Build Influence with the Conversational Hourglass

Improving your ability to influence key stakeholders and impact your organization are not straightforward tasks. In a remote environment, they may feel insurmountable. Keys to success include deepening existing relationships and improving your organizational awareness. With these goals in mind, how do you plan for impactful conversations? Turn to the tools used by a competitive intelligence expert with a deep background in research and analytics! Angela Forgues, Director, Analysis Products at Aurora WDC will lead a speed session sharing a strategy to help you quickly and authentically connect, grounding your conversation in a basis of trust and unlocking deeper insights into the drivers and challenges of the person you are speaking with.

The technique applies beyond stakeholder conversations; using the hourglass framework when talking to customers will help you identify and prioritize user needs faster, help unlock new feature ideas when engaging within your organization, and even fast-track rapport in recruiting conversations.

📝 Learn to use the conversational hourglass to:

• Empathize with your conversational partner
• Build rapport and trust for a lasting relationship
• Capture organizational insights that will help you drive impact

💡 Then…

APPLY immediately! You’ll be paired in timed 1:1 chats with other PMs, to immediately practice what we learn. You’ll meet other PMs also looking to approach conversations better prepared to unlock core motivations and issues. Learn a new skill while growing your network of other ambitions women in product management.

📍Meet your Expert:

Angela Forgues is the Director of Analysis Products at Aurora WDC, a company specializing in software and research for information professionals. In her current role, she oversees custom research engagements, leads a team of intelligence professionals responsible for delivering high-impact intelligence products, and contributes to firm-level and product-level strategy and road mapping. With a penchant for identifying connections in unlikely places and a love for “wicked” problems (once a Mainer, always a Mainer!), Angela is passionate about driving measurable impact and helping clients navigate their most pressing research and intelligence challenges. Her primary industry expertise is within healthcare technology, having spent nearly a decade working in and studying the epidemiology of the chronic disease, technology adoption by both patients and clinicians, patient care and complicated healthcare journeys, and rapid prototyping to support innovation in healthcare supplies and devices.

📍Meet your Moderator:

Kelly Toney is the “Maestro” of Making Good Things Happen! Standing at the interchange of leadership, product, customers, and people, she prides herself on delivering super-charged impact. She serves as the Volunteer Director of Strategy Management & PMO at PMI’s San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, is a San Francisco / Oakland Bay Area Volunteer for Black Girls CODE. She is currently a consultant at Connection Silicon Valley and Moxie Labs.

⏰ About Product Blenders:

In our Product Blender series, Hosts and guests offer key tactics, techniques or actionable insights in a brief kickoff session. Zero fluff, no ‘housekeeping’ filler, no drawn out intros.

Speed Sessions are followed by timed paired 1:1 chats to practice or discuss with other PM peers. After each match, you’ll have the option to swap contacts with a click. Blenders will close with a group debrief and Speaker Q&A – you’ll be able to get feedback on your 1:1 practice. Each event covers new skills and topics – we hope to see you at more than one!

Blender tickets are not refundable. These are live networking and skill-building opportunities, and our small staff works hard to keep these high-quality hosted events.

Bought a ticket and unable to attend? 📹 The session portion of these events IS recorded; attendee breakouts and 1:1 practice rounds happen in live-time only. Replays are sent to all registrants w/ in 72 hours of the event; many replays include a resource deck with additional key takeaways and related resources.