The Finding Ada Virtual STEM Conference is a fully online global conference for women in STEM and advocates for gender equality. It will be held on Tuesday 10 November, beginning at 9am in Wellington, New Zealand, and ending 29 hours later at 5pm on the West Coast of America. We will have a variety of talks, workshops, Q&As and more available to watch as they are streamed, or in catch-up later.
Themes & formats
We have three themes for the day:
- Career development: Career advice; professional skills; and personal growth.
- Policy and advocacy: Talent acquisition, retention and promotion; returners; business policy, processes and standards; advocacy strategies.
- Widening participation: Increasing girls’ interest in STEM; navigating academia; increasing diversity and supporting diverse communities.
Speakers from around the world will provide a pre-recorded session and take part in a Q&A after their video has aired. All speakers will be given a slot at a reasonable time within their home timezone.
Talks can be in one of three formats:
- Talk: 25 minutes, focused on communicating new ideas, concepts, or knowledge.
- Workshop: 25 minutes, focused on raising proficiency in a skill, includes additional downloadable material such as a worksheet or guide.
- Ignite: 5 minutes, presentation with 20 slides each advancing automatically at 15 seconds, focused on communicating one big idea, experience, or concept.
We will be sending an advice pack to speakers to help them make the most of their online time, and will be providing additional support for speakers who have less experience of this type of presentation.
Timetable
Key dates for your diary are:
- 14 August: Deadline for talk proposals
- 4 September: Deadline for notification of proposal status to all applicants
- 6 October: Deadline for video submission
Honorariums & tickets
We have a proud history of paying honorariums to our speakers, and this will continue in 2020, despite the financial challenges we face due to COVID-19. The exact amount of the honorarium will be confirmed in due course, but we will pay by bank transfer in your local currency via Transferwise where we can. Otherwise, payments will be via transfers in GBP.
Tickets will go on sale later in the summer, and we will, as usual, provide concessions and scholarships to those who would otherwise be unable to attend.
Themes in more detail
Careers
Topic examples:
- Careers advice such as setting career goals or preparing to apply for promotion
- Developing transferable professional skills such as public speaking or problem solving techniques
- Sessions on personal growth such as becoming a leader or improving self-awareness or confidence.
Who’s the audience?: Women in STEM, in industry or academia.
Example: A 25 minute talk on how to prepare and give an amazing presentation.
Policy and advocacy
Topic examples:
- Talent acquisition, retention and promotion, such as how to write job ads to attract more women.
- Attracting and supporting returners, such as how to reskill returners.
- Policies, business processes and standards that promote gender equality, such as running a flexible working scheme or improving parental leave policies.
- Advocacy strategies and tactics, such as how to organise a women’s network or group.
Who’s the audience?: Human resources executives, gender equality advocates, EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) executives, other business leaders.
Example: A 25 minute workshop on how to analyse gender pay gap data and policy changes needed to tackle it.
Widening participation
Topic examples:
- Increasing interest, such as how to incorporate STEM into the national curriculum, or running an after school club
- Supporting first generation university students, such as how to help girls understand what university is like, and how to help young women navigate academia
- Supporting BAME (Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic) students, such as how to identify and address the specific challenges faced by BAME girls and women.
Who’s the audience?: Teachers, educators, school & university administrators, parents/family.
Example: A 25 minute talk on how to encourage primary school girls’ interest in STEM.
Applications have now closed!