Attendees share their experiences and big takeaways from ACA’s inaugural event spotlighting career empowerment and personal growth.
11/30/2022 1:45 P.M.
2.5 minute read
ACA International hosted our first-ever Visionaries Conference in November, an engaging day of business networking with professionals and their allies in the industry, plus a focus on career empowerment and personal growth.
Attendees participated in sessions led by ACA board members, members of the Women in Collections Resource Committee, ACA staff and training experts at the Nov. 2 event in Chicago, held in conjunction with Fall Forum.
The day started with a session that explored “imposter syndrome,” helping attendees work through feelings of self-doubt and managing expectations.
Jennifer Whipple, president of Collection Bureau Services Inc. and an ACA board member, along with Mindy Chumbley, owner of Solverity and president of the Washington Collectors Association, also led a session on how to create an influence plan to encourage growth for your teams, to support people across varied generations and to use your voice to lead through your values.
“I had the privilege of engaging in my first ACA International speaking session at the Visionaries conference,” Whipple said. “Several attendees met with me after the session with follow-up ideas and sought details on their own situation. ACA International shines when we connect and learn from each other.”
Session attendees were able to chat with speakers afterwards and share their takeaways with the group, including ideas that can help boost confidence in the workplace and foster better connections with coworkers.
“Visionaries was an opportunity to get to know and support other women in the industry,” Chumbley said. “I appreciated everyone’s willingness to be vulnerable and grow from each other’s stories.”
Whipple added, “I had so many takeaways from this year’s Visionaries conference at Fall Forum. I’ve mastered a couple of new phrases that I use in my daily responses and am finding these communication tools simple and effective: ‘Always happy to help,’ ‘Nice catch. I’ve made the changes,’ and ‘Thanks for the second set of eyes.’”
The afternoon included lessons on how to get your voice heard, improve your negotiation skills, and boost your confidence to enhance your leadership style.
Closing out Visionaries, participants joined a fun and interactive session on how to mix drinks, including a friendly team competition to develop the signature drink for the Fall Forum Welcome Reception in the Expo Hall.
“ACA’s Visionaries Conference exceeded my expectations in offering ample personal growth and development opportunities,” said Linda Dameron, director of consumer accounting at Crown Asset Management, LCC. “Hot Topic sessions provided an open forum for having memorable discussions and welcomed vulnerability in a safe environment. Unique networking events such as Dinner with Strangers and Mixology 101 also permitted the formation of genuine connections that I look forward to maintaining!”
Thank you to Visionaries sponsors CCMR3 and Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber Schreck and Fall Forum sponsors: Provana, Maurice Wutscher, InterProse, Beam Software, Payscout, Prodigal, Skit.ai, TEC Services Group, VoApps DirectDrop Voicemail, Solutions by Text, CompuMail, CWA Merchant Services, Nuvei, and RNN Group.
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