CICWIC
Central Indiana Celebration of
Women in Computing
Gloria Townsend
Beth Plale
Suzanne Menzel
Barb Clark
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Introductions
Gloria Townsend
Professor of Computer Science, DePauw University
Beth Plale
Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Indiana University
Suzanne Menzel
Senior Lecturer in Computer Science, Indiana University
Barb Clark
Director, Science Diversity Office, Purdue University
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Huge Thanks
 University sponsors: DePauw, Butler, RoseHulman, Indiana, Purdue
 Corporate sponsors: Hewlett-Packard,
CREW, Microsoft
 ACM-W
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Inspiration and Motivation
 Brainchild
 Foster
of Gloria Townsend: mini-GHC
connections between Indiana schools
 Women
supporting women
 Technical component
 Women
leaders from industry and academics
 Relationship
building: networking and
mentoring opportunities
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Planning
Beth Plale
Indiana University
plale@indiana.edu
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Planning Areas

Venue

Keynote speaker

Program
Guiding
philosophy:

Panels

Poster session

Fund raising

Marketing

Give-aways

6-9 month planning cycle
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Keep it short,
Keep it cheap
plale@indiana.edu
Planning: Organizational Committee
 Who: wanted all 5 area schools represented
 How to organize: divided based on strengths,
interests, and connections
 Connections for panel speakers and for fund
raising
 How to meet: held F2F early on.
 F2F was excellent idea; got idea of people’s
strengths, weaknesses, commitment level, and
interests
 Communicated by e-mail thereafter
 All organizational committee members were e-mail
responsive. Important for making steady progress.
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
plale@indiana.edu
Planning: Program Selection
 Who is our audience?
 Undergraduates from liberal arts college who were
trying to decide whether to marry or have a career,
to the urban evening student, to the 4th year PhD
student.
 This was probably the toughest issue to get right.
Went with




Grad panel
Technical panel
Undergrad panel
Career panel
 Poster session held during registration
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
plale@indiana.edu
Planning: Keynote Speaker
 Our maxim: get the maximum amount of
speaker possible for the most reasonable
cost.
 Found sponsorship for this
 Chose keynote speaker that understood the intent
of the conference (a good idea)
 Leah Jamieson gave our keynote – a technical keynote
that wove in a female thread
 She then stayed for the remainder of the retreat.
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
plale@indiana.edu
Planning: Venue
 Held at Indiana State Park hotel.
 Reasonable rates in February
 Central location
 No Magnificent Mile to lure people away.
 It’s got to have good vegetarian food.
 Someone has to go check it out.
 Take sketch pad – you’ll be asked to clarify
every nook and cranny of the place 100
times to the rest of the committee over the
next 3-6 months.
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
plale@indiana.edu
Planning: Marketing
 Early announcement to send to potential sponsors
and speakers
 Early web site presence
 On-line registration
 Brochure that creates excitement and outlines
registration process
 Our brochure did great job creating an atmosphere of fun
(e.g., slumber party)
 Nametags – essential
 Video – very useful for claiming success afterwards
 Goodies – t-shirts, pens, raffle items donated by
sponsors
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Basic Format
 Overnight at
McCormick’s
Creek State Park: 4pm on Fri
to 1pm on Sat
 Cozy
 Low
Inn setting
cost: $15 early, $25 late
 Poster
session, Keynote
speaker, Panel discussions
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Socialization Opportunities





Dinner, Breakfast, Lunch
Roommates
Film screening
Slumber party
Midnight hike
To Dream Tomorrow
John Fuegi and Jo Francis
Wolf Cave
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
WIC@IU
Back row L to R: Cherry Liu, Ying Liu, Nithya Sivaraman, Nithya Vijaykumar.
Front row L to R: Deepti Kodeboyina, Poornima Venkatakrishnan.
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Panels

Four panels
•
•
•
•
Careers in Industry and Academics
The Student Perspective
Technical (Bioinformatics and Health)
Looking to the Future

Three or four panelists, mostly women, plus moderator

Q/A or individual presentations

Balancing personal life with professional
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Student Panel
Panel of undergraduate students discuss the perils and
pleasures of pursuing degrees in computing at their
respective institutions: Rose-Hulman, Butler, DePauw,
Purdue, and IU. Moderated by Barb Clark, Purdue.
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
What Worked
 Keynote speaker: Leah Jamison talked
about software projects that addressed
community needs
 Panels with three people
 Round tables of 8-10 people for meals
 Lovely setting
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
What Didn’t Work
 Four person technical panel was overwhelming for
undergraduates
 Hike plans were abandoned due to weather
conditions
 Registration area was too far from poster area
 “Look to the Future” panel was useful for the
inaugural conference, but can be omitted in future
versions
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Evaluations
 4.22 (1-5 scale, 5 being the best) in
response to the comment, “I feel my time at
CICWIC was well spent”
 95.4% of the attendants said they would
return to a conference like this as well as
recommend it to a friend
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Recommendations
 Three panelists is an absolute maximum
 Consider parallel tracks: graduates and undergraduates
have different expectations
 Short breakout sessions following each panel
 Registration area should be in vicinity of poster area
 Snacks, ice-breaker activities at registration
 Better leisure activities; BoFs perhaps
 Encourage students from different schools to mingle; allow
students to room with friends, but possibly prepare a
seating chart for meals
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Discussion
 What is your reaction?
 What similar conferences or retreats have
you had at your institutions?
 What do you see as the major obstacle to
organizing such a conference in your state
or region?
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark
Contact Information
Gloria Townsend
gct@depauw.edu
Beth Plale
plale@indiana.edu
Suzanne Menzel
menzel@indiana.edu
Barb Clark
BarbClark@purdue.edu
October 8, 2004
Townsend, Plale, Menzel, Clark