Mentor Monthly Roundup: ADPList Meet ups, Mixers, BeMore Festival 2023, and more
Mentor Monthly Roundup: ADPList Meet ups, Mixers, BeMore Festival 2023, and more
We've got exciting news and updates for you, Mentors.
👋 Welcome to our first edition of the Mentorship Monthly Roundup. Inside you’ll find everything that is happening this month in the ADPList Mentor community! Ready to dive in?
This is just for you, ADPList Mentors. Still, reeling over all of Figma’s new product updates? We are, too!
That’s why we’re so thrilled to announce that we’ll be doing a mentor-exclusive workshop with Figma’s very own Luis Ouriach!
📅 Thursday, August 10th
⏰ 11:00AM EST / 5:00pm CET
🔗 Register here (Yes, there will be a recording)
🛠️ About the Workshop
Dive deeper into the jaw-dropping releases that were announced at Config 2023: from the highly versatile variables to the daring Dev Mode, Luis is prepared to share it all! We will leave Plenty of time for AMA with Luis himself! Come with your questions.
🔥 BeMore Festival 2023 is here. Call for speakers!
Following the success of BeMore Festival 2022, the “Coachella of Skills & Career” for the world to learn from top mentors, leaders, and executives around the world happening on September 20, 2023. Today, we’re opening up BeMore Festival 2023 Early Speaker Applications (application closes by August 11, 2023).
🤝 August Mentor Socials
Monthly Mentor Socials for August are live!
What are they? Mentor Socials are a chance to meet ADPList Mentors in your city in a relaxed, casual environment. 🤝 Our monthly meetups are casual and social, with no set agenda and hosted by your fellow mentors.
🇨🇦 Toronto | August 18th | Register here. Hosted by @Ruwan Fernando
🇮🇳 Delhi | August 19th | Register here Hosted by @Tanvi Manglick
🇮🇳 Chennai | August 12th | Register here Hosted by @Sandeep Baskaran
🇺🇸 San Fransisco | August 31st | Register here hosted by @Lai Jing Chu and @Kush
In addition, be sure to join your local chapter channel to connect with mentors there any time you want!
#mentors-barcelona #mentors-toronto #mentors-delhi #mentors-sf-bay-area #mentors-chennai #mentors-london
Big thanks to our hosts for August! 🎉 Interesting in hosting in September? DM Lizzie-LaCour or Katherine-Chiu on Slack, and we can chat details.
🔮 Introducing Longer-Term Mentorship on ADPList (including all-new session templates)
You've asked for deeper, lasting connections with the people you mentor. Today, we're delivering just that, with options for weekly, fortnightly, and monthly sessions. Here's the highlight of the latest release:
✦ Create Longer-Term Sessions: Designed to help Mentors to mentor longer-term, flexibly to set up recurring weekly, fortnightly, or monthly sessions with mentees you care most about.
✦ ADPList Session Templates: Browse 50+ free and customizable templates for every type of mentorship session to get you started.
🪩 Mentor Mixers
Looking to connect virtually with other mentors? How about on your lunch or coffee break?
Join us for our Virtual Monthly Mentor Mixers, an opportunity for you to pop into Zoom and get connected with 1-3 mentors for a 25-minute casual conversation.
When is this happening?
August 17th | 11:00am CET
August 31st | 4pm EST
How does it work?
Save the date on your calendar!
Then, simply pop into Slack on the date and time and join the Zoom link announced in #talk-mentorship channel.
If this time zone does not work for you, we apologize! We will consider allowing mentors to host their own mentor mixers in the future. If you are interested, DM lizzie-lacour or katherine-chiu on Slack!
☕️ The Community Brew
Interesting conversations happening around the Mentor Slack Community this past month…
💭 Question by Katherine:
What do you think your “secret ingredient” is for cultivating a long-term mentor-mentee relationship?
I asked the same question to my mentees.
" There are so many mentors out there; how am I different than others that make you stay with me?" Their response highlighted two key skills, which are the secret ingredients:
Listening: When the mentees share their challenges, it's crucial to lend a patient ear and avoid interrupting them. These moments of vulnerability require courage to voice their "weakness," and they feel valued when someone genuinely listens.
Empathizing: Understanding where they come from is vital. Having been a designer myself, I've experienced toxic and stagnant environments, which allows me to relate to them quickly. If I can't fully grasp their perspective, I ask questions to gain a better understanding.
Mentoring involves more than just giving advice; it's about being a good listener and providing support to the mentees. I also gave my personal number to my mentees if there is anything they need help with quickly.
💭 Question by Kayikunmi:
Q: Hi all! I just had my very first session as a mentor for product management.
The session felt awkward and not structured enough. I had expected the mentee to approach with me what he needs to get out of our reoccurring sessions, and lead with questions.This wasn't the case and I felt myself digging to discover where I could help. I have identified a path forward but I didn't feel enough excitement or buy in from my mentee.
Have you experienced this first session issue before? And what do you do in advance to tackle this issue to make the session more valuable foe both.
Hey Kayikunmi,
Big high-five on your first mentorship session! It's completely normal to feel a bit off during the first session, especially when there's no agenda. It takes a few rounds to find the rhythm and get your mentee fully on board. Here are some tricks up my sleeve that have been real game-changers for me:
Ask your mentee to jot down their hopes, goals, and areas they'd like to improve on a simple form before you meet. This gives you a solid base to kickstart the convo.
Drafting a chill but structured agenda can really steer your sessions right. Make it a team effort, allowing for tweaks here and there, depending on what your mentee wants to nail down.
Lastly, It's all about good vibes and trust. Spend some time in the early sessions just bonding. Talk about your own ups, downs, and in-betweens; it helps a ton. :)
Don't stress yourself out too much. Pretty soon, you'll get into the groove that works best for both of you. Hope this helps! Wishing you all the best for your future sessions!
A few more things brewing…
@Kim Feenstra Kuiper raised the issue of last-minute canceling/rescheduling from mentees → check out these mentor tips on how to curb this issue
@designosaur is wondering what mechanisms are you using to automate repetitive parts of the research and analysis process?
@Scott Turner is a new mentor and sharing his thoughtful insights into addressing mental health in tech. Lots of golden nuggets in here!
🎙AMA with Sundy Grubel, Managing Director, Head of UX Research at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Calling all UX research buffs! Save the date for our next AMA (Ask Me Anything) event that will be taking place Monday, August 21st-Thursday the 24th with Sundy Grubel.
About Sundy:
Sundy is a leader in Design, bringing over 25 years of research, service design, UX, experience design, and product design, all while putting humans in the center to solve some of the most complex challenges for consumers and brands.
Sundy has expertise in studying people to develop insights that inform design strategies across customers, employees, and associates focusing on B2E, B2C, B2B e-commerce, omnichannel retail, and end-to-end experiences, bringing a holistic viewpoint to developing design visions and strategies to address and solve complex challenges and improve critical business metrics.
As Managing Director at Accenture Song, Sundy led the region for the firms Design capability. Her leadership and contribution played a foundational role in rethinking the human and digital experience across many business challenges, from reimagining the in-store and physical drive-through experience for a major QSR, defining the future car buying experience for consumers and associates, and transforming the customer & employee experience for industrial and consumer brands.
This event will take place in Slack in the #ama channel. Come with your questions!
Psst.. you can view all past AMA content in our Mentor Hub.
And that’s a wrap for this month. See you around the community in August! 👋
With 💜 Lizzie and Katherine
Fun fact of the month: We are closer to the T-Rex in number of years than the T-Rex was to the Stegosaurus. 🦖 🤯