10:15AM – 11:15AM Concurrent Sessions

Setting Sail for Peak Productivity (Central Prairie)
Presented by: Kristi Elmore and Kristi Baldwin
Description: Navigate the future of work with confidence! Set sail into the transformative waters of generative artificial intelligence, where powerful digital tools become your compass and crew. Chart a course through smoother workflows and discover new horizons of productivity. This isn’t just a presentation – it’s your map to working smarter, not harder!

“Acknowledging the Emotion”: Maintaining Humanity in a Digital World (North Prairie)
Presented by:Kody Henke
Description: How do you share concern and care in an email? How do you show empathy and understanding in a Teams message? In a work environment where in-person, face to face connection, is limited, it can be easy to forget there is a human being on the receiving end of our messages. Email efficiency can outweigh recognizing real life realities, and unintentional perceptions can have lasting impacts. Whether communicating with students, staff, family or friends, join in on this session focused on tips and tricks to help others “feel” what you write and find meaning in what you say.

Beginner’s Excel Basics for Everyday Use (Meadow Rooms)
Presented by: Sara Everson
Description: Join us for an interactive session designed to enhance your Excel skills! This course covers essential functions, shortcuts, and features like autofill, data organization, and chart creation. You’ll learn how to use common formulas, apply conditional formatting, and effectively visualize your data. Bring your laptop for hands-on practice and engage in discussions about how to leverage Excel for your specific work needs. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to sharpen your skills, this course is perfect for anyone wanting to boost their productivity with Excel!

Driving Innovation: How Your Ideas Advance ISU’s Strategic Aspirations (Cardinal & Gold Rooms)
Presented by: Kim McDonough, Joel Hochstein, Stacy Renfro, Nicole Scott
Description: This interactive session will empower employees to recognize the potential of everyday innovation in advancing our strategic goals. Attendees will learn how innovation contributes to the progress of the university’s strategic plan and understand that both large and small ideas can lead to significant change. We will examine the 2022-2031 strategic plan and discuss each employee’s important role in achieving our collective objectives. Through real examples, participants will see how innovations from professional and scientific staff have made a meaningful impact on the university. A brainstorming exercise will encourage attendees to explore how innovation can enhance their work and align with the university’s strategic vision.

Together We Thrive: Celebrating the Impact of Student Employment at Iowa State! (South Prairie)
Presented by: Taylor Lelonek, Vanessa Lockey, Mitch Recker, Meghan Spiehs
Description: Student Employment, Recognition, National Student Employment Week, Job Board (CyHire)

Unsubscribe from Stress: Mastering Email (Without Losing Your Mind) (Harvest Room)
Presented by: Susan McNicholl
Description: Email isn’t just for chatting with coworkers or getting updates from your boss. It’s also how companies share important information, like policy changes or event invites, through newsletters and bulletins. But all this email can be overwhelming. In this session, we will explore ways to send fewer emails, receive fewer emails, and craft your own emails so they get read and responded to.

12:45PM – 1:45PM Concurrent Sessions

Enhancing Efficiency with Workday Worksheets (Central Prairie)
Presented by: Kelsey Polaski
Description: In today’s fast-paced work environment, efficiency and organization are key to success. Workday Worksheets is a powerful tool that can help streamline tasks, improve collaboration, and enhance productivity. This session will provide an in-depth look at how to effectively use Workday Worksheets to manage projects and collaborate with team members.

Empowering Tomorrow: Harnessing AI for Innovation and Leadership in a Changing World (North Prairie)
Presented by: Alexa Groff
Description: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing the landscape of work and innovation across all sectors. In this session, “Empowering Tomorrow: Harnessing AI for Innovation and Leadership,” we will explore how AI is influencing industries, transforming professional roles, and shaping the future of leadership. Attendees will gain a broad understanding of AI’s potential applications, the ethical considerations surrounding its use, and how AI-driven tools can be leveraged for greater efficiency and innovation. This session is designed to provide valuable insights for professionals at any level, equipping them to navigate and lead in an AI-powered world.

Self Care in Challenging Times (Meadow Rooms)
Presented by: Danielle Day and Tammy Jacobs
Description: In the middle of the demands of daily life, it’s easy to forget about self-care. Join us to explore six simple strategies to help you recharge and stay grounded. You’ll choose a few strategies that best fit your life and create a plan to incorporate them into your routine, helping you feel more balanced, energized, and strong every day.

