Details / Information:

Total event duration: 2 hours (with prep)
Live event length: 75 minutes (max)
Platform: Zoom or Teams

Audience: Women in social, digital, marketing and tech at varying career stages

When: Friday March 6th 4pm (IWD is on Sunday March 8) 

1. Event Purpose

The MESMDA International Women’s Day Mentorship Experience is designed as a structured group coaching format.

The objectives are to:

• Create depth rather than surface-level advice

• Encourage peer learning alongside mentor insight

• Ensure each participant leaves with one clear, realistic next step

• Build confidence through challenge, clarity and public commitment

This is not a panel discussion, keynote or presentation.
The format prioritises conversation, reflection and accountability.

2. Format Overview

Room Structure

• 1 senior mentor per breakout room

• 6–8 mentees per room

• 1 continuous 75-minute session

• 3 structured phases

• 1 commitments round

All mentees submit a career challenge 48 hours before the event. Mentors receive anonymised submissions in advance for context only.

The structure is intentionally tight to ensure focus and momentum.

3. Session Structure (Inside the Breakout Room)

Phase 1 – Surface (20 Minutes)

Objective: Bring real challenges into the room.

• Mentees volunteer to share their challenge.

• If the room is slow to begin, the mentor may reference one of the anonymised submissions to prompt discussion.

• The mentor asks one clarifying question per person.

• No advice is given during this phase.

Typically, 2–3 mentees share.

This phase ensures the agenda is driven by real, present challenges rather than general topics.

Phase 2 – Peer First (20 Minutes)

Objective: Activate peer learning.

• The mentor explicitly steps back.

• The group responds first with questions, reflections and lived experience.

• The mentor observes patterns across the discussion.

The focus is on:

• Shared blockers

• Confidence gaps

• Recurring themes

• Unspoken assumptions

This phase reduces over-reliance on the mentor and increases collective learning.

Phase 3 – Synthesis & Challenge (25 Minutes)

Objective: Clarify patterns and strengthen next steps.

The mentor:

• Names patterns observed across the group

• Surfaces themes that were implied but not directly stated

• Challenges each sharing mentee on their proposed next step

The key question framework:

“You said your next step is X — what’s realistically going to get in the way?”

The emphasis is not on solving problems, but on refining immediate, achievable actions.

Commitments Round (10 minutes)

Each mentee states one specific action aloud.

• No discussion

• No feedback

• No advice

Public declaration increases the likelihood of follow-through.

The mentor closes with one brief career reflection — something they wish they had known earlier.

4. Mentor Roles & Expectations

The mentor functions as:

• Listener first

• Pattern recogniser

• Challenger of thinking

• Facilitator of peer contribution

Expectations

• Speak less than the group in the first half of the session

• Avoid turning the session into serial one-to-one advice

• Synthesise across the room rather than responding individually

• Push for specificity and ownership in next steps

Success Criteria

• The room feels psychologically safe but stretching

• Participants engage with each other

• Every mentee leaves with one concrete action

No slides or formal preparation are required.

5. Mentee Role & Expectations

Before the Event

Mentees submit one response to the prompt:

“What’s the one thing in your career right now that you can’t quite figure out alone?”

Responses are shared anonymously with mentors in advance.

During the Session

• Sharing is voluntary.

• If sharing, mentees are encouraged to frame their challenge in under 60 seconds:

• Situation

• Where they are stuck

• What they have already tried

• Active listening is expected when others are sharing.

• Each mentee leaves with one specific action to take within the week.

This is a group coaching environment, not one-to-one consulting.

6. Facilitator Role

The facilitator ensures structure and flow across all rooms.

Before the Event

• Collect and group mentee submissions

• Share anonymised challenges with each mentor

• Pre-assign breakout rooms

• Circulate a concise phase overview to mentors

During the Event

• Open and close breakout rooms

• Send timed broadcast prompts to all rooms at phase transitions

• Manage overall timing

• Intervene only if a room clearly stalls

• Maintain a private communication channel with mentors

The structure is designed to allow rooms to run independently, with minimal central intervention.