High heels, business and 3,500 panties.

Business conferences have been a part of my life in the working world.  Seems that every year I find myself attending either a large national or regional conference.  Up until recently they were always male-centric.

The men in the suits at the podium spoke to men in the suits in the auditorium.  There were some women mixed in there, but they behaved like the men expected them to.  They used ‘he’ as the pronoun when speaking in generalities.  It was like they were pseudo-men dressed up as women.

I didn’t realize this was the case until the company my wife and I own became a women certified business (which is not an easy certification to achieve) and we started attending women owned business conferences.  I remember my first one…the annual national conference of WBENC, the largest certifier of women businesses in the U.S. 

I was in for a lot of differences.

The ratios were entirely flipped: a few men were mixed in with more than 3,000 women business owners at the Miami Convention center. This gave the auditorium a completely different vibe than I was used to at such gatherings.  It was quickly apparent I was in for a lot of ‘differences’. 

When the women at the podium finished introducing the next speaker, they greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  A hug and a kiss!  I leaned over to my wife and said, “Now there is something you wouldn’t see at an all-male business gathering.”  She just smiled.

The women at the podium used ‘she’ as the general pronoun, not ‘he’.  They referred to the audience as ‘sisters’ and ‘ladies’.  They wore bling and I swear the high heels were just a bit higher than the one’s they wore at the men’s conferences.  The audience was a wash of color…not just charcoal suits.

And the women were all smiles.  They were delighted to be there.  All 3,000 of them. 

At events like these, I was used to a sort of grey, straight faced sea of men   What I was seeing was a high energy, smiling, colorful, high-heel-dance of a conference. 

Underwear is apparently important to women.  

One year a speaker of the three-day conference was unable to show and was a last-minute cancellation.  The now-absent speaker was the owner of a women’s clothing manufacturer and was a much-anticipated presenter.  When it was announced that she was sending her apologies to the approximately 4,000 attendees (the count keeps growing every year). 

It was also announced that as her demonstration of regret for being a no-show, she was sending along 3,500 pair of lacy panties to be given away during the next break.

Attendees could line up at the designated give away stations being set up just outside the auditorium doors to receive their pair. 

Pandemonium. 

They might as well have announced they were giving out $100 bills.  The audience had to be hushed for the program to continue.  And when the last speaker finished, it was a rush for the doors.

I was tempted to shove myself into the feeding frenzy just to get a pair to show my friends when I got back to the office, as I didn’t think they would believe me.  But I demurred.

I kept wondering what would have happened if, at a predominantly male business conference the same thing had been offered.  “Mr. Jacobson sends his regrets for being unable to attend, but to make up for his absence, he has sent 3,500 pair of tighty-whities to be handed out to all of you.” 

This is an actual pair handed out at the event. 

BTW- it is hard for a man to not look silly holding up a pair of panties for a photo.

 My point to all of this is not to wag a finger and say, “Women!”  It is this:  these are business women.  They work like hell, they take risks, they figure things out, they move their businesses forward and therefore help power employment growth and the growth of our society.  But never forget…they are women.

More soon.