The Women's Leadership Program is NOT JUST FOR WOMEN

摘要

Eight years ago at SMTA International, the Women's Leadership Program was introduced. What started first as a reception and networking event has taken on added significance as it blossomed into a full-fledged technical session. In hopes of increasing participation of women at industry technical conferences, we came up with the idea of a session where we invite women leaders in SMTAI to present their work. We hoped that having a focused session with women presenters would encourage and motivate others to participate, while demonstrating that SMTAI wants to be an inclusive place. Although several women attended the talks, which were followed by a panel discussion and networking event, ironically there were very few males present. In reviewing the event, it was recognized our audience might have made the assumption that attendance was for women only. Nothing could be further from reality.