Women in business can often face unique challenges, so a day just for them to get together to talk about doing business as a woman is an event that many will want to take in.  

That will happen on Saturday (September 29) at the Apple Creek Golf Course as the Airdrie Women in Business Association (AWBA) host what they're calling "A day of Professional Development."

AWBA President Melissa Bentley says this really is a day for all women in business in the city, not just for business owners.

"Whether you're in business, you own a business, you have an idea, it's kind of meant for all of those women.  Anybody who's just looking for a bit more information on how to take that next step.  Even if they're in business, and they don't own a business, just developing professionally."

Bentley says the AWBAs goal for the event is that women will end the day feeling as though they've learned something that will help them in doing business.

"The whole day is designed to give our members the opportunity to grow professionally.  Whether that's learning new marketing techniques, or branding strategies or learning about the different groups around Airdrie for support networks.  We just want women to leave feeling like they've learned something and they can apply that new knowledge to whatever it is they're doing.  We want them to leave feeling empowered and inspired and just ready to take on the next step with whatever endeavour they're looking at."

A big part of AWBA regular meetings is networking opportunities and Bentley says Saturday's gathering will keep up that tradition.

"Because it's an all-day event, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, we've got what we call interludes between the guest speakers.  We've got some great networking activities that we're going to be asking our members to do and the trade tables are there too so that's a good time to do some networking."

The guest speakers include Jennifer Benner from Benner Database Designs who'll be speaking on Professional Communication, Airdrie MLA Angela Pitt who'll talk on Women in a Leadership Role, Sarah Gay of Evans Hunt Digital Marketing who'll speak about Marketing and Branding, and Meagan Lockhart of Hello Life Academy who will talk about entrepreneurship and how to take the next step.

Registration will be taken until tomorrow on the Airdrie Women in Business Association website, www.awba.ca.

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