Pre-Conference Workshops

Beyond Administration: Leading Through Influence

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Great Executive Assistants don't wait for change to happen; they help make it happen. This dynamic one-day workshop equips EAs with the mindset and skills to think strategically, communicate persuasively, manage challenges with confidence and become influential partners within their organisation. Learn how to stay effective under pressure, focus on what you can influence and lead change from wherever you sit.

You'll Learn How To:

• Connect your work to organisational priorities

• Use language that builds trust and collaboration

• Respond rather than react in difficult situations

• Expand your influence and overcome workplace obstacles

• Support leaders and teams through periods of change

SUMMIT DAY 1 – 23rd September 2026

9:00 AM: Mihi Whakatau

9:20 AM: Opening Remarks from Emcee

Melanie Unstead is one of New Zealand's leading voices on leadership development and executive partnership. As an executive coach, founder of Exec Assist, and experienced leadership facilitator, she has worked alongside leaders and executive assistants across a wide range of organisations to build stronger partnerships, develop leadership capability, and create high-performing teams.

Drawing on extensive experience in organisational leadership, coaching, and executive effectiveness, Melanie brings a practical, people-first approach to leadership that empowers professionals to think strategically, lead with confidence, and maximise their impact.

Over the next two days, Melanie will guide delegates through the summit, connecting the key themes, facilitating discussions, and helping translate powerful ideas into practical leadership insights.

Session 1
9:30 AM: The Room You Don't Realise You're Already In: Recognising Your Influence, Finding Your Voice, and Knowing When to Use It

Many Executive and Personal Assistants spend their careers striving to become more strategic or influential, believing influence is something that must be earned or granted. But what if you're already influencing outcomes every day without realising it?

In this engaging and practical session, we'll explore The Three Circles of Executive Partnership—Tasks, Operations, and Influence—to uncover how EAs and PAs shape decisions, mitigate risks, strengthen relationships, and drive better outcomes through their judgement, insight, and everyday actions.

Through real-world examples, audience interaction, and personal stories, we'll challenge common assumptions about influence, examine the difference between visible and invisible impact, and discuss how to contribute with confidence without feeling like you're overstepping. Attendees will also learn practical ways to make their thinking, observations, and professional judgement more visible.

You'll leave with a fresh perspective on your role, recognising that influence isn't defined by a title or a seat at the table—it's built through the value you bring, the decisions you shape, and the conversations you choose to have every day.

10:10 AM: Leadership Networking

10:30 AM: Morning Tea

Session 2:
11:00 AM: The AI-Powered Executive Assistant: Practical Ways to Save Time, Work Smarter and Increase Your Impact

Artificial intelligence is changing the workplace faster than any technology we've seen before, creating new opportunities for Executive Assistants to elevate their role and increase their impact.

In this engaging and practical session, we'll explore how AI is transforming the way administrative and executive support work gets done. Through real-world examples, stories, and practical use cases, you'll discover how leading EAs are using AI to save time, simplify complex tasks, improve decision support, and create more value for the leaders they support.

This session isn't about becoming a technology expert. It's about understanding where AI can make a meaningful difference in your day-to-day work and how EAs can position themselves for success in an increasingly AI-enabled workplace.

SESSION 3
12:00 PM: Redefining Resilience: What Actually Sustains You in a High-Pressure Role

The EA role demands constant adaptation. But resilience isn't just pushing through — sometimes it means questioning the habits you've leaned on, even the ones nobody else notices.

Monique spent years as an Executive Assistant before founding her own business — a path shaped by staying curious about what wasn't working, even when it looked fine from outside.

In this candid session, Monique shares her journey of reinvention and the personal turning point that reshaped how she thinks about pressure, performance, and what genuinely sustains people in demanding roles.

You'll leave with a fresh lens on resilience: less endurance, more curiosity — and permission to question what you've always assumed you needed to cope.

12:50 PM Lunch

SESSION 4
1:50 PM: Thinking Like an Executive: The Operator and the Creator

The most influential EAs do more than manage logistics — they build systems, anticipate what's needed, and move priorities forward before anyone has to ask. Valerie knows this from two directions at once: as a Senior Executive Assistant supporting a CEO day to day, and as a business owner running two ventures of her own alongside that role.

