When Whistlerite Heather Odendaal first envisioned a women-only business leadership conference eight years ago, the idea of fostering in-person connections was one of the most motivating factors.
At the time, she was working as a sales representative for a Fortune 500 company, after nearly a decade of marketing and event planning experience within the resort.
“I saw a lack of opportunity for advancement in women in that mid-management tier, and as a remote employee based in Whistler, I was seeking some more leadership development opportunities—this is also well before the proliferation of online learning and development opportunities—and I was specifically looking at conferences,” said Odendaal.
“At the time, many people were talking about how there were more Daves and Johns in the C-suites than there were women, but very few people were talking about the pipeline to executive leadership and why women were getting stuck.”
In Odendaal’s experience, much of the available resources were dedicated to further elevating a smaller group of women who had already reached executive status, or who were further along in their career, she said.
“When I couldn’t find … that community, that conference, all of the things, my husband really pushed me to consider what I was going to do about it.”
Cue WNORTH, established in 2015. Now, the conference is returning to Whistler—in-person—for its seventh-edition to help keep that leadership pipeline flowing.
“Who would have thought it would be a three-year hiatus? But we’re really excited about it, for sure,” said Odendaal, who on Friday, Feb. 25 was named a top 50 Changemaker of 2022 by Report on Business magazine. (The annual list of Canadian Changemakers are selected from hundreds of nominees by The Globe and Mail’s editorial team based on finalists’ ideas, accomplishments, and impact, as determined by their nominations, subsequent interviews, and reference checks, according to a release.)
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the WNORTH conference scheduled for April of that year went fully virtual, and has been making good use of digital platforms ever since. The event “doubled-down on online learning,” that spring, explained Odendaal, offering six-week leadership courses and expanding on its existing membership model to offer more virtual leadership and development opportunities to entrepreneurs and corporate leaders alike. As a result, WNORTH saw its membership triple in just a few weeks.
But while “there is a time and a place for virtual learning,” Odendaal acknowledged, “WNORTH is really focused on creating those powerful connections, of which in-person is vitally important.”
The conference will be incorporating some strategies learned over the last two years to bring the event back in a hybrid format. Included in its programming is a range of receptions, panels, workshops, training and networking opportunities that fit within this year’s theme: The New Leadership Playbook for an Inclusive Economy.
The inspiration for this year’s theme was drawn from WNORTH’s 2018 keynote speaker and former Icelandic presidential candidate Halla Tomasdottir, who recently co-authored The New Leadership Playbook, described as “a collection of stories, insights and resources on 21st-century business leadership.”
The playbook “essentially recognizes that the leadership strategies that we have adhered to … in the last 30 or 40 years are not going to change the world’s biggest issues,” said Odendaal. “And so they’re saying, ‘We need a new vision, we need a new leadership that places humanity at its heart’ … We’ve very much seen over the pandemic a fundamental shift towards empathetic leadership, collaborative leadership, and women are, I believe, kind of at the heart of leading that way.”
The conference is set to take place at Nita Lake Lodge from April 27 to 29, with virtual portions scheduled to stream on Bizzabo beginning Thursday, April 28.
All attendees must follow B.C.’s current provincial health orders regarding COVID-19, and WNORTH is also requiring participants to provide proof of a negative antigen or PCR test carried out within 72 hours of the event’s start date. Find more info at wnorthconnect.com.
“I’ve always recognized that it’s not the quantity of connections, it’s the quality,” said Odendaal. This year in particular, that means “the opportunity to develop new connections,” she added. “The networking components will be really strong at this event with a focus on rebuilding your network post-pandemic.”
