Last Thursday's Texas Conference for Women brought 7,500 folks to the Austin Convention Center for some estrogen-fueled networking and personal development. With panels on starting a small business and caring for children and elderly parents, the conference served its diverse demographic well. While we wished for a little more substance from some of the speakers and panelists — the keynote session featuring Nancy Giles and Elizabeth Vargas mined well-worn material to the point of blandness — the conference overall offered some great opportunities for learning a little more about the world and our place in it.

Our favorite panel was the Culinary Culture session, during which some of Austin's best food proprietors discussed the foodie culture with Food and Wine VP and editor-in-chief Dana Cowin. The women behind Austin's favorite crepe trailer Flip Happy Crepes (Andrea Day Boykin and Nessa Higgins) shared their story and recounted what it was like to go head to head with Food Network's Bobby Flay this past August, and what it's like to design your business around your children's school schedule. Mary Louise Butters shared her thoughts on dessert obsessions and how to plan (or not plan) to become a small business success story. Cowin, whom many will recognize from judging appearances on Top Chef, Iron Chef, and other televised food shows, told us that Mexican popsicles and Japanese sorbets are "having a moment," and gave us her technique for learning more about wine (TIP: focus on one varietal for a month and just have fun).

Austin-born Carly Fiorina started her keynote luncheon speech with a candid recounting of her famous firing from HP and anecdotes from her time in 1980s management development at AT&T, including a great story about having to meet clients in a strip club.

The highlight of the entire conference might have been Jessica Weiner's (author of A Very Hungry Girl and Life Doesn't Start Five Pounds From Now) panel on finding your authentic voice. Jessica, a public educator and activist and the force behind the Dove campaign for real beauty, spoke confidently and compellingly about her struggles as a young girl going through puberty and dealing with eating disorders. At a conference for women, a session about really talking to daughters and sons is a wonderful addition.

As usual, the exhibitors at the conference were a bit disappointing. With few standouts like Girlstart and Texas Democratic Women, most exhibitors were focused on selling chunky jewelry and laser hair removal sessions. In future conferences, more attention to the exhibitor slate could really improve the overall feel of the event.

Photos by Shannon Kreiger on Flickr