on key LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion issues and learn best practices from practitioners from Fortune 500 organizations.
Practitioner Leadership Lab sessions are 2.5 hours each, and feature experts in LGBTQ+ inclusion and DEI best practices. Sessions will include hands-on activities and may require pre-work. In addition to breakfast and lunch general sessions, participants will pick one lab session for the morning and one for the afternoon across three learning tracks:
- Resource Group Leadership
- LGBTQ+ Inclusion Best Practices
- Leadership Development
Registration cost of $500 includes two lab sessions and two general sessions with meals provided.
To register for Practitioner Leadership Labs, access the general public registration link here and select either “In-Person Full Conference + Practitioner Leadership Labs” or “In-Person Practitioner Leadership Labs Only”. Proceed through the registration site and you will be prompted to select your Practitioner Leadership Lab courses.
NOTE: Attendees from partner companies using a comp code or discount code must use the registration link provided in their partner code emails, not the general public link above.
Pre-Conference Day General Session & Breakfast
9:00am – 10:30am PT
Morning Sessions
10:30am – 1:00pm PT
Assessing LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Your Workplace
The global state of equality for LGBTQ+ people is in rapid flux, from major advancements to severe setbacks. Around the world, we see instances of the business community leading the momentum for LGBTQ+ inclusion, at times well ahead of legal and societal changes. Business leaders thus face both opportunities and challenges, requiring greater support in effectively navigating DEI initiatives, measuring impact, and bridging the gap between policy and culture. In response, Out & Equal released a global self-evaluation guide earlier this year that demystifies and makes accessible tried-and-true best practices in LGBTQ+ inclusion. In this lab session, Out & Equal’s Global Impact Director CV Viverito and Manager Gabriel de la Cruz Soler will provide an overview of foundational policies, benefits and protocols needed as a baseline. They’ll share both internal and external tactics that support culture change and offer self-evaluation resources to reflect on the impact DEI policies and practices have on employees. You will walk away better able to understand the nuanced and interconnected levels of inclusion in a company’s policies, practices, and day-to-day culture, and ready to take the next steps towards closing any gaps.
Facilitators: CV Viverito, Global Impact Director, Out & Equal. Gabriel de la Cruz, Global Impact Manager, Out & Equal.
Who should attend: HR and DEI professionals seeking internal and external best practices and flexible tools for both individual empowerment and organizational change.
Educate, Engage & Empower: Public Policy and Employee Resource Groups
Is your ERG/BRG effectively advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community?
2022 has been a challenging year as our community has seen equality questioned at many turns. But our fight continues – whether it’s LGBTQIA+ rights, marriage equality, or healthcare for and acceptance of trans kids, our community and allies stand together. Now more than ever, we must unite to drive change.
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs/BRGs) are some of our best allies across corporations when it comes to influence and advocacy. Join representatives from Dell Technologies’ PRIDE ERG for an informative session in which we will share our best practices in how we educate, engage, and empower our team members to positively advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. We will discuss the power of partnerships and how we work both internally and externally with key stakeholders to help drive change. We will share real world examples of programs we’ve run, like our voter registration efforts, that have helped organize and engage our organization. Lastly, we’ll discuss future goals through a collaborative, goal-setting discussion, where we will brainstorm together on how we can educate, engage, and empower our community to create meaningful impact within our city, state and federal government moving forward.
Facilitators: Erik Day, SVP Global Small Business Sales, Dell & Chair of the Board, Out & Equal, Bonnie McGuire, Instructional Designer & Global Co-Lead Pride ERG, Dell, Sam Slate, Client Product Marketing Consultant, Dell & Global Community Impact Lead Pride ERG, Dell, Jennifer Faulk, Senior Consultant, Corporate Communications at Dell
Who should attend: Resource group members and leaders, Government Affairs officials, and others interested in leveraging resource groups to drive public policy change.
From DEI Champion to DEI Practitioner – A Journey From Day Job to “Gay Job”
Corporate commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion are here to stay. As the DEI field continues to shift, expand, and (re)define itself, many leaders in voluntary roles, such as Resource Group chairs or DEI Council members, have leveraged their DEI skill sets to complement their day job. This lab session is geared to those interested in shifting from DEI champion to DEI practitioner— in other words, those who want to make their “gay job” their day job! Join this lab session to learn from DEI practitioners at Capital One who have successfully transitioned their roles. Participants will explore the challenges and opportunities in DEI work and learn actionable ways to smooth their transition, including identifying competencies needed to succeed as a DEI professional and ways to improve a CV to highlight DEI accomplishments and transferable skills through the power of storytelling.
