We celebrated a triple premiere at the weekend: 1. For the first time we organized a PANDA Women Leadership Lab, which 2. took place online and was 3. the first event with our partner Merck as host. Over two days, we brought together 70 participants from the Life Science & Healthcare sector and our corporate & cooperation partners virtually. It was a blast!

The PANDA Lab is our brand new networking format – unique, interactive and dynamic, specifically designed for women in leadership. It’s all about collaboration, exchange and mutual inspiration. So even as a “real” event it would have been an exciting premiere – in the online version it was now twice as exciting to see if all would work as we had lovingly planned it over months.

PANDA Life Science & Healthcare combined teamwork & mutual feedback especially during the leadership challenge and the pop-up roundtables, content impulses & discussions on current life science, healthcare and leadership topics during the inspiration sessions and brought participants and corporate and cooperation partners together for a fruitful collaboration.

A successful first lab day with great welcomes and an inspiring keynote.

“I liked the agenda and mixture of discussion, inspiration and challenge. Life science and healthcare focus was really awesome.”

“The virtual set-up was a lot better than I expected. There was no time when I felt stressed due to the virtual setting. The whole event was really entertaining. I think the fact that the topics all had a perfect length (not too long and not too short) and we had different styles (talk, networking, team work etc.) did help a lot.”

“Great women and great discussions. Everyone was so open and positive. I loved the food package!”

“Interaction with other inspiring ladies, the first team task was amazing and very interesting; overall all the organizational part, goodies you sent via post, platform for meetings, the representatives of PANDA leading the show and motivational speeches and the vibe & motivation in general. Thank you!”

Extract from the feedback from participants 

Good times during the team challenge.

Behind the scences – the PANDA team at work during PANDA Life Science & Healthcare.

We would like to thank all speakers who enriched the day by sharing their expertise, answering questions and discussing with us:

• Jennifer O’Lear (Chief Diversity Officer, Merck Group) for the warm words of welcome,
• Teresa Rodó (Head of Global Healthcare Operations, Merck Group) for her inspiring keynote,
• Katja Rejl (Head of Demand Planning & S&OP, Performance Materials, Surface Solutions, Merck Group) and Elisabeth Frank (Product Manager, XClinical GmbH) for their view of the PANDA network as PANDA members,
• Dr. Irène Kilubi (Founder & Managing Director, brandPreneurs & brandFluencers) for her kick-off networking session and the explanation of what makes strong communities, 
• Laura Krsnik (Head of global learning, Innovation HR Talent, Development and Recruiting, Merck Group) for her input to the topic: “Digital Transformation: Impact on Learning & Development.”,
• Dr. Martina Peters (Director Plant Management, Bayer AG) for the exchange of experience on the topic: “Turbulent times put leadership to the test.“,
• Dr. Franziska Höfer (Digital Engagement MSL & Systemic Coach, Pharmaceutical Industry) for the clarification of the question: “Agile meets Pharma – Buzzword or Game Changer?”,
• Cristina Fernández-Losada (Senior Manager, Accenture Lifescience) for the personal insight into: “My Leadership Journey in Accenture.“,
• Stefanie Babka (Strategic Planning Lead, Group Communications | Strategy and Change, Merck Group) for her session to the topic: “Social Media Leadership.”,
• Anne Seubert (Founder & Managing Director, Brands & Places) for the analysis to: “Patient Platforms: How to co-create immersive experiences on & offline?“,
• Dr. Sabine Krofczik-Wilhelm (Director Project Management, PPD) for her outlook to: “Innovative thinking is the breakfast for agile leaders.“,
• Diana Perez (Expert in strategic brand management and digital transformation | healthcare sector) for the hint: “Don’t take yourself too seriously but put yourself first.“ and a very special thank you to
• Katja Rejl (Head of Demand Planning & S&OP, Performance Materials, Surface Solutions, Merck Group) and Sonja Skopp (Head of Operations Translational Innovation Platform Oncology at Merck Group) for the fabulous graphic recording during the two PANDA lab days.

Graphic recording at its best – even with the individual pictures that were taken on Friday before the picture was put together.

Thanks to everyone who stood on the virtual stage and shared their experiences, knowledge and work results!

Special thanks to all corporate and cooperation partners who made this day possible through their support!