Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
WithIt Taps Denise Ryan as Guest Speaker for Educational Breakfast
September 18,
2019 by Jane Chero in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry 
WithIt, the women's leadership development network for the home and furnishings industries, has announced that Denise Ryan will be the guest speaker for the organization's biannual High Point Market Educational Breakfast sponsored by Myriad Software. The Sunday morning breakfast will be held in the IHFC ballroom on Oct. 20 from 7:30 - 9 a.m., and is sponsored by Palliser Furniture.
Ryan wowed attendees at WithIt’s 2019 Professional Conference as a keynote speaker with her engaging, enthusiastic presentation.
Ryan’s topic for the breakfast will be Leadership Lessons: How to Communicate with Everyone Who is Not You, 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.
WithIt will celebrate the start of High Point Market with a President's Welcome Reception on Friday, Oct. 18 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. in the Malouf Showroom, located at Market on Green - 204, (1st floor). The event is sponsored by Malouf, and there is no charge for this networking event.
The organization will wrap up Market with its Annual Student Mentoring Day on Wednesday, Oct. 23, from 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. 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.