Facilitators: Albert Smith, DIB Sr Director at Capital One, Adrián González, DIB Sr Manager at Capital One, Theresita Richard, Managing Vice President, Head of DIB, Beth Popp, Sr Associate, Leadership & DIB Learning, Alex Polotsky, Sr Associate, DIB Data & Governance
Who should attend: Resource group leaders and members who are interested in leveraging their diversity, equity, and inclusion skillset into a different position.
Intergenerational Reference Points, LGBTQ+ Leadership, and You
Finding that you and a colleague share a similar history, or connection to a generational reference point, can be a powerful thing. It may establish a communication shorthand or even build trust, both of which produce that sense of belonging. How do our generational reference points manifest in our LGBTQ+ leadership? What happens when we don’t find these shared points of connection? Where does the time go? Your 25-year-old colleagues were: babies when Matthew Shepard was murdered, toddlers when Will & Grace aired, 14 when Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed, and high schoolers when Edie Windsor got her day at the Supreme Court and the Defense of Marriage Act was overturned. Have you ever paused to ponder if your LGBTQ+ history is also theirs? Join Out & Equal for a highly interactive workshop to learn new ways of creating meaningful, cross-generational dialogue around LGBTQ+ history and how these can inform your day-to-day leadership and ERG plans. Kicking off with an interactive memory tour, this session will explore best practices for engaging Gen Z in your company’s inclusion work. You’ll leave with a meeting-in-a-box resource to strengthen your ERG’s intergenerational belonging.
Facilitators: Rebecca York, Learning & Development Manager, Out & Equal. Stephen Huey, Senior Director of Corporate Engagement, Out & Equal.
Who should attend: Resource group leaders intent on building cross-generational connections, increasing Gen Z engagement, and sparking meaningful dialogue amongst their teams and resource groups.
Leveraging Your Unique Narrative
The power of every LGBTQ+ individual to share their story is at the heart of the sweeping change we see across workplaces and communities. At work, we constantly reveal who we are – from clarifying pronouns, to referencing our spouses, to more strategically personalizing LGBTQ+ equality to advocate for a policy change. The narrative of “coming out of the closet” needs revision—we never come out just once. Each of these acts is about telling our truth, sharing our story, and in doing so, having the power to change lives and transform organizational culture. Building on Out & Equal’s workplace storytelling resource for LGBTQ+ people and allies: Your Story. Your Truth. Your Power., this session will teach storytellers how to drive change and achieve impact, reduce resistance and opposition, and create a culture of storytelling at work. Lab participants will explore how our stories show up at work, understand the impact different stories may have, and chart strategies to maximize impact.
Facilitators: Isabel Porras, Senior Director of Learning & Development, Out & Equal. Deanna Kent, Learning & Development Manager, Out & Equal.
Who should attend: LGBTQ+ people and allies looking to sharpen their storytelling to maximize impact, empowerment and growth.
Pre-Conference Day General Session & Lunch
1:00pm – 2:30pm PT
Afternoon Sessions
2:30pm – 5:00pm PT
Belonging at Work: Fostering Intersectional Allyship
“Bring your whole self to work” is a phrase you’ve likely heard time and again in DEI spaces. But what does it really mean in practice? Join Out & Equal’s Learning & Development team to explore how an intersectional allyship framework can inform and expand your leadership practice. The secret? It starts with learning more about our identities, and the ways they interact with the spaces and people around us. In this session, you’ll develop a greater understanding of your own identity and the way you show up at work, explore intersectionality and its usefulness as a DEI framework, and create actionable ways to foster belonging on your teams.
Facilitators: Isabel Porras, Senior Director of Learning & Development, Out & Equal. Rebecca York, Learning & Development Manager, Out & Equal.
Who should attend: DEI practitioners, team leaders, and/or individuals wanting to demystify intersectionality, learn activities and techniques to engage hesitant allies and encourage belonging, and learn more about how our identities impact our allyship.
