Seizing the Opportunity

For Kate Gillette, Senior Appraiser with Valbridge Property Advisors | Minneapolis-St. Paul, opportunity came knocking—and she answered.

The mission was to plan an event for the inaugural Valbridge Women’s Council (VWC) Retreat—a proposed multi-day gathering that would bring together VWC members from across the country and provide them the space to build relationships and hone their skills.

She and Kylie Klehr, another Senior Appraiser in the Minneapolis-St Paul office, decided to collaborate on this initiative, which VWC President Jennifer Benton was in the early stages of developing.

As someone with prior experience planning events, including while Chair of the Minneapolis Club’s Women’s Committee, Gillette was keen to take on the challenge.

“I can run with this,” Gillette recalled thinking. “So I jumped in and got to work brainstorming with the team.”

It’s a big lift, she admits, but it’s exciting.

Defining the Themes

The Retreat is to be open to all VWC members, though the speaker sessions and topics may be focused a little more toward a female demographic.

“Anyone is welcome to attend,” says Gillette.

Gillette and Klehr have launched a survey to help curate the experience that will have the biggest impact, but the preliminary plans involve designing the retreat around three pillars or themes.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The first pillar is professional development—addressing how attendees develop as appraisers, leaders, administrators, or researchers. Workshops or presentations on this element may cover thoughts on the steps it takes to get to the next level of licensing or develop a specialty in appraisal (like hospitality or right-of-way valuation). For administrators, topics could include developing skills in project or workforce management.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

The second pillar—personal development—covers core skills (often called soft skills) like interpersonal communication, negotiation, public speaking, emotional intelligence, networking, teamwork, collaboration, organization, and critical thinking.

RELATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The third pillar—relational development—is the opportunity to connect outside the office with other VWC members who share similar experiences and job functions.

“One of the things that I think is interesting about appraisers is that a lot of the work is solitary,” says Gillette. “So we really want to help develop those relationships amongst the offices as well.”

Having this chance to connect helps to broaden the awareness of other experts in the field and those who share similar interests. An event like a retreat helps attendees develop a network of resources among other experts, laying the foundation for informal mentorships that are more likely to come from shared experience than a cold call.

Considering the Logistics

To best foster these relationships, Gillette says they are planning an in-person retreat. It just can’t be replicated online.

They are looking to hold the retreat sometime in Q1 2025, in January or February, and have preliminary designs to hold it from a Wednesday evening to a Friday midday.

Wednesday evening would kick off with a dinner or social hour to set the stage for the event. Thursday would involve breakfast, a morning seminar or workshop, lunch, and maybe an afternoon outing. Friday would wrap up with another seminar or workshop, and the day would conclude with a lunch.

This would allow attendees to extend the trip for the rest of the weekend if they wanted to, but otherwise, they could get back without losing the weekend.

As for location, Gillette smiled and said the current plan is to brave the Minnesota chill and hold it in her home city of Minneapolis. Given her contacts in the area, it is easiest to coordinate the event there. The current plan is to hold “a warm, indoor winter experience” in a newer hotel which has a great restaurant and spa and is conveniently located near the international airport and Mall of America.

“We’re going for a bold north theme here,” she says with a laugh, “but you know, Minnesotans generally know how to have fun in the winter.”

Weighing the Value

While this inaugural, multi-day event is a lot of work to put together, Gillette knows the benefits of hosting this experience are tremendous. Those who attended events she’s coordinated in the past, have told Gillette it ended up being so much more beneficial than they could have imagined.

Gillette has felt the same.

“I’ve always found that for events like these, it’s hard to take the time and spend the money,” she says. “But every time I’ve done it, the relationships I’ve built have really helped me develop personally and professionally. There’s a huge value to it—and I think people will really enjoy it—so that’s why I’m excited about it.”