In this session, Valerie shares how the same skillset — anticipating problems, building efficient systems, and keeping multiple priorities moving without dropping the ball — shows up whether she's managing an executive's calendar or running a business behind the scenes. She'll unpack what it actually means to "think like an executive" from someone doing it in real time, not in theory.

You'll leave with a practical view of how operational thinking becomes strategic value — and how the discipline you already bring to your EA role can extend further than you think.

SESSION 5
2:40 PM From Suppressed to Expressed: Finding the Words to Advocate for Yourself

No two Executive Assistant and executive partnerships are the same. The most successful ones are built on understanding both your leader's needs and your own strengths.

Knowing your value and saying it out loud are two different things. In this practical, engaging session, Alicia explores what gets in the way, from the inner voices that keep us quiet to the ways we hold back. You'll learn how to articulate your value and ask for what you need. No personality transplant required!

You'll walk away with greater confidence in your self-advocacy, allowing you to build stronger partnerships, and work with more enjoyment and ease.

3:30 PM Afternoon Tea

SESSION 6
3:50 PM: The Courage to Change Course

For many people, success looks like reaching a goal and staying there. But some of the most rewarding opportunities come from having the courage to evolve, take risks, and embrace new challenges.

From dietitian to MasterChef winner, entrepreneur, author, television personality, and farmer, Nadia Lim has built a career defined by growth, reinvention, and a willingness to back herself in unfamiliar territory.

In this inspiring keynote, Nadia shares the lessons she has learned from stepping into the unknown, navigating change, and redefining success at every stage of her journey.

You will leave with practical insights into trusting your instincts, embracing new opportunities, and having the confidence to pursue a path that is uniquely your own.

4:40 PM Closing Reflections and Insights to Action

4:50 PM Close of Day one & Networking Drinks

Conference Day Two | 24TH September

9:00 AM: From Insight To Action – Key Take Aways From Day 1

SESSION 1: Leading Yourself Before You Lead Others
9:00 AM: The Habits That Build Confidence, Credibility and Long Term Success

The best Executive Assistants don't wait for confidence to arrive before stepping into bigger opportunities. They develop the habits, mindset and self-leadership that allow them to perform consistently, even in complex and demanding environments.

Drawing on her work coaching Executive Assistants and leadership teams across New Zealand, Melanie Unstead explores how personal leadership shapes professional success. Discover practical ways to strengthen your confidence, manage self-doubt, stay adaptable through change and take greater ownership of your career.

SESSION 2
10:00 AM: Brave Conversations: Managing Up Without Burning Bridges 

Working closely with senior leaders requires the ability to communicate openly and constructively, even when conversations become difficult. Whether managing expectations, raising concerns, or addressing competing priorities, the ability to manage up effectively is a critical leadership skill.

In this practical session, explore how to approach challenging conversations with professionalism and confidence while maintaining trust and strong working relationships.

11:00 AM: Morning Tea

SESSION 3
11:30AM: The Power Partnership: Leading Without the Title and Shaping Culture from Within


The strongest Executive Assistants don't influence through hierarchy. They influence through trust, judgement, emotional intelligence, and the relationships they build every day.
Having supported senior executives across healthcare, emergency services, innovation, and now one of New Zealand's leading aged care organisations, Michelle Lowe has seen first-hand how Executive Assistants help shape executive thinking, strengthen leadership teams, and influence organisational culture without formal authority.

In this session, Michelle shares the lessons she has learned from working alongside CEOs and Boards, navigating complex leadership environments, and understanding the subtle dynamics that sit behind high-performing executive relationships. Discover how to build trust, read the room, communicate with influence, and become the calm, strategic presence executives rely on during both everyday decisions and high-pressure moments.
Because some of the most influential leaders in an organisation are the ones who never need the title to lead.

12:30 PM Lunch

SESSION 4
1:30 PM: The Power of Being Yourself
For much of our careers, we are encouraged to fit a particular mould. To be more polished, more confident, more authoritative, or more like someone else. Yet some of the most successful and influential people are those who have learned to embrace who they are rather than trying to become who they think they should be.

Over a career spanning journalism, television, radio, and some of New Zealand's most recognisable media organisations, Hilary Barry has built a reputation for authenticity, resilience, and an ability to connect with people from all walks of life. Along the way, she has learned that confidence does not come from perfection. It comes from self acceptance, perspective, and having the courage to show up as yourself.

