One Woman Conference For Female Empowerment: Review
I’m thrilled to learn that this year’s One Woman Conference by One of manyTM will be online as that means we can attend from anywhere in the world (with internet!). As a life-changing women’s empowerment event, I can highly recommend it.
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If my experience of the 2020 One Woman Conference is anything to go by, 2021’s event will be even more impressive. You’ll learn about aspects your feminine power that you probably had no idea of, and find out how to harness your strengths for the good of all.
I recommend you get your ticket asap as they sell out fast! The dates are 12th and 13th June, 2021. You can choose between General Admission or Premier, which is excellent value as it includes Be Fruitful, a 6-week time and energy programme for women.
I’ll explain more about what I learned in a moment and will give you some tips on making the most of the weekend. But first I wanted to explain what made last year’s event so impactful for me on my own personal development journey.
Transforming an in-person event to an online success
I first heard about One of manyTM in January last year and jumped at the chance to attend the One Woman Conference in London in mid-March. I booked my flights and hotel and was eager to meet and learn from inspiring women in person.
Covid, of course, had other plans. At the very last minute, literally with days to spare, One of manyTM took the painful decision that it was not safe to hold the 400-people strong event.
What they did next was truly incredible and awe-inspiring.
In the space of 2 or 3 days, the One of manyTM team transformed their 2-day event into an online conference, broadcast live from their home office.
This wasn’t a weekend full of deadening presentations. It was fun, insightful and motivating and the training sessions were varied, powerful and valuable. I laughed, I cried, I danced and I felt connected, supported and inspired to take action.
What I learned at the 2020 One Woman Conference
One of manyTM are all about empowering women leaders to make change in the world, be that on a micro or macro level or something in between. Since female empowerment is really important to me, I was immediately intrigued.
Here are some of the highlights and takeaways from last year’s event:
The power of the feminine, used well
Dr Joana Martin, the founder of One of manyTM, kicked things off with an explanation of feminine power as both soft and strong. She described how when women embrace our collaborative, cooperative powers from a place of replenishment, rather than burning ourselves out trying to use masculine energy to get stuff done, everyone benefits.
This is the leadership and energy the world needs right now.
Empowering archetypes for women
One of manyTM use five empowering archetypes to help you access different feminine strengths depending on what a situation calls for, e.g. Queen, Mother and Warrioress. Jo also talked about the disempowering archetypes that we often fall into when we’re feeling stressed, unsupported or plain exhausted and debunked the Superwoman myth.
How to handle emotions
The amazing Annie Stoker led a really interesting session on emotions, which got me thinking about how well, or not, I deal with mine. Annie explained that there are no ‘bad’ emotions and yet many of us try to avoid experiencing the ones that make us feel uncomfortable.
Trying to only feel positive emotions is not realistic or helpful as we all experience challenging things in our daily lives.
I know I have bottled things up in the past as I was scared to feel the full pain of what I was going through at the time.
But emotions are, as they say, “better out than in”. By allowing yourself to fully feel all the wonderful and not-so-lovely emotions, you move them through your body instead of creating tension, numbness and even illness.
How we create meaning from events
This was an eyeopener session for me in that I began to understand the many things that unconsciously influence the way we apply meaning to a situation. Whenever something happens, the way we interpret it will depend on our self-esteem, beliefs and all manner of things which may or may not be true.
The meaning we give an event will then influence what action we take, e.g. whether we blame someone else, take responsibility or see something as a sign that we are unloveable. Knowing this can help us spot patterns and change them.
How to cope in a crisis
The conference content was adapted to address the very real and scary threat of the pandemic and the ensuing chaos that we were all being plunged into in March 2020. The panel of experts that spoke on one of the days had all had deep experience of dealing with crisis and were able to offer helpful ways of approaching the current one.
How to get what you need
Women are notoriously rubbish at putting their own needs first and as a result, we often end up completely frazzled after making sure that everyone else is okay.
Jo’s session on the difference between needs, wants, generosity and sacrifice was also enlightening. We learned how to ask for what we need in a way that makes everyone feel good about it.
Why embodiment practices are so important
I have a tendency towards overthinking and spend a lot of time in my head. Before I started working on improving my well-being, I ignored the signs my body was giving me that I was on the verge of burnout: agonising tendonitis in my wrist, elbow and shoulder; chronic lower back pain; endless headaches and sleepless night.
Thankfully, I’ve since learned to tune in and pay attention to what my body needs but at the time of the conference, the term ’embodiment’ was relatively new to me.
Susie Heath is one of the core One of manyTM team and she specialises in teaching embodiment practices. Her session on embodied dance was such fun and I’ve enjoyed every session I’ve attended since joining Living the Change, one of the self-development programmes that One of manyTM runs, and which I’ve hugely benefitted from. If you attend the conference, I’m sure you’ll get to find out more about it.
Which limiting beliefs are most common for women
We all have stories that we tell ourselves that hold us back in some way. For women, “I’m not good enough” is very common and certainly one of mine. I was already familiar with the concept of limiting beliefs from previous coaching programmes I had done but I learned a few new things during the conference. If this is a new concept to you, be prepared from some aha! moments.
A vision for the future
One of the most powerful sessions was the guided visualisation that Jo led. She took us out, in our imaginations, to 7 generations in the future, to see what the world could be like by then. After that, we gradually came back closer to now so that each of us could see a way to take action towards that idyllic future.
What we need for a stable leadership foundation
We also looked at the 5 pillars that give us a strong foundation from which to lead. These include wealth, vitality and the people we have in our lives, both loved ones and a wider community.
It was reassuring to learn that I was not alone in being so independent that I found it hard to ask for help or receive gifts and compliments. Thanks to One of manyTM, I’m getting a lot better at that, and I now have a supportive community as well as friends and family.
Tips for attending the One Woman Conference online
My top tip is to clear your diary for the entire weekend, including Saturday evening. Treat this as you would an in-person event that you would be fully present for.
It’s not something to dip in and out of because the sessions build upon each other. Everything will make more sense if you participate from the very beginning.
You might find it easier to avoid distractions if you book yourself into a hotel for the weekend. Or rent an apartment or cottage with female friends so that you can attend together, restrictions permitting.
If it’s not possible for you to get away or have the whole weekend to yourself, do what you can to give yourself time and space to get the most out of the event. If you have children or other caring responsibilities, try to arrange for someone to take over for you for that weekend. Prepare meals in advance if you need to.
There’s a lot to take in and you might find the conference emotional at times, which means you’ll feel tired after a full day. Avoid planning any other activities for that weekend if you can.
In past conferences, Susie’s embodiment session has been on the Saturday evening so that’s one of the reasons for keeping it free.
Try to relax the night before – a soak in the bath and an early night might help to set you up for a transformative experience.
Although you could attend the conference on a smartphone, there are some slides so a tablet or laptop would be better. I also find it easier to use the chat function and participate in breakout rooms on a larger screen with a keyboard.
Buy yourself a beautiful notebook to use for the One Woman Conference and beyond. The notes you take and the reflections that arise are worthy of being recorded in a special place.
Since you’ll be at home or similar, there’s no need to dress up for this although there may be opportunities to meet participants in breakout rooms so you might want your video on if that happens. No one is going to judge you for showing up in your dressing gown but you might feel more comfortable having run a comb through your hair.
Bring an open mind.
Dance and have fun!
If you can’t make it to this amazing female empowerment event, you can join One of Many’s Be One global community Facebook group to start connecting with remarkable women around the world.
