About the Conference: Women Transforming Technology (WT2) is a consortium of companies and organizations in industry, academia, and non-profit sectors committed to building a community and tackling issues that are top of mind for women in technology. Our goals are to inspire, support, and connect women in all areas and levels of technology in Silicon Valley and beyond.
The theme of this year’s conference is "Resilience". Resilience means knowing how to cope in spite of setbacks, or barriers, or limited resources. We have experienced one of the toughest periods in recent history and our collective success will depend on our ability to assess, adapt, and even thrive as we move forward. This may mean a course correction, a change in strategy, or even a conscious pause to re-tool. We here at Women Transforming Technology believe together we will be more resilient and will leverage this conference to support each other and the best future for ourselves and our community.
Our program this year will focus on:
Creating technology to adapt to the changing needs of people and groups everywhere
To discuss the challenges and the opportunities for ourselves, both personally and professionally
How we will be most successful rising together across all experiences, talents and backgrounds given the ever-changing environment
New: This year we will be adding a Career Exploration Day on Monday, May 3, 2021. Please see the details in this Call for Participation on how you can get involved.
This new format, two-day Conference will be held virtually Monday and Tuesday, May 3-4 2021.
Over 10,000 attendees will range from students to executives from industry, academia and nonprofit organizations around the globe.
About your submission: The Organizing Committee will review all submissions to the Conference on the basis of a set of criteria including:
Quality of the submission
Diversity and expertise of the speakers/panelists
Its relevance to the conference theme
Originality
Scope of the subject matter
We will be accepting individual speakers, panels from diverse backgrounds and organizations (panelists all from the same organization will not be considered), and small workshops with a proven track record of success in this type of venue. Please specify the speaking/presenting time needed in the Conference Template: a TEDx-Style Talk (20 minutes) through a complete workshop (2 hours with a 30 minute break in the middle).
Please note selected speakers are not paid speaking fees. Travel and lodging are not included as this is a virtual event.
Each submission will be categorized by the following tracks:
Emerging Leadership –
Aimed for the early stage professional who would like to focus on developing their personal brand and gaining insight into their individual leadership style. There is an opportunity to discuss strategies to advance as a woman in the workplace, learning how to find your voice, tactics on building a network, and/or executive presence.
Executive Leadership –
For the more seasoned professional who is already in the managerial track and wanting to advance to the next leadership level. They are confident in their own role and want to focus their learning how to influence and create impact on a company-wide level.
Topics for this breakout can include how to be an inclusive leader, people management styles , how to leverage networking as a power tool, navigating workplace politics, creating greater influence in large organizations, etc. Leadership development in this track should be inclusive of technical women pursuing a PE track as well.
Technical –
Aimed for the technical audience, this breakout will be a ‘TED Talk style’ with 15 minutes of presentation and followed by Q&A. The goal is to create a sense of community for female technical professionals and arm them with tools to advance their careers. There is an opportunity to do a deep dive on emerging technology, general open source code, cloud native, or the future of Tech. Another opportunity could include a case study topic around social innovation with a technical component.
Career Exploration Day –
New: For the first time, Women Transforming Technology will host a Career Exploration Day. The goal of this new program is to showcase speakers, panels and workshops focused on exploring career opportunities in tech. Sessions on how to research, apply, interview and negotiate new positions across all levels and areas of technology companies are requested.
Timeline: Call for Participation is now closed Committee Review: through December 16, 2020 Notifications go out: Tuesday December 22, 2020 Conference date: Monday & Tuesday, May 3-4 2021 (Please mark your calendar in the event you are accepted)
