WITI Summit 2015 Recap

"Privileged to have been among the incredible and inspiring individuals, role models and empowering crowd at Women in Technology Summit, 2015. Many congratulations to the key leaders in science and technology who were honored at the Annual WITI Hall of Fame Awards Dinner." ~ Helay Rahimi, LinkedIn Pulse article

"I feel informed and inspired by the speakers and by the many brilliant women I met." ~ Judy Maclaren, VIP Attendee



"I was amazed and honored by the caliber and commitment of the women I was able to engage with in my coaching session, after my presentation and at the networking events. This is a MUST NOT MISS event for both participants and speakers." ~ John Bates, Founder & CEO, ExecutiveSpeakingSuccess.com

"Be the change you want to see. My pledge to help women/girls, so that one day the "pipeline" discussion is no longer" ~ Stephanie W @stefwon

"Back from #WITISummit2015 and wait there is more goodness...the best #Swiss Chocolate hiding in the swag bag! Yum!" ~ @cleverducks

Executive Auction

WITI's Executive Auction is a great opportunity to compete for a meeting with corporate executives that could potentially propel your career skyward. At the same time, you will be contributing to the Women in Technology Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit Foundation which supports WITI's Hall of Fame. There is still plenty of time to place your BID on some amazing Executives, such as Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of Space X, CIO Paul Chapman of the GAP Inc., Esther Dyson, and the list goes on. Click here to BID NOW. Bidding Ends Wed, 10 Jun 2015

"I've reflected on our presence at the Women in Technology Summit and a common denominator I keep coming to are the amazing Avanade women that attended the conference and the great speakers who spoke. This is my shout out to a great group of Avanade Folks who represented us beautifully, worked very hard, and brought meaning to the notion of Create. Change. My hat is off to: Julie Weir, Erika King, Stefanie Hill, Suzanne Williams, Cheryl Dewar, Elly Sarabipour, Holly Hawk, Lisa Fields, and Julie Bruns. Nice work and Go Orange!!!!! Tiffani Bova, VP and Distinguished Analyst from Gartner were amazing. Patricia Arquette was perfect to kick off the event and was impressively down to earth and very cool. I also thought Linda Bernardi, Chief Innovation Officer, Cloud and IoT from IBM were impressive as well. We also had the wonderful opportunity to meet Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek's Lt. Uhura. For you Trekkies you know what I'm talking about. It was amazing to hear she was the first Black women in the US to star on a TV show where she wasn't a maid or servant. She helped break barriers for sure. Amazing, amazing event." ~ Eddie Pate, Avanade



REALLY cool exhibitor giveaway vending machine @WITI Summit from @AvanadeInc #WITISummit2015!
~ Mike Vogel, @RecruitVirtual

Stats

3 days, 50+ Sponsors, 70 speakers, 30 sessions, 45 vendors, 89 Coaching circles, 32 coaches, 8 women-owned startups, 90+ volunteers, 1100 Attendees, WITI Staff and of course Founder Carolyn Leighton -- along with five exceptional women inducted into the Women in Technology Fall of Fame.



Love what you saw this year? Join us again June 5-7, 2016 - Pre-registration now available at the 2015 pre-sign up prices -- Click here to pre-register

Special thanks for the support of our sponsors, without whom our great success would not be possible.

Diamond Sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Hall of Fame

"There are few dry eyes in the room as #nichellenichols is inducted. Wow. Talk about grace." ~ @johnbates
From left to right: Nichelle Nichols, Carolyn Leighton, Sheryl Root, Cheemin Bo-Linn, Pam Parisian, Marie Wieck, Peggy Kilburn, Alice Lankester

Keynotes

All our speakers received a phenomenal response from the Summit attendees. We thank all who dedicated their time, energy, and effort to build, empower, and inspire. Special thanks to our Keynote Speakers: Patricia Arquette, Linda Bernardi, Tiffani Bova, Jennifer Brace, Christine Goldberg and Wendy Wallbridge.

News Coverage of the WITI 2015 Summit - CBS News Video

Sessions

From community- and brand-building, to innovation and technology, to leadership and influence - the 2015 Summit was a rich learning experience, brimming with insights and takeaways from which all attendees could benefit.

WITI Virtual IoT Hackathon

You asked, we listened! We understand that there are not enough hours in the day so we have decided to give you a little extra time to submit your IoT app for the WITI Virtual Hackathon. Submissions are now required to be entered by June 30th! Take advantage of the extra time to build an app that will help make life a bit easier when it comes to work, home, family and travel!

We have lined up some additional virtual education sessions for you to come and ask the IBM and Intel experts your burning questions! For those of you who visited the IBM table at the WITI Summit earlier this week and took home one of the awesome Intel Edison boards and are not quite sure where to start, this is a great opportunity to speak live with the folks who can point you in the right direction!

