Montana women enjoy retreat, leadership talks during Women's Conference
<p><strong>Rose Goldhann, Serena Catar, Corrie Williamson and Laura Garber were among the attendees of the Montana Farmer’s Union Women’s Conference. The attendees discussed topics about leadership and shared knowledge about local plants.</strong></p>
PARADISE – Women from around the area came to Sanders County over the weekend for the fourth annual Montana Farmer’s Union Women’s Conference at Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort.
The conference took place over the whole weekend, starting with a keynote speaker Friday evening and going through to a closing address Sunday afternoon. In between, speakers and seminars took place on a variety of topics. Topics ranged from “Options in Rural and Ag Lending” and “How Herbs Can Help Us Cultivate Community” to “Communication Strategies for Rural Women” as well as “How to Present Your Ideas so your Audience Hears Them.”
There were also events designed to help the participants network and build connections with their peers around the state. Other events also had everyone work together to find solutions to issues facing the communities.
“The ladies may have an idea in their head of what they wanna do in their communities, but not necessarily how to get the process started,” said Delisa Protsman, education director for the Montana Farmer’s Union. “And so, this conference is going to help them with that.”
There were 65 attendees at the conference this year. Protsman said they like to keep the program more intimate to allow the women to bond and form the network connections needed to succeed; such bonds would be harder to form in a big crowd with hundreds of attendees.
“We find it is easier for the women to form bonds with other women when it is a more intimate setting,” Protsman said. “That’s one of the reasons why we chose this venue.”
She noted the resort is in a more remote area and the conference can double as a retreat for the women to get away from the stresses of their daily lives.
Attendance came from all over the state. Protsman said the majority came from the western end of Montana, but they also had people from the east and central portions; this is fairly common and they found more people will usually go to the conferences near them than travel. This still works for the conference, though, as it allows them to hit specific areas and focus their discussion on the issues important to that area.
“Agriculture in Montana is very diverse and on this end of the state we have interests that vary greatly from those on those conventional grain formers on the east,” said Protsman. “Farmer’s Union is an all-encompassing organization; we ensure that all parties interests are included at the table.”
According to Protsman, the conference started four years ago when it was realized there were no Farmer’s Union programs specifically related to women. The conference is designed to give the women who attend the tools, connections and knowledge they need to return to their communities to start on projects they want to get started or take a roll in the school board or other organization.