This year, the Benison Event Center opened its doors to the Hamilton community, and this October, it will open its doors for a very special event: INSPIRE – Hamilton’s Professional Women Conference. This gathering of nearly 200 women will both celebrate business successes and encourage the next generation of female entrepreneurship and business leadership in Hamilton.
“We are trying to create an intersection of women who are powerful and have achieved their life’s goals, and women who are just on the precipice of achieving those goals,” explains Wendy Waters-Connell, Executive Director of the YWCA. “If you can hook those two together, there’s real synergy.”
The Benison, located in a historic building that until now has always been a bank, is a beautifully refurbished event space dominated by an enormous, beautiful Mosler Safe Company vault. While the space is frequently the site of dinners and weddings, this event will be the first of its kind in the Hamilton area.
For $25, women in business can register for the October 19th event, which will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with registration at 8:30 a.m. However, the encouragement for women in business leadership is to not only pay their fee but to also sponsor someone else to attend.
“As a businesswoman, we want to encourage individuals in the community to join and sponsor a woman who might be in need,” explains Yvonne VanBibber, Director of Events at The Benison. “We want women to find someone to mentor and someone to be their mentor; we want the event to go on past the actual day.”
Women and teenage girls in the community will be identified who have an interest in the resources that such an event can provide and will be invited to attend free of charge because of the sponsorship of other attendees.
The day will involve plenty of time for getting to know each other between scheduled events, which include two speakers, Professor Beth Troy of Miami University’s Farmer School of Business and Dr. Bennyce Hamilton of Miami University Regionals Office of Diversity and Multicultural Services.
There will be about 10 organizations, programs, and businesses represented with tables, offering information and resources for the attendees during breaks.
A panel of influential women in the Hamilton area will field questions from attendees and discuss what it means to be an influential woman in all aspects of life in and around Hamilton.
“We are targeting women in the business community, and it’s pretty cool that professional women in our local business community are going to be all together on one day, for the same purpose, driving things forward,” says Tiffany Grubb, Director of Membership and Marketing at the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.
Lunch will be catered by Chick-Fil-A, and there will be a safety demonstration from the Hamilton Police Department’s officers, intended to help women feel safe and empowered.
Throughout the day, Yvonne VanBibber’s mission is to help women feel like they can achieve the next step in their business goals, including finding the resources they need to participate in the revitalization of Hamilton themselves.
“Some women work in brick-and-mortar businesses, and others don’t, and I’d like to see unity in how we as businesswomen encourage one another… If they want to start a business downtown, how can we help?” says Yvonne.
INSPIRE – Hamilton’s Professional Women’s Conference will be held on October 19 with registration at 8:30 a.m. and the event running 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. To sign up, find details at TheBenison.com.