Tools & Resources for Handling Difficult Conversations (Cardinal & Gold Rooms)
Presented by: Susie Johnson
Description: Whether explaining a budget shortfall, discussing a hot topic during a team meeting, or addressing a team member who isn’t performing up to expectations, we face difficult conversations every day. This session will provide tools to help you resolve disagreements through mutual respect, create an environment for open dialogue, find common ground, and rebuild safely after negative reactions.

Navigating the Seas of Data: Advanced Techniques (South Prairie)
Presented by: Sarah Freestone
Description: Charting a course for the future using advanced Excel skills. Attendees will learn how to strategically steer their projects more effectively with intermediate and advanced Excel techniques.

Captain of Change: Guiding Your Crew through Uncharted Waters (Harvest Room)
Presented by: Mary McGraw
Description: Change is a constant in higher education, and navigating it successfully requires strong leadership and teamwork. In this session, you will be introduced to the basics of change management, focusing on how to guide your team through transitions with clarity and confidence. Using the ADKAR model, you’ll learn how to prepare, manage, and sustain change, all while addressing resistance and keeping your team on course.  

2:00PM – 3:00PM Concurrent Sessions

Charting the Course: Creating a Culture of Meaningful Interactions (Central Prairie)
Presented by: Jennifer Schroeder
Description: Whether you are the “official” team supervisor or an unofficial team leader, attendees will leave with an understanding of why and how to improve your team’s engagement and satisfaction. Using efforts implemented with Finance Service Delivery as well as strategies used personally for leading a diverse team, we’ll discuss how to effectively engage with and lead a team.  We will review why employee engagement is important, the impacts of low engagement and strategies to improve your teams engagement.  

From Overwhelm to Organized: Effective Email Management Strategies (North Prairie)
Presented by: Kellie Olson
Description: In today’s fast-paced digital world, managing email can feel overwhelming. Join this session where we’ll explore practical strategies to transform your inbox from a source of stress into a powerful tool for productivity.   We’ll cover essential techniques for prioritizing messages, organizing your inbox, and setting boundaries that protect your time. You’ll learn how to implement systems for filtering emails, reducing clutter, and creating a streamlined process that works for you.

Navigating Safely: Lessons from the Lab Bench (Meadow Rooms)
Presented by: Michelle Thompson
Description: This session will provide an overview of laboratory incidents, accidents, and injuries at ISU, with a primary focus of what we have learned and how laboratory personnel can be proactive about their personal safety in the lab. The session will also include general guidance on how to respond to unanticipated events and laboratory emergencies.  

Charting Trauma-Informed Futures Together  (Cardinal & Gold Rooms)
Presented by: Elizabeth Helmick, Leah Kain, Corinna Most, Nicole Salo, Erin Todey, Rebecca Wells
Description: Trauma-informed practices argue that we must acknowledge that our students’ life experiences influence their well-being which in return influences their ability to learn (Imad, 2022); this is of great importance given that recent data suggests our students are increasingly distressed (Healthy Minds Network, 2022). Principles of trauma-informed practices include safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, and empowerment, voice and choice (Thompson & Marsh, 2022). But what does this look like in our individual practice as we interact with, teach, and support students on Iowa State University’s campus?    Over the past several months, staff and faculty from various units around campus have joined together to collectively learn about trauma-informed practices and how to integrate such an approach into our daily work. In this session, we will share insights from the first part of our endeavor together. We do not position ourselves as experts but instead, as members of the campus community who are deeply committed to evidence-based practices that proactively serve the Iowa State University community. We will share what we have learned together and how findings from previous research have informed the practices that we are working to implement within our spheres of influence.    The session will first include a panel discussion and then will offer an opportunity for attendees to engage in thinking about how they might begin to integrate trauma-informed practices sustainably into their role at ISU.  

Level-Up Your Prompting; Simplify Your Life (South Prairie)
Presented by: Andrew Severin
Description: Discover how effective prompting can transform the way you interact with AI tools and simplify your academic life. In this session, we’ll start with a quick guide to writing impactful prompts and dive into practical examples designed for academia. Learn to refine emails, craft tutorial-style responses, streamline tasks in Workday, Excel, or programming, and more. Finally, we’ll explore where AI is headed and address common faculty concerns about how students use these tools. Whether you’re looking to save time or enhance productivity, this session offers practical tips to help you level up your prompting game.

Nurturing Resilience: Self-Care as the Foundation of Social and Emotional Learning for Staff and Educators (Harvest Room)
Presented by: Anindita Das
Description: This workshop aims to empower staff and educators by emphasizing the importance of self-care as a foundational element of social and emotional learning (SEL). By addressing the unique challenges staff and educators face, we will explore proactive strategies for managing stress and building resilience within ourselves and our communities.