In this inspiring and highly entertaining keynote, Hilary shares stories from her remarkable career and reflects on the lessons she has learned about confidence, criticism, resilience, and staying true to yourself in a world full of expectations.

Because leadership becomes far more powerful when you stop trying to be someone else and start backing who you already are.

SESSION 5
2:50 PM: Know Your Value: Step Into Your Confidence and Make Your Impact

As an Executive Assistant, your value goes far beyond the tasks on your to-do list. Your judgement, strengths, perspective and ability to influence can make a significant difference to the people and organisations you support — but recognising that value and confidently owning it is a skill in itself.

In this empowering session, Natalie Tolhopf will explore how self-doubt, perfectionism and the stories we tell ourselves can hold us back from stepping fully into our capabilities.

Discover how to recognise and back your strengths, build greater confidence in your contribution, and take action with more clarity and conviction. Learn how to move beyond simply supporting others and embrace the influence, capability and value you bring to your role.

Walk away with a renewed belief in what you bring to the table — and the confidence to make your impact known.

3:10PM Afternoon Tea

3:10 PM: Bringing it all together: Final From Insights to Action

As the summit draws to a close, take a moment to reflect, reset and refocus. In this energising closing session, will guide you through the key insights of the past two days and help you turn inspiration into practical action. Identify your next steps, clarify your priorities and commit to the changes that will elevate your impact. Leave feeling focused, confident and ready to step forward as a trusted, capable and future-ready executive partner.

3:50 PM Conference Close

Post-Conference Workshop

The Leadership Lift

The practical leadership masterclass you wish you’d had when you stepped into your first leadership role.

Too many people are promoted into leadership and then left to figure it out as they go.
Some have never been taught how to lead. Some have never even experienced really good leadership themselves.
This masterclass gives you the tools, thinking and confidence to lead people well, especially when the conversations are hard, expectations need to be clearer, or the pressure is on.
In one practical day, you’ll get clearer on how you lead, more confident in what to say, and better equipped to handle the leadership situations that can otherwise trip you up.
And you’ll leave with practical tools, templates and conversation guides you can use straight away, and keep coming back to as your leadership grows.

“I wish I had done this workshop two years ago when I started as a manager”

What You’ll Learn:

Grounded in research and tested in the real world, this masterclass will help you:

• Build stronger self-awareness and emotional control
  Understand your leadership style, recognise your triggers and respond more deliberately when things get difficult.
• Know when to manage and when to lead
  Recognise what the situation needs from you, and shift your approach when the job is no longer just about getting things done.
• Set clear expectations
  Create clarity around behaviour, performance and working relationships, so people know what good looks like and where they stand.
• Get better at supporting your people
  Recognise what different team members need from you to perform, grow and get through challenging periods.
• Give feedback with confidence
  Reinforce what’s working, address concerns earlier and have conversations that lift performance and results.
• Handle brave conversations well
  Prepare properly, say what needs to be said and stay clear and constructive when the stakes are high.

• A leadership workbook you’ll use time and time again
  Packed with practical tools, templates and prompts you can come back to long after the day is over.
• Conversation guides for the moments that matter
  Simple ways to prepare for feedback, expectations and brave conversations, so you’re not making it up on the spot.
• Practical tools to make leadership easier
  Clear, useful techniques to help you think, prepare and respond when things get difficult.
• Fresh thinking from other leaders
  Ideas, experiences and approaches from people dealing with many of the same leadership challenges.
• More confidence in what to do next
  You’ll leave clearer on how to lead, what to say and how to handle the situations that can otherwise leave you second-guessing yourself.
  
  

What past participants say

“The most practical workshop I’ve ever attended. She’s made doing the hard work fun!”

“Belinda was the standout presenter at our annual conference. She brought an incredible blend of humour and energy that kept the room completely captivated. Both sessions were incredibly well received, leaving our owners inspired, aligned and equipped with actionable insights for the road ahead.”

“…lots of energy, positive vibes and relaxed friendly banter. She challenged me to think for myself and changed the way I went about leadership.”
“She helped me step outside my comfort zone and fearlessly into my aspirations. I’m so grateful for the wisdom, encouragement and belief she shared so generously.”

“…picking up golden nuggets of insight about leadership in every conversation.”

Your Expert Facilitator