Focus on women at conference

By Debbie Wachter Morris
New Castle News

April 30, 2008 11:19 am

— There were giveaways. There was meditation. There was jewelry and makeup.
There were healthy eating tips, blood pressure screenings, talk of jobs and careers, financing, banking and massage.
There even were lessons on how to better use a digital camera, presented by Best Buy�s Women�s Leadership Forum, a group of bubbly, high-energy women from the company�s Pittsburgh stores.
It was all part of the first Lawrence County Women�s Conference.
The 220 women who attended the event left the Cathedral on a sunny spring afternoon with bags of coupons, pens, business cards and other trinkets amassed from visiting booths and attending workshops.
The idea for the event was sparked when local businesswoman Georgia Berner of Berner International, and Therese McShea of RAR Engineering, attended the state Governor�s Conferences for women in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
According to McShea, who co-chaired the local event with retired county administrator Charleen Micco, Berner had been challenged by those at the state level to sponsor a similar conference locally.
Berner was adviser to the local event, and a committee of 15 women helped with the planning.
The idea was to bring women together and offer them a variety of resources for self-planning and personal pampering, which included financial advisement, facials, massages and lessons for trendy dressing.
�I see all these resources and things to do all the time, but so many people in the community don�t know about them,� McShea said.
The committee had to pay for rental of the Cathedral and lunch, she said, but various businesses provided donations to make the day a success.
Micco said she was pleased with the event and the help she got from McShea and the committee.
�I could not have done this without Therese. She was great, and we had a good committee. Everyone brought something different to the table.
She said plans are already being forged for another event next year.
�We hope to have it as an annual conference.�
Micco added they also were pleased with the turnout. They had sold tickets by tables, thinking they would limit sales to 200 people, including vendors and committee members.
However, she said, the number of attendees exceeded their expectations.

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