Last week, I posted asking for tips before my first BWSL event. Now that I've experienced the magic, I thought I'd jot down a few tips for next year while they're still fresh. DO WHAT THE EMAILS TELL YOU There were approximately 28387 emails before the event letting us know what time to register, and entry time based on ticket. The first day I showed up at 6:30am to get an early place in line even though doors didn't open until 8:40am for us. I used that time to get to know other attendees and network. You can leave a bag or placeholder and the community was great about respecting it. Someone even moved my bag for me when the line moved from inside to outside while I was off getting coffee. LUNCH Don't dally. I'm sure the set up will be different next year but most folks went to the CTR food court across the street and lollygagging meant long lines and a long wait. I didn't wait more than 3 people to order food, meaning I could eat, socialize and have plenty of time to get back to the ballroom on time. SELF CARE I haven't traveled at all this year until September and I forgot some basic best practices. Take care of your immune system, whatever that looks like for you. I came down with a cold on day two and was fairly miserable the rest of the conference. Folks were so supportive from the older Black women working the hotel coffee shop who gave me tea on the house, to the attendee who donated me a couple of Emergen-C packets. Between that and Day and Nyquil, I was able to participate in the full conference. MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN. Get on the mic! There are so many opportunities for Q&A, and sharing what you learned. I live in Portland, OR and I want to work with more Black women, so I picked seats as close to the mic as possible and didn't pass up any chance to get up and let the room know what I do. That resulted in around 30 people coming up to me and asking for my information and one sales conversation.

I'm Kronda Adair, founder of Karvel Digital, coming to Atlanta from Portland, Oregon. My origin story is five years building websites for small businesses. But I got tired of clients who thought a shiny new website would solve everything, so I pivoted hard into marketing coaching for service business owners. In less than a year they were begging for help with their tech–because they finally understood why it mattered. I went back to my done-for-you roots, but focused on marketing and business automation. Because as soon as you have a certain number of clients, the cracks in the operation start to show. - The intake form that goes to an inbox nobody checks. ($50,000 in lost opportunity.) - The follow-up that only happens when one person remembers. - The payroll mistake quietly costing $10,000 a year. (That one's from this week.) The systems are invisible, which means the mistakes and the money leaks are invisible too. And until recently there wasn't a good tool for showing how people and software actually work together to execute a process. When I found that tool, 2.5 years ago, I logged in for 15 minutes, and then sent a breakup text to Miro, Lucidchart, and Whimsical and never looked back. I got so good at process mapping that I became the top user of the platform, got hired by the founder, and pivoted my business to focus on what almost no one else is doing - getting your processes out of people's heads, so you can actually improve them. I use my C.L.E.A.R. framework — Clarify processes, Liberate time, Elevate data, Automate, Repeat — and fix what's broken before automating anything. Automating a broken process just breaks things faster and with more confidence. And AI wants nothing to do with your sloppy data. Two things I believe, loudly: you can't delegate chaos, and your software is part of your team. I'm coming to Atlanta with a specific focus. I'm good at the work and I've let referrals do my selling for a long time. I'd like that to be a choice instead of a default. So I'm here to get sharper about how I sell this, and to leave with real relationships, not a stack of business cards.

There's been a lot of information about the amazing speakers and information we're going to get, but I want the insider tips from people who have been around the block. What's up with the food? Is lunch included? What's your favorite hotel in the restaurant? How do you stay energized for the long days? What's your favorite note taking hack? How do you find your people? Let's hear it!

My name is Dr. Poinsetta Tillman. I am a Certified AI Consultant/Strategist/AI Authority Leader. Leaders know there are areas in their business where they’re losing time, working harder than they should, and missing opportunities, but they don’t know which problem to solve first or where AI would actually make the biggest difference. I help leaders who know something in their business needs to change, but aren’t clear on what to fix first or where AI actually fits. I am working toward getting 6-figure contract opportunities and I'm here to learn how. I am also excited about attending the Black Women Sell Live conference in ATL. I hope to meet some of you there.

Hey ladies! I'm Dr. DNicole Fields, founder of IEXDG, a leadership and organizational culture consulting firm, coming to Atlanta from the DMV (Maryland). This is my third year in Ashley's rooms: two Black Women Sell Lives, one Speak Your Way to Cash, and I spoke at the Ghana edition back in January. 🧡🇬🇭 Some of you were with me back on July 23 for the pre-event masterclass, where we talked about how what's happening inside your team shows up in your sales. If we haven't met yet, here's my story in short. I've spent 30+ years in education. And at one point, I wore a heart monitor at work. Not because I was sick. Because the leadership culture around me was making me sick. I have the degrees. I have the credentials. None of it protected me from a workplace where what leadership said it stood for and what we actually lived every day were two completely different things. So I built the thing I needed back then. Today we work with leaders and their teams on the gap between the culture the organization stands behind and the one its people are actually living, in city agencies, school districts, and corporations. Every organization has a mission, a vision, values in the handbook, a sign on the wall. That's what leadership says is true. What people experience on a Tuesday afternoon is something else. We use the Effective Leadership Culture Code®, our six-pillar framework, to read the system that produced that gap, not just a survey score, and then we partner with the leader and the team to rebuild it. Internal training teams are usually built for compliance and skills, and they do that work well. Ours is the layer underneath: how leaders and their people actually communicate, decide, and follow through. That runs through the Leadership Intelligence Session, leadership development, executive advising, licensing, and speaking. I'm coming to Atlanta this year with a clear focus. I know exactly what I'm here for. I'm going after contracts, partnerships, licensing, speaking, and training, and I want the Effective Leadership Culture Code® working inside more agencies, districts, corporations, and systems.