8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Elevating the Role of Executive Assistant into a Strategic Business Partner
Dawn Benson, East Bay Municipal Utility District
The executive assistant role is expanding in the private and public sectors world-wide. This workshop will share the tips and tricks of building a strategic partnership with your executive, building your network within your company, training, and resources to develop your toolkit of skills necessary for your administrative professional success!
Understanding California’s Prohibition on Gift of Public Funds
Nick Ghirelli, Richards Watson Gershon
This session will explain the constitutional prohibition against gifts of public funds and analyze situations where disbursements of district assets trigger the prohibition or serve legitimate public purposes.
10:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Break, Networking with the Exhibitors
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Key Communication Tips
Tom "T-Bone" McGowian, CPS HR Consulting
Learn key communication tips to help deliver outstanding customer service to external and internal customers. This session delves into tactics for problem-solving and relationship building using emotional intelligence.
Effective and Legal Meetings in a Technology World
Lindsay Thorson, Richards Watson Gershon
Use of technology by board members, and during board meetings, can lead to more efficient and accessible meetings, but it can also open a Pandora’s box of pitfalls. This presentation will explore how districts can harness the value of incorporating technology into the board room, while minimizing the potential risks. Topics will include best practices for cloud-based document storage, electronic agenda packets, use of social media, compliance with the Brown Act, accessibility, and more.
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Lunch, All Attendees
1:15 - 2:30 p.m.
Data Automation vs. Manual Tasks? – No Contest!
Carolyn DeLage, CPS HR Consulting
As a professional in the public sector, you are probably working with complex data sets, multiple databases, and pressure-filled deadlines. This session will show you how to automate many data-related tasks with little effort on your part, allowing you to noticeably increase your personal productivity and produce more reliable work.
Business Impact Analysis: The Cornerstone of Building a Business Continuity Program
Nora O’Brian, Connect Consulting Services
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, more than 40% of organizations and businesses that do not have plans fail after disaster strikes. During this COVID-19 Pandemic, special districts had to dramatically change their business processes to keep operating despite many challenges. In this session “Business Impact Analysis: The Cornerstone of Building a Business Continuity Program”, Connect Consulting Services, experts in emergency management and business continuity planning, will share resources and strategies on how to develop your Business Impact Analysis (BIA) that serves as a foundation for your business continuity program (BCP). Through the BIA process, you identify your essential business functions, the recovery time for those business functions to be brought back online post-disaster, and the staff, supply chain, work location, and technology dependencies those business functions need to operate post-disaster. Once your essential business functions are identified, this information will serve to guide your disaster recovery actions.
2:30 - 2:45 p.m.
Break
2:45 - 4:00 p.m.
Recent Developments in the California Voting Rights Act
Derek Cole, Cole Huber
This presentation will provide updates regarding the conversion to district elections under the California Voting Rights Act (“CVRA”) and the redistricting process (for those special districts that currently have district elections). The presentation will address recent court cases interpreting the CVRA and the legal requirements for creating districts.
“How to Rock Your Next Performance Evaluation (Pro Tip: Treat it like a Job Interview)”
Stephanie Smith, MMC, Best Best & Krieger LLP
Evaluating your performance before your next evaluation can be stressful, to say the least. Am I doing okay? Do I need to work on something? What will he/she say about me? Knowing how well you’re doing before hearing it from “the boss” is key to improving deficiencies and elevating your performance to the next level. In this session, participants will gain a better understanding of the relationship between performance and professional growth opportunities and how to apply that understanding to their current positions.
Participants will learn how to:
- Analyze their current job performance to identify strengths
- Craft an exciting opening (and closing) statement
- Build confidence in their knowledge, skills and abilities that can be applied right now
And leave with a better understanding of:
- How practicing for an interview can build confidence in one’s abilities, which leads to better performance and more effective decision making in the current position
- The importance of effective listening when working in the public sector
- 10 Things That Require Zero Talent and how those 10 things will improve performance in any position
4:00 p.m.
Event Adjourns, Graduation Certificate Distribution