Work-life Balance, Veteran Employment, and Job Search Strategy: Workplace Track Sessions for SXSW 2018
Join us this March at SXSW for the Workplace Track to explore topics ranging from career development, work-life balance, co-working, future of work, diversity, inclusion, HR issues, and employee rights - check out session recommendations below.
"Work-life balance has been a popular topic since the internet stepped onto the scene and bringing work home got easier," says SXSW Programmer Katie McCall. "Since then, there have been numerous reports about how to separate work and life or how to embrace the integration of the two." During the session It’s Time: Find Alignment & Abandon Work-Life Balance, hear from forward-thinkers like Dawna Ballard, an expert in chronemics and professor at UT Austin exploring research-based solutions to the work-life balance question.
Explore highlighted topics in the Workplace Track like gender gaps at work, veteran employment, job search strategy, and more. Workplace sessions will be held March 10-14 with primary access to Interactive and Platinum Badges; secondary access to all other badges.
Workplace Highlights
Conquering Your Job Search Journey
Speakers: Elizabeth Gross (Job Search Divas)
Stuck in a dead-end job and stressed about how to find a new one? Or in-between jobs and frustrated by the emotional ups & downs of applying for jobs and never hearing back? Finding a new job feels like a full-time job. So how do you conquer your job search, and come out on top? This session offers a realistic plan for managing your search, including tips on staying organized, effective networking strategies, and keeping the momentum going. Audience participation welcome, bring tips to share!
Frozen: Why College Gender Gap Spurs Egg Freezing
Speakers: Pasquale Patrizio (Yale University), Lynn Westphal (Stanford University Medical Center), Jon Birger (Fortune Magazine), and Claire Tompkins (Future Family)
When Facebook and Apple announced they'd offer egg freezing as a perk, the response was surprisingly negative. Critics accused companies of sending women the wrong message—i.e. that career and long hours take precedence over family. Others accused egg freezers of fooling themselves into believing they could micromanage plans for career and family. Critics got it wrong. Our research shows women are freezing their eggs NOT to prioritize their careers but due to a shortage of college-educated men.
How 5 Months on the PCT Made Me Better at My Job
Speakers: Elizabeth Schwartz (Square Root)and Lydia Dishman (Fast Company)
In 2016, Square Root COO, Elizabeth Schwartz, put one of the company's award-earning programs (unlimited paid time off) to the test with a 5-month sabbatical to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. The lessons she learned along the way helped transform the company's culture and business long-term. In this session, we'll discuss how other companies can find success with programs like sabbaticals, offering ways they can make it work for not just the employee -- but for the company as a whole.
Unique Veteran Employment Strategies
Speakers: Raphael Hernandez (Amazon), Daniel Savage (LinkedIn), Felipe Buzaid (Facebook), and David Gaulin (Comcast NBCUniversal)
Over 200K skilled veterans enter the civilian workforce each year. Yet many see vets as only capable of entry-level roles, typecast to serving as “security guards, truck drivers, and mechanics.” How can your company go beyond “Thank you for your service” and smartly hire, retain, and promote members of the military community? Hear how four tech companies increased diversity and improved customer experience while boosting the bottom line through full-spectrum veteran programs and how you can too!
It’s Time: Find Alignment & Abandon Work-Life Balance
Speakers: Dawna Ballard (The University of Texas at Austin)
Time is not a problem to be solved: It is a relationship (among ourselves, our work, and others) to cultivate. Nurturing the relationship among these deeply interdependent parts, and the collective rhythm they impart to our lives, supports our healthy alignment. This offers us greater resilience and an economy of action that comes with “good form.” Moving beyond balance or simple productivity, this session focuses on finding alignment—even amidst great personal and professional upheaval. Drawing from recent research in chronemics, the study of time in communication, our alignment relies upon three equally important activities described in this session: 1) Pacing: Find it. 2) Recovery: Don’t fake it. 3) Practice: Keep at it (but gently and with great humor.)
Crossover Track Recommendations
Broaden your perspective by attending SXSW sessions across all 24 Tracks of Conference programming. These recommended sessions are outside of the Intelligent Future Track, but are still relevant to anyone interested in cutting-edge technologies.
Lessons in Innovation from Silicon Valley Elite – Ann Hiatt (Google) Track: Startup & Tech Sectors
Where Are The Women? Changing the Media Ratio – Jasmine Garsd Garcia (Public Radio International/BBC), Tara Todras-Whitehill (Vignette Interactive), Sophia Jones (The Fuller Project) and Daniella Zalcman (Women Photograph) Track: News & Journalism
The New Collar Revolution – Justin Hall (Bit Source), Morgan Reed (ACT | The App Association), Ro Khanna (House of Representatives) and Penny Pritzker (US Department of Commerce) Track: Startup & Tech Sectors
Purchase your SXSW Badge and reserve your hotel today to experience these sessions along with 10 days of screenings, showcases, exhibitions, networking, and more this March 9-18 in Austin, TX. Take the Tracks Quiz to discover which badge will suit your needs.
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Stay tuned to SXSW News and Twitter for more highlights from Conference Tracks and continued coverage of SXSW 2018.
"The Future of Work: How to Innovate with Inclusion" Featured Session with Candice Morgan at SXSW 2017 - Photo by Errich Petersen
By Hayden Bagot
02/5/2018