Build Your Transgender and Nonbinary Employee Organization
Around the world, stigma against transgender people in the workplace remains despite civil rights gains and increased workplace protections. Even at more inclusive companies, transgender people endure invasive personal questions, repeated use of the wrong name or pronouns, and derogatory jokes about people who don’t conform to gender stereotypes. When almost half of LGBT+ employees perceive their direct manager as responsible for enforcing non-discrimination policies, it’s no wonder that 71% of transgender employees hide their transition or gender identity at work. It can be daunting for transgender employees to seek support from a manager who hasn’t openly embraced the LGBT+ community, which can leave them feeling as if they don’t have a voice in the workplace. How do we go beyond writing non-discrimination policies, transition guidelines, and health insurance benefits and move toward creating spaces to amplify the voices of transgender people? In this session, members of the JPMorgan Chase Gender Expansive Council will share how their company’s commitment to supporting transgender employees has empowered the group to be a collective voice for transgender employees provide guidance to influence the LGBT+ Executive Council on transgender matters. The Council will discuss their beginnings, how they’ve navigated growth, and how they’ve addressed successes and challenges. Participants will leave with key insights and tools to develop similar initiatives and join a growing network of firms for whom transgender organization is integral to their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts.
Facilitators: Amanda Walker, Program Manager, JPMorgan Chase. Hannah Schwab, VP, Corporate Third Party Oversight, JPMorgan Chase.
Who should attend: DEI and HR practitioners, LGBTQ+ Executive Sponsors and Resource Group Leaders interested in expanding their organization’s transgender and nonbinary employee engagement and support.
ERG Leaders LAB: Learn. Act. Build
You are an ERG leader responsible for driving and executing strategy by leading people through influence all in a world of constant disruption from hybrid work environments and technology changes to long overdue conversations on race & equity. In this interactive lab for current & future ERG Leaders, you will learn, act, and build both hard and soft leadership skills to effectively run your ERG as well as drive growth in your current job role. Hear from personal branding expert and inclusion thought leader Jayzen Patria on his experiences championing ERGs at companies including General Electric, Comcast & NBCUniversal and the best new practices he is seeing in action at top corporations. Use an executive’s strategy & action planning toolkit that sets a mindset for your team to drive results the C-suite is looking for today. Hone your leadership skills to lead and manage those who do not report directly to you. As a result of the session, you will: Learn and practice tools to facilitate engaging conversations with executives, your steering committee, and members to influence, coach, delegate and empower. Act like the CEO of your ERG with a mindset to drive business impact and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. Create a draft 2023 ERG strategy with a process and tools to co-create and finalize with your leadership team post Summit.
Facilitator: Jayzen Patria, Chief Curator, JP Speakers.
Who should attend: ERG leaders and aspiring leaders seeking to sharpen their leadership skills and learn tools to facilitate engaging conversations with executives, steering committees, and group members to influence, coach, delegate, and empower.
Leveraging Executive Sponsors to Drive Resource Group Engagement
To truly be successful, resource groups require strong, committed Executive Sponsorship who can exert influence and affect change. Unfortunately, many resource group leaders are unsure how to engage their Executive Sponsors. Many Executive Sponsors also aren’t sure how to best add value, leaving both stakeholders unsure of how to most effectively work together. In this lab session, HP’s Global Pride Executive Sponsor Annette Friskopp and Global DEI Program Manager Beth Miller will walk through how Sponsors can best help drive ERG growth and success. The session includes a panel discussion with other Executive Sponsors at HP who will share their wisdom and experience in championing resource groups.
Facilitators: Annette Friskopp, Global Pride Executive Sponsor, HP. Beth Miller, Global DEI Program Manager.
Who should attend: Resource group leaders and Executive Sponsors eager to maximize Sponsor impact and value-add.
What’s Your B.R.A.V.E. Quotient?
We need only to look at headlines today to see that loneliness is one of the greatest epidemics we continue to face. Experts were studying the impact of isolation and loneliness on the workplace well before COVID social distancing measures went into effect. Now more than ever, we need B.R.A.V.E. leaders. Jennifer Croneberger’s leadership model calls for belonging resilience, authenticity, vulnerability, and empathy. It has been adopted with much success as a best practice for leader and culture development programming in companies around the globe. How do we measure our impact as leaders? In this lab session, Jennifer Croneberger will lead participants through an exclusive assessment to identify and develop their leadership quotient. Using introspective exercises to develop a down plan, you’ll leave this session with the right tools to create a strong and safe culture where both you and your team can thrive.
Facilitator: Jennifer Croneberger, Founder & Chief Inspiration Officer, JLynne Consulting Group.
Who should attend: Current and emerging leaders keen on self-development and interesting in tools and exercises to maximize leadership presence and impact.