WE10 | Conference Information | Sessions

Sessions

At WE10, you can participate in professional development and training sessions led by industry experts, as well as plenary panels covering the latest technology and business innovations. (Note: All session times are in Eastern Standard Time).

Click here to download session presentations and handouts.

Plenary Sessions
Career Enhancement Series (CES) Sessions

Session Audience

Collegians and recent graduates
Emerging technical leaders
Experienced technical professionals
Seasoned technical leaders, managers and educators
Executives and entrepreneurs
Academics and thought leaders

Session Tracks

Session Formats

Lecture presentations
Workshops
Panel discussions

Check out all of the WE10 sessions on the Conference Schedule.

For more information, contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Society of Women Engineers
1963 University Lane
Lisle, IL 60532
Phone: 1-800-892-2858
Fax: 630-271-8234

Plenary Sessions

Men at Work: Networking In a Male-Centric Workplace

Program Track: Cultural Awareness & Inclusion
Time: Friday, Nov. 5; 1:30 - 3:00 pm
Format: Moderated Panel

Women who work in male-dominated industries, like engineering, must sometimes navigate unfamiliar conversational territory when socializing with mostly-male clients and colleagues. The panel, consisting of men and women, will share humorous and insightful stories about the social dynamics of a male-centric workplace. Panelists will discuss how women have been successful in taking ownership over networking and social situations in order to strengthen connections with male clients and colleagues.

Launching Innovation: Insights from Women Leaders & Entrepreneurs

Program Track: Management & Strategy
Time: Saturday, Nov. 6; 8:30 - 10:00 am
Format: Moderated Panel

Starting a business or launching a large scale organizational initiative is a way to develop a career path on your own terms. However, this is a career path that requires great savvy and perseverance. Our panelists, consisting of women leaders and innovators, will share their stories and discuss the trials and ultimately the successes of launching new business and organizational initiatives.

Negotiating for Yourself

Program Track: Career and Life Transitions
Time: Thursday, Nov. 4; 10:00 - 11:30 am
Format: Moderated Panel

Recent research suggests that women do not have the same propensity to negotiate for themselves as men do. This is not due to a lack of negotiating skills; women often negotiate better deals for their companies than their male counterparts. The critical difference is that women do not negotiate for themselves; they tend not to ask for pay increases, promotions, resources, staffing and opportunities. Panelists share what they have learned along the way during their career and will discuss how women can successfully negotiate for themselves without damaging the relationship with their organization.

I’ll Be Back: Re-launching Your Career

Program Track: Career and Life Transitions
Time: Friday, Nov. 5; 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Format: Moderated Panel

Re-launching your career after a leave of absence can pose challenges and may make for a daunting personal and professional transition. Our panelists, consisting of seasoned women leaders, will share their own experiences and how organizations are evolving to be more intentional about re-orienting women to the workplace after leaves of absence. Panelists share their strategies and lessons learned when re-launching your career.

Designing Women: Looking into the Future of Engineering

Program Track: Innovation in Technology and Business
Time: Friday, Nov. 5; 8:30 - 10:00 am
Format: Moderated Panel

Do women have distinct approaches to human-focused design? "Design thinking" is a hot topic in the corporate world, and women in engineering are utilizing its methods to drive change in everything from business practices to product development. Our panelists are women who use the design thinking process to foster innovative solutions for clients and customers. Panelists will discuss how women bring a distinct viewpoint to innovation and design processes as well as how design thinking will influence future engineering and business opportunities for their industry.

Career Enhancement Series (CES) Sessions

The Career Enhancement Series (CES) is a special professional track taught by professional subject matter experts, designed to help participants develop expertise and hone their skill set in a variety of subject areas such as management strategy, leadership development, work/life balance, communication skills and more! CES classes are accredited by the Society of Women Engineers through International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and have additional registration fees. Certificates of completion will be awarded after a course is completed. Course fees include the transcription record and CEU credit. Below is a full list of the CES courses we will be offering this year.

SWE has been approved as an Authorized Provider by the IACET: 1760 Old Meadow Road, Suite 500, McLean, VA 22102, 703.506.3275. In obtaining this approval, the SWE has demonstrated that it complies with the ANSI/IACET 1-2007 Standard which is recognized internationally as a standard of good practice. As a result of their Authorized Provider membership status, SWE is authorized to offer IACET CEUs for its programs that qualify under the ANSI/IACET 1-2007 Standard.

Check out the Conference Schedule for more information about each CES Session.

Critical Success Factors for New Managers

Speaker: Aleen Bayard
Time: Wednesday, Nov. 3; 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
CEUs: .4

New and mid-level managers face unique challenges. How do you successfully transition from being an effective individual contributor to leading a project team? This workshop will provide practical, actionable tips on giving feedback, handling conflict, "managing up," empowering teams and sharpening your political/organizational savvy. Note that prior to the session, attendees should read What Got You Here, Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith. Attendees will walk away with a comprehensive understanding the five key attributes to building strong teams, as well as a personal Management Action Plan to ensure that training is transformed into results.

Listen to the podcast highlighting this session.

