A conference for women, not a conference to talk about women

HighQuest Partners are a professional events, consulting and media company that organises conferences in the agricultural sphere in the USA and abroad. Next year they will bring their Women in Agribusiness (WIA) event to Europe – Paris to be specific. Joy O’Shaughnessy is their events director.

In this position, Joy is responsible for the development, production and execution of the WIA series of conferences but she doesn’t do this alone.

After my second Emmy nomination for the production of a children’s television series, I moved to Maine

She drafts in an advisory committee of women from across the industry to make sure that they are hitting the right industry trends. Her career, however, did not start in agriculture but in TV and she was nominated for two Emmy awards.

“After my second Emmy nomination for the production of a children’s television series, I moved to Maine and was blessed with two boys. After seven years, I crossed paths with HighQuest Partners. I found that the skillset required to produce a television programme is very similar to those needed to be successful at producing a conference; know your audience, find content that they find valuable, provide it in a timed and entertaining format, and build relationships with sponsors.

We want to help women excel in the agricultural sector and we do that by connecting forward-thinking professional women

The Women in Agribusiness Summit, Joy said focuses “not so much on primary producers but on everyone else that cares about those producers and producing food. The demographic spans the entire corporate supply chain from inputs to packaged goods”.

“People attend that are working in sales, research and development, operations, legal, finance, HR and marketing. We focus our event on supplying valuable content to all of these groups. We want to help women excel in the agricultural sector and we do that by connecting forward-thinking professional women. Through these connections, they gain industry insight through networking opportunities and mentorship which can help them attain career advancement.

HighQuest organises a number of conferences each year in the area of agriculture including AgTech Nexus, Global AgInvesting, the Organic & Non-GMO Forum, and of course, the Women in Agribusiness Summit, which is their biggest event.

Changing mindsets

Although Joy states that they do need to make a profit as a commercial company, each event stands on its own and the topics covered are those of interest to the attendees and not to the industry that supports the events. They do not tell people what to do, they simply take the mood of the industry and get speakers, preferably women, to speak at the conference. Joy tells Irish Country Living how these conversations are changing the mindset in companies.

This starts a conversation in companies and they start training women to be speakers

“If I have 900 industry professionals attending a conference and I want a women to speak on a company’s specific area of interest, and when I call the company, they can’t offer me one, that makes them uncomfortable. Uncomfortable that they have not invested in a woman who can represent their company first and secondly it makes them uncomfortable that they have missed out on this opportunity. And that makes them think, ‘How are we going to change this?’

“This starts a conversation in companies and they start training women to be speakers. A lot of the time, it’s not a sexist issue. What happens is that a speaker request arrives and ‘Bob’ goes because ‘Bob’ has always gone.

We have found that suddenly companies have become more conscious and they have started training women

“And when a conference invite arrives, ‘Tom’ goes because ‘Tom’ has always gone. It’s that simple. But if you challenge that convention and ask for a female speaker or attendee, that changes the dynamic. That makes the business think.

“We have found that suddenly companies have become more conscious and they have started training women to be that speaker. This is not difficult because these companies already have the talent, they just have not harnessed it and exploited it as they should.”

Inform and connect

“There are a lot of conferences for women to talk about work life balance but this is not our core aim.

“We are not exclusive to women and although we would prefer to give the platform to women, all the women attending are entitled to the best speakers, so sometimes that is not possible.

I want to be a network system for women

“Our viewpoint is that the best way to support women is to keep them informed and connected to topics that affect their jobs as if you are better informed you are a better candidate for advancement or recruitment. I want to be a network system for women.

“Having a conference for women about being a women does not help any women with their job. Not to dismiss other conferences that are having work-life balance conversations, that is great but we are an agricultural conference first and foremost.”

Initiatives

Joy also has oversight of other women in agribusiness initiatives, including the Demeter Award of Excellence programme, student scholarships and more.

At the conference itself there are a number of initiatives designed to give women a springboard, support them or honour their contributions. An award will also be made at the Paris event.

This year ‘Ignite’ was launched by the company at the Minneapolis WIA Summit – effectively a showcase and trade show for women owned companies and start-ups.

Joy says: “This is a way to get these women owned businesses out in front of the 250 major companies that attend the WIA conference.”

Each year the ‘Demeter Award’ recognises women who have achieved excellence in their field and/or who have demonstrated an outstanding contribution to the agribusiness industry.

Scholarships are offered to a female agricultural students wishing to attend the WIA summit to defray the cost of registration and accommodation. These scholarships give young women the opportunity to make important industry connections, see the many career options available in the agribusiness sector, and learn the trends and issues facing the industry today.

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