Tera Simon

Everyone growing up has been asked at least once, what do you want to be when you grow up? When I was six, I thought I wanted to be the President. Boy was I wrong. Once in college, we're asked to make a judgement call. To pick a degree that will set us down a career path. A path we don't even know how to define. We all have to start somewhere. I chose technology through the path of Project Management. However, as we learn more about the workforce, we can become burnt out. We hit a crossroad in our career where we want a new challenge. We start to wonder what does life after this job look like, and how do I move up the corporate ladder? We can research new titles all day long, but that doesn't tell you what it actually means to make the switch. It's important to understand your strengths and weaknesses before deciding to go into management. And sometimes it's not so easy to just jump in. It's a good idea to learn lessons from other's experiences, and this session will do just that.

Move over Millennials, the Plurals are here. Gen Z, the post-millennials, are the largest and most diverse cohort in U.S. History. Their normal is the old unconventional and we have to adapt how we design to truly engage this tech-savvy bunch. GenZ is the first generation who are truly digital natives. They make up 25% of the population, representing how future technology users will navigate the web and expect applications and interfaces to work. By paying attention to how GenZ uses the Internet, we can both improve the quality of our own work and make future technology more accessible and useful going forward. Tweetable Phrases: "Technology is a tool, not an obsession" "Technology provides a fully immersive educational experience" "Gen Z expects technology to be fluid and adaptable"

At some point in our careers, we have all attempted to tackle projects that were actual elephants - monstrous skyscraper-like projects that simply swallowed us in the size of its scope. We get lost, overwhelmed, frustrated and impatient. Frankly, we want to bury our head in the sand and hope the project disappears. We bite off more than we can chew and we get choked up. To sum it all up: We fail. We don't finish. The project flops. Everybody is disappointed. Sound familiar? It doesn't have to. Whether you're taking on a project solo, or working with a team, you're likely coming to grips with the eating of an elephant. You are also likely to encounter a variety of different clients and personality types.There a steps you can take to find success. In this session, attendees will learn how to take a deep breath and use the right techniques to take on that elephant, one bite at a time.