WithIt Education Breakfast to Feature Motivational Speaker Denise Ryan

Furniture World News Desk on 9/17/2019

WithIt, the women's leadership development network for the home and furnishings industries, announced that Denise Ryan will be the guest speakers for the organization's biannual High Point Market Educational Breakfast sponsored by Myriad Software. Palliser Furniture is the Speaker Sponsor for the Sunday morning breakfast, which will be held on October 20th, 7:30 to 9 am, in the IHFC ballroom.

Denise Ryan wowed attendees at WithIt’s 2019 Professional Conference as a keynote speaker. Her engaging, energetic and enthusiastic presentation received consistently high marks from attendees.

Ryan’s topic for the October breakfast will be Leadership Lessons: How to Communicate with Everyone Who is Not You. It will help attendees learn about barriers to communication and how to remove them and give tips on defusing hostile people. The session includes a communication styles quiz to discover how best to adapt and get along with others. There will be tips on technology and how to be more effective when using it to communicate, as well as tips to improve listening skills.

“Life would be so easy if everyone we interacted with was just like us. They would understand our cryptic e-mail messages, forgive our bizarre text messages, and understand why we unfriended them on Facebook,” explained Ryan when describing her presentation. “There would be no hard feelings, no conflict, and clearly, world peace. I designed this session to give attendees real skills to help them cope. People won’t stop being crazy, but this session will help you stay sane.”

“We decided to invite Denise to speak at our breakfast as a result of a strategic planning session the board of directors held last June,” said Lark Shirley-Stevens, WithIt board president and Executive Director of Marketing and Membership at Furniture First Buying Group. “We want to bring our members information to help them develop their professional skills and succeed no matter their function in the industry.”

Shirley-Stevens explained that a scheduling conflict with the previously announced speaker allowed the group to accelerate their planned change in programing emphasis.

The ticketed event is open to WithIt members and to High Point Market attendees. Ticket price are $25 for members and $35 for guests and includes a hot breakfast buffet and networking. Seats are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis at www.WithIt.org.

WithIt will celebrate the start of High Point Market with a President's Welcome Reception on Friday, October 18th at 6:00 pm-7:30 pm in the Malouf Showroom, Market on Green - 204, (1st floor). The event is sponsored by Malouf and there is no charge for this networking event.

WithIt will wrap up Market with its Annual Student Mentoring Day on Wednesday, October 23rd, 8:00 am-1:00 pm. The group introduces university students studying in home and furnishings related majors to the inner workings of High Point Market with showroom tours, round tables on a variety of topics, and a luncheon. Christi Barbour and Christi Spangle of Barbour Spangle Design are featured speakers for the event.

Preregistration, through www.WithIt.org, is required as space is limited. The cost is $10 per student; WithIt student members may attend for free (Student Members login to register.) Student Mentoring Day is sponsored by a grant from the AHFA Furniture Foundation.