## Note: Please go to the Career Transformation Ventures website or to the ticketing page to purchase your ticket (limited slots available). This is only a reservation page. ##

Polish your executive presence; strengthen your influencing, persuasion and negotiation skills; and increase your impact on decision making!

Who should attend this workshop:

New or aspiring independent Board Directors
New or aspiring managers and leaders
High-performing team members / early career professionals
Anyone who wants to achieve greater impact in high-stakes meetings

What are high-stakes meetings?

These are meetings where key decisions are made; or have outcomes of profound significance. These may be meetings with:

Board Directors and C-suite executives (CEO, CFO, CIO, etc.)
clients, to sell them your goods or services;
suppliers, to buy their goods or services;
your team, to decide on projects and activities;
your community organisations, to act on common objectives.

Who you will learn from:
Your Facilitator, whose experience is described below, but more importantly, we will learn from each other, as all the attendees can share their experience and wisdom. You will also hear some key advice from senior executives and leaders on pre-recorded videos.

Facilitator:

Dr Celia Torres-Villanueva has had 25 years of management and leadership experience; and 30 years experience in training and teaching. She began her career by heading the Molecular Medicine and Biotechnology Research Lab in the premier tertiary institution in the Philippines - the University of the Philippines (UP). She became Associate Dean of the College of Science and then Vice Chancellor for Research and Development of UP, before becoming a lawyer and an Executive Director of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. Celia migrated to Australia in 2008, became a lawyer here, and has held management and senior sole contributor roles in the university, research, and corporate sectors. She has managed multi-skilled teams in Australia and the Philippines and has successfully negotiated multimillion to hundred-million dollar contracts with Fortune 500 companies; top universities; government and non-government agencies around the world. Aside from her full-time job as Head of Commercial in a Fortune 500 engineering company, Celia is a non-executive Board Director in three boards; Deputy Board Chair of a century-old organisation (est.1884); and the founder of a social enterprise - Career Transformation Ventures - which aims to increase representation of diverse voices in positions of influence and leadership.

As a woman of colour and a migrant to Australia who shifted careers in her middle age, Celia has overcome many challenges in her journey to be a trusted advisor and leader. She is keen to share the learnings from both her mistakes and successes to empower others in their own careers.

Click here to learn more about Celia's qualifications and connect with her on LinkedIn.

What you will learn:

We will strengthen your understanding of executive presence to empower you to speak authoritatively and influence decisions. You will practise "disagreeing without being disagreeable", while remaining respectful and open-minded, and always staying true to your own personality and values.

Key topics include:

executive presence and gravitas
presenting and speaking to senior executives and directors
persuasion, influencing and negotiation skills

Supplemental reading

Upon registration, you will receive a recommended (purely optional) reading list, to help you prepare better for the session.
At the end of the workshop, you will receive a list of recommended materials and courses for deepening your study.

What to expect:

This is a full-day session in a boardroom setting. Coffee, tea, refreshments and lunch will be provided.
The sessions will be highly interactive and everyone is expected to give and receive constructive, respectful feedback.
We will put each skill into practice as we discuss various topics. We will conduct actual meetings in a safe, supportive space, where you can bring your true self and your own views and opinions. You will not be "role playing" - we want you to shine as yourself!
You will hear very practical advice from senior corporate executives or community leaders who Celia has worked with (through pre-recorded video or live at the session).
While we may touch upon some key points on running and chairing effective meetings, this workshop is not about the procedural aspects of meetings nor the collective effectiveness of a team. Instead, we will focus on how to maximise your impact on the decision or outcome of meetings.
Please leave your laptops at home and be prepared to "switch off" your mobile phones for the better part of the day to be fully present in the workshop. You can check messages and make calls during the morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea breaks and other wellbeing breaks throughout the day.