MBI's BuildHer - Cedar Falls
When:
- Nov 09, 2027 07:45 AM – 03:30 PM
Where:
- Cedar Falls, IA
| Fee | Type of Fee |
|---|---|
| $150 | / Person - MBI Members |
| $300 | / Person - Non-Members |
| $375 | / Person - MBI Members for all sessions |
| $750 | / Person - Non-Members for all sessions |
Presenters: Kate Glantz, Move Over Bob - Phoenix, AZ | Jason Jacobson, J Mikel Solutions - Colorado Springs, CO
From Page to Stage: The Power of Storytelling in Construction
Every construction project has stories worth telling, but too often, the people behind the work remain invisible. From Page to Stage is an interactive session that explores how authentic storytelling can strengthen workforce recruitment, improve industry perception, and inspire the next generation to pursue careers in construction. Combining multimedia, moderated discussion, small-group collaboration, and practical exercises, participants will hear directly from women representing a variety of skilled trades and career paths while learning how to identify and elevate the stories within their own organizations.
Throughout the session, participants will build a Workforce Story Blueprint—a practical framework for identifying, developing, and sharing authentic employee and project stories that strengthen recruitment, retention, and industry awareness. The session centers on a live "Behind the Build" conversation with Kate Glantz featuring professionals connected to a featured project or shared industry theme, followed by collaborative activities designed to help attendees translate inspiration into action.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Understand how authentic storytelling supports workforce recruitment, retention, and industry awareness.
- Gain insight into the diverse careers, pathways, and perspectives represented across today's construction industry.
- Learn directly from women working in skilled trades, field leadership, and project teams.
- Develop practical tools for identifying and sharing compelling employee and project stories.
- Leave with an actionable plan to strengthen storytelling within their own organization.
See. Adapt. Choose.
Every person in this industry has developed a set of lenses they didn't choose on purpose – they earned them. Through experience, trial and error, and learning to navigate spaces that shaped them in ways they didn't always notice, they adapted. Some of those lenses still serve them. Some of them have quietly become the thing holding them back. This session is about learning to tell the difference. For the women in this room, that might mean examining the communication patterns developed to be heard, taken seriously, or simply to survive in spaces that weren't always built with them in mind. For the men, it might mean examining the lenses they've developed around women in construction - whether protective, dismissive, or well-intentioned but unexamined - and asking whether those lenses are still accurate, still fair, or still serving the team. Drawing on the Root Four™ Framework and a deeply personal story about what it took to identify and examine his own wrapped lenses, Jason Jacobson will guide participants through a three-part journey: seeing the lenses they carry, understanding how and why they adapted, and choosing - deliberately and on purpose - which ones to keep and which ones to reexamine. This isn't about fixing what's broken or assigning blame for how the industry got here. It's about getting honest with what's automatic, and deciding - together - whether automatic is still working for anyone in the room.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES- Identify at least one communication lens they developed as an adaptive response to their environment rather than a conscious choice
- Distinguish between a lens that still serves them and one that has become a default defensive pattern
- Name the underlying driver - whether fear, pride, ego, or resentment - shaping at least one recurring communication pattern in their work or relationships
- Practice shifting a communication approach in real time, with peer feedback, in a structured low-stakes setting
- Leave with a concrete, personal commitment about one communication pattern they are choosing to examine, keep, or change
Master Builder Designation: Leadership - 4 Credits | Your Choice - 3 Credits