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National ERG Conference Dallas - 2 of 5
Sep. 15th, 2017 11:59 pmWhile Gary slept in, I went downstairs to breakfast. I sat with Alex, Mark C from Atlanta, Mark P formerly from Indy, Sean from Dallas, Robert from SF, Curtis from San Diego, Luis from PR, Stacey from Dallas, Darren from LA, and Doronta and Donayn who were from the Network.
At breakfast we were treated to a rousing performance by the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and a speech from Corey Anthony who replaced Cynt Marshall as AT&T Chief Diversity Officer. He made two big points: "Get out of your echo chamber" and "Avoid binary thinking". (My take: Leave that to the computers.) Next were the Champions of Diversity awards, and an address by John Donovan, CEO, AT&T Communications. He was introduced as a native of "Silicone Valley" which, he remarked, has its own hurry-up culture. Remarking about his short tenure at AT&T relative to his longer career, he said "I am an outdoor cat". Following the breakfast speeches there was a panel discussion called "Transforming Across the Borders".
My first breakout session was a storytelling workshop. I sat behind Syam who works in Bothell. Met Erich from RGMC who I haven't seen since 1993. There was an audio cub with a dark goatee in a black uniform shirt and ball cap. I met up with Ginger after the session and she liked it very much: she said the handout cards represent hours of training.
Had lunch with Ryan from LEAGUE DFW who works in call centers and Christina from Women Of AT&T DFW who works in Moblity Advanced Technical Support. Ryan is quite the bear. At lunch the ERG Engagement Awards and Aspire Mentoring Award were presented, followed by an address from Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO, AT&T Business Solutions and another executive panel, this time from the Time Warner executive HR team.
The afternoon was occupied with two more breakout sessions: one on moving from tolerance to understanding with a majority of the ERG executive officers, and one on resolving conflict presented by an instructor from T University who led the previous iteration of the ERG Leadership Academy I attended.
Dinner with Sean, Kevin, Brad Clay, Russell (LEAGUE DFW), Robert McC., Patrick, Mary (friend of Brad), Bryce, Alexs (WOA Chicago), and Bruce (Chief Legal Officer, AT&T Communications - John Donovan's lawyer) Bruce graduated from That School Up North, and chatted with Kevin from Michigan (obvs); has worked in 5 locations.
After dinner we had a brief keynote speech from Randall Stephenson, during which he invited retired Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown to sit with him and chat about his experiences. He's written a book, which was given out to all attendees after the dinner presentations were done. Next the Tolerance to Understanding Spark Awards and the ERG in Action awards were presented.
The keynote speech, which was the final event of the evening, featured Steve Pemberton, CDO, Walgreens-Boots Alliance, relating stories from his autobiography, A Chance in the World. Steve is biracial and grew up in the foster care system. At one point he was told "We can't decide whether to place you in a white or a black home." His first thought: "I don't care what color the house is painted." His message was "Nobody in here is ugly, broken, or beyond repair."
After dinner, I made a brief appearance at the after party and claimed my book before heading upstairs to the hospitality suite. Had an extended conversation with Patrick, Erich, and Scott from Florence, SC. Erich left Rochester for New York city, lived there maybe five years, then on to Oklahoma before settling in Dallas. I decided not to make a big deal of meeting him on Facebook after discovering he was instrumental in awarding the Florence Foster Jenkins award to Dennis, which he found humiliating. But he seemed to be holding court much as I remember him. He's lost weight over the years. Scott pointed out Mary, his chapter VP, who hails from Wilmington, NC. On my way out I met Allison who, like Mark B, moved from western Washington to Dallas around the same time, and another Mary from Missoula. Back at the room I had a nice chat with Gary before we went to bed.
At breakfast we were treated to a rousing performance by the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and a speech from Corey Anthony who replaced Cynt Marshall as AT&T Chief Diversity Officer. He made two big points: "Get out of your echo chamber" and "Avoid binary thinking". (My take: Leave that to the computers.) Next were the Champions of Diversity awards, and an address by John Donovan, CEO, AT&T Communications. He was introduced as a native of "Silicone Valley" which, he remarked, has its own hurry-up culture. Remarking about his short tenure at AT&T relative to his longer career, he said "I am an outdoor cat". Following the breakfast speeches there was a panel discussion called "Transforming Across the Borders".
My first breakout session was a storytelling workshop. I sat behind Syam who works in Bothell. Met Erich from RGMC who I haven't seen since 1993. There was an audio cub with a dark goatee in a black uniform shirt and ball cap. I met up with Ginger after the session and she liked it very much: she said the handout cards represent hours of training.
Had lunch with Ryan from LEAGUE DFW who works in call centers and Christina from Women Of AT&T DFW who works in Moblity Advanced Technical Support. Ryan is quite the bear. At lunch the ERG Engagement Awards and Aspire Mentoring Award were presented, followed by an address from Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO, AT&T Business Solutions and another executive panel, this time from the Time Warner executive HR team.
The afternoon was occupied with two more breakout sessions: one on moving from tolerance to understanding with a majority of the ERG executive officers, and one on resolving conflict presented by an instructor from T University who led the previous iteration of the ERG Leadership Academy I attended.
Dinner with Sean, Kevin, Brad Clay, Russell (LEAGUE DFW), Robert McC., Patrick, Mary (friend of Brad), Bryce, Alexs (WOA Chicago), and Bruce (Chief Legal Officer, AT&T Communications - John Donovan's lawyer) Bruce graduated from That School Up North, and chatted with Kevin from Michigan (obvs); has worked in 5 locations.
After dinner we had a brief keynote speech from Randall Stephenson, during which he invited retired Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown to sit with him and chat about his experiences. He's written a book, which was given out to all attendees after the dinner presentations were done. Next the Tolerance to Understanding Spark Awards and the ERG in Action awards were presented.
The keynote speech, which was the final event of the evening, featured Steve Pemberton, CDO, Walgreens-Boots Alliance, relating stories from his autobiography, A Chance in the World. Steve is biracial and grew up in the foster care system. At one point he was told "We can't decide whether to place you in a white or a black home." His first thought: "I don't care what color the house is painted." His message was "Nobody in here is ugly, broken, or beyond repair."
After dinner, I made a brief appearance at the after party and claimed my book before heading upstairs to the hospitality suite. Had an extended conversation with Patrick, Erich, and Scott from Florence, SC. Erich left Rochester for New York city, lived there maybe five years, then on to Oklahoma before settling in Dallas. I decided not to make a big deal of meeting him on Facebook after discovering he was instrumental in awarding the Florence Foster Jenkins award to Dennis, which he found humiliating. But he seemed to be holding court much as I remember him. He's lost weight over the years. Scott pointed out Mary, his chapter VP, who hails from Wilmington, NC. On my way out I met Allison who, like Mark B, moved from western Washington to Dallas around the same time, and another Mary from Missoula. Back at the room I had a nice chat with Gary before we went to bed.