Our first session is Friday, June 12th from 12:00-1:00PM EST. Registration for the webinar is not required.

Toll Free: 888-426-6840
Passcode: 95839125
SmartCloud Meeting: https://apps.na.collabserv.com/meetings/join?id=6680-7867
Password: bluemix

You can also join us for a Bluemix virtual workshop on Friday, June 19th from 11:00AM-12:30PM EST where you will also be able to interact with a live instructor and follow step-by-step instructions on how to create and deploy an app on Bluemix.

Toll free: 1-888-426-6840
Passcode: 15583837
SmartCloud Meeting Link: https://apps.na.collabserv.com/meetings/join?id=666-694
Password: bluemix

Make sure to register for the hackathon if you have not done so already! Register for your free Bluemix trial as well to familiarize yourself with the platform and start building your app!

Don't forget about the great prizes being offered up!
- Lifetime membership to WITI
- Two 2016 WITI Summit tickets
- IBM Cloud Credit
- 1 Hour Virtual Meeting With IBM's General Manager Sandy Carter (who spoke at this year's Summit!)
- AND for those who submit an app using the Edison boards, Intel is offering up to $2500 CASH!
- Everyone that submits an app and a 3 minute YouTube video, will receive a 1 year membership to WITI (or an 1 year extension if you are already a member).

Coaching Circles

NEW at the WITI Summit this year - and especially well received - were some 89 Coaching Circles led by Professional Coaches, Leaders, and Speakers from the WITI Summit.

It's not surprising what we're hearing people say:

"It was fantastic to have the opportunity to connect with a coaching circle on a more personal basis so we could discuss the challenges that each of them are facing. I viewed it as a HUGE success!" ~ Donna Ceriani, Leadership Success Coach, The Real Journey

"It was amazing being able to have personal coaching sessions right here with the summit. I feel like this was the highlight of my experience. You must do this again next year"

Expo Hall

A big thanks to all the exhibitors, as WITI helps to provide invaluable career opportunities and premiere talent.

Volunteers

I would like to thank you for allowing me to volunteer and take advantage of this wonderful once in a lifetime opportunity. I really enjoyed every moment of this event whether I was stuffing goodie bags, listening to all the keynote speakers, helping at the registration, attending monitoring the lunch entrance, taking advantage of the Coaching circle, meeting/helping various people who might have been standing alone, talking to various speakers, stars, etc. and of course getting a pix with Patricia Arquette! ~ Lin Pak, Volunteer

Thank you to the 90+ volunteers, especially Marianne Bauer, and 660 hours to perform 18 different areas/tasks. Without your contributions, this would not have been as outstanding as it was. We had some amazing folks who went above and beyond as volunteers.

B~Camp

The Women In Technology Foundation launches its B~STEM Project designed to educate young girls and women about the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math in business and everyday life. We strive to encourage youth to continue on with their interest of in STEM careers. The foundation is seeking sponsors for its B~STEM, WITI Girl Power Bootcamp which takes place August 3-8, 2015. For more information, please contact Tracie Dean Ponder, Executive Director, [email protected].

We had the privilege of joining #WITISummit2015 & were blown away by the sense of community and the talent.#tech ~ @tiesv

Personal Message from WITI Founder, Carolyn Leighton

Your Courage!
I experienced so much courage at the 2015 WITI Summit

To our Summit Attendees - thank you for sharing your personal stories of courage and fully participating - the Summit could not have been successful without your participation.

To our Speakers - who shared your personal stories about your passionate commitment to giving every ounce of wisdom to share with each woman and man attending our Summit!

To our Sponsors - we could not have done this without your partnership.

To Patricia Arquette - your authentic passion and commitment to making a positive difference was so compelling, that I have no doubt this was a life changing moment for so many people fortunate enough to hear her speak.

To our Volunteers - thank you for your dedication and outstanding work.

To our WITI Team - who worked day and night for months to create an extraordinarily positive, transforming experience for each person who walked into the Summit and whose execution was flawless and deserves applause.

Amanda Coolong - how lucky we are to have Amanda - who is willing to be WITI’s Emcee forever!

Alice Lankester - Hall of Fame Emcee for 3 years!

Outstanding Job!

My Requests:
Be a WITI Evangelist. Work with us to create more women in top leadership roles and pay it forward to the next generation of women in technology. When we work together - collaborate instead of compete - leadership happens, courage happens, innovation happens, big dreams happen.

Be a WITI Champion. Your company’s partnership makes WITI possible. Do not wait for someone else to make it happen - you make it happen.

Please send us your testimonials. Everyone on the WITI staff deserves to be acknowledged - and your testimonials mean so much to each of us.

Share your stories and your requests - we are listening. Carolynleighton25@gmail.com

#WITISUMMIT2015   #WITI    #WITIHALLOFFAME

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.