Moment of Yes Panel

Converging on the Australian National University, some 1,000 local women have come to discover why what you do shapes who you are. The Badger & Co is a restaurant and bar in the new ANU precinct overlooking newly developed Sullivan’s Creek. It is here that the stories of five female panellists remind the audience of what each of us does and why that matters.

Our panellists, in various professional fields and at various stages in their professional development, discuss the “the moment of yes” – the wonderful moment that each woman knew they had found their calling (or multiple callings!) and discuss keys to success, overcoming professional adversity, and other themes which attendees drew on to reflect on their ideal current and future state and how to get there if they aren’t already. 

Women make the most impact through our careers. To make this point, I point to the figures from TedX speaker Tim Urban: ‘For most of us, a career (including ancillary career time, like time spent commuting and thinking about your work) will eat up somewhere between 50,000 and 150,000 hours. At the moment, a long human life runs at about 750,000 hours. When you subtract childhood (~175,000 hours) and the portion of your adult life you’ll spend sleeping, eating, exercising, and otherwise taking care of the human pet you live in, along with errands and general life upkeep (~325,000 hours), you’re left with 250,000 “meaningful adult hours.” So, a typical career will take up somewhere between 20% and 60% of your meaningful adult time’. With the blurring of lines between work and other ‘meaningful adult time’ with the advent of the internet, our careers are arguably as inseparable and fundamental to our beings as are our favourite books, movies, songs, and other pieces of art.

The discussion was led by Rae Knopik, founder of The CBR Gals, who utilised technology to ask informed questions from the audience to ensure the panel answers the questions that attendees wanted answered.

The Moment of “Yes!” panel was catered for the entire family, and tickets were available in packages. Alternatively, tickets were available individually for people looking to network pre- and post-panel.  Attendees learned about the most important aspects of goal and intention setting in the Australian Capital Territory: how highly influential women in Canberra helped shape the current career sphere for women in Canberra.

Panellists:

• Trish Bergin — former First Assistant Secretary for the Office of Women for the Australian Commonwealth Government
• Giulia Jones — Liberal Member of the ACT Legislative Assembly
• Claudia Maclean — Principal Solicitor for the ACT Women’s Legal Centre
• Annabelle McInnes — international best seller for Speculative Fiction
• Cathi Moore — 2018 Senior Woman of the Year