Workplace Accelerator
The Workplace Accelerator is a hands-on professional skills program designed to help business students build practical tools and communication skills they can use in the classroom, workplace, and recruiting process.
Through a series of focused workshops, you’ll strengthen your skills in Excel, PowerPoint, public speaking, and generative AI, while putting those skills into practice through networking experiences with employers and business professionals. The components should be completed in one academic year and these same training sessions will be offered in the Winter semester with the dates to be announced.
Cost: Thanks to generous funding from our alumni and partners these sessions are FREE for students (A comparable training package would typically cost over $1000).
How It Works: The Workplace Accelerator combines technical training, communication skills, and real-world networking to help you become more workplace-ready.
To earn your badge, you must:
-
Complete 4 of the 5 training sessions
Choose the sessions that best match your interests and career goals. -
Complete 1 registered networking experience
Participate in one of the following:
- YEGii or YEGii Trek (Fall/Winter)
- Dean’s Table (Fall/Winter)
- Calgary Career Trek (Fall/Winter)
- Toronto Career Trek (Fall only)
- Vancouver Career Trek (Fall only)
- Finance Networking Session (Fall only)
- Accounting Networking Session (Fall only
- Marketing Networking Session in coordination with the MarketLAB (Fall/Winter)
- Other networking opportunities (please confirm with our office to ensure your event is eligible)
Your path to the badge:
4 Training Sessions + 1 Networking Experience = Workplace Accelerator Badge
Learn how to use your body, voice, eye contact, and pacing to become a more confident and effective speaker. You’ll practice techniques for reducing nervousness, eliminating distracting “uhms,” using your hands effectively, and staying composed when adrenaline kicks in.
You’ll also learn how to present effectively as a team, including smooth handoffs—one of the moments where group presentations can easily fall apart.
You’ll practice:
- Managing nerves and physical presence
- Using breath and posture to strengthen your voice
- Maintaining eye contact
- Reducing filler words
- Controlling your pace
- Presenting effectively as a team
This session focuses on the argument behind a strong presentation. You’ll learn why effective presenters give their audience the answer early, how to open with what matters instead of getting lost in background information, and how to build a clear throughline that your audience can follow—and remember.
The second half focuses on handling questions under pressure, including the hardest question of all: What do you say when you don’t know?
We’ll recreate the pressure of a real presentation so that the first difficult question you face isn’t the one that counts.
You’ll practice:
- Creating a strong opening
- Getting to the point quickly
- Building a clear presentation throughline
- Making your message memorable
- Handling challenging questions
- Responding when you don't know the answer
- Staying composed under pressure
Join Business Librarian Céline Gareau-Brennan for an interactive session on how Generative AI can be used to support the research component of business intelligence, along with key considerations around ethics and responsible use. By the end of this session participants should be able to:
- Identify and compare the most relevant generative AI tools for business research
- Apply best practices of generative AI use to business research
- Understand how to responsibly use generative AI with other business intelligence resources, such as library resources
- Recognize the strengths, limitations, and practical applications of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools
What will I gain?
Students who complete 4 out of 5 sessions and attend one registered networking session will receive a CWIL digital badge to display on LinkedIn.
Register here
Workplace Accelerator Lab FAQ
- If you would like to sign up for a single session, please go to the relevant registration form.
Have questions about technical training? Contact us at bcomexp@ualberta.ca.