Presenter Bio: Aleen Bayard is founder and principal of MarketZing, a national business consulting practice focused on marketing strategy, communication and leadership development. Bayard also serves on the faculty of Northwestern University, teaching a variety of leadership and OB courses as well as Lake Forest Graduate School of Management where she teaches Executive Success Skills in the MBA program. Bayard holds a B.A. in communication from Stanford University and a M.S. from Columbia University, N.Y, M.S. from Northwestern University in learning & organizational change, and is DiSC certified. Prior to forming MarketZing, Bayard held executive positions at Ketchum, A.T. Kearney and U.S. Equities Realty.

My Career Needs a GPS!

Speaker: Tricia Berry
Time: Wednesday, Nov. 3; 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
CEUs: .4

In this innovative workshop, engage in fun, interactive and high-energy learning to help you find direction for your career. Examine your mindsets and life trends that frame your accomplishments, goals and career pursuits. Gain an enhanced understanding of your interests, values and goals and their tie to your personal career satisfaction, energy and success. Create a personal action plan – your own GPS – and build a foundation for career for career and life decisions.

Participants will:

Discover the power of personal action planning and the five steps for action planning success
Understand CareerPE™ Toolbox techniques and tools to explore career directions
Learn the four key pieces of information to include in an introduction
Understand themselves better through role model identification and an interactive "fake job" exercise. Engage in the eight steps to successful goal setting and goal accomplishment
Learn the four basic storage areas for career information and how to use them to their advantage

Presenter Bio: Tricia Berry, executive vice president, MBA, has 18 years of varied experience in career coaching, large volunteer program management, professional speaking, and workshop and training development and implementation. Berry received her B.S. in engineering from the University of Texas, Austin and her MBA from the University of Houston, Clear Lake. Berry is the director of the Women in Engineering Program at UT Austin where she leads recruitment and retention efforts of women. Prior roles include Director of the Engineering Scholarship Program and a Process Engineer and a Product Development Engineer at The Dow Chemical Company.

Presenter Bio: Danielle Forget Shield (BS CE, MBA, PE) is president of 825 Basics, LLC. She has over 10 years experience in entertaining presentations, workshop development, career coaching and organizational management. Her excitement comes from implementing the methods she teaches and seeing those she has mentored successfully navigate their careers.

Managing Others: With or Without Direct Authority

Speaker: Jo Miller
Time: Wednesday, Nov. 5; 1:00 - 5:00 pm
CEUs: .4

It is every emerging leader’s quandary: you can’t get a higher level job with leadership experience, but you can’t get the experience without the job. Have you ever wondered how to break out and demonstrate leadership potential, when you lack the leadership job title? A leader is someone who makes a greater difference than one person can make alone. In this workshop, add to your leadership toolkit with ways to engage the collaboration of others. You will learn ways to motivate and lead individuals and teams, regardless of whether they report directly to you.

Participants will learn:

What leaders do that other employees do not
How to be an everyday visionary
How to win “buy-in"
How to manage your performing
How to lead your leaders and manage upward

Listen to the podcast highlighting this session.

Presenter Bio: Jo Miller is CEO of Women’s Leadership Coaching. She has a passion for helping women develop their leadership skills, confidence and presence, and specializes in helping women break into leadership in industries that have been traditionally considered a "man's world," such as technology, finance and energy. Since 1998 Miller has developed and implemented coaching programs that have benefited women worldwide. Miller created the Women's Leadership Coaching Inc leadership coaching system, and has logged many thousands of hours coaching women who are in executive and management positions, or aspire to be. She has traveled widely in Europe and the U.S. to facilitate leadership development programs for women’s initiatives in Fortune 1,000 companies, including Oracle Women in Leadership, Nortel Women’s Business Council, National Semiconductor’s Women @ National, UBS Women’s Leadership Conference and numerous others. She was named one of Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal's "40 People to Watch Under the Age of 40" in 2006 and one of Silicon Valley's "Women of Influence" in 2008.

Yes, I am the Only One

Speaker: Deb Coleman
Time: Wednesday, Nov. 3; 1:00 - 5:00 pm
CEUs: .4

While you may be the “only one” in the group, you are STILL a part of the group with the same education, knowledge and skills as everyone else, so get out there and perform! Take charge! And show your stuff! We all have more in common than any differences we may have. There is no “I” or “us versus them” in team. We all have to come together to get the job done. This session is appropriate for graduate students and technical professionals.

Participants will learn
The importance of teamwork
Why they were hired to gain results, not win a popularity contest
We all have more commonalities than differences

Presenter Bio: Debra Coleman has been working for The Boeing Company for the past 20 years as an electrical engineer, currently in electrical sub-systems in the payloads organization. Coleman has held increasingly responsible engineering positions at Boeing on both the commercial and defense business units in such organizations and programs as avionics, payloads, customer engineering and derivative airplanes.

Communication Success For Women Engineers

Speaker: Suzanne Guthrie & Jim Hornickel
Time: Friday, Nov. 5; 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
CEUs: .4
Listen to the podcast interview of Suzanne and Jim.

Communication Success For Women Engineers™ is a practical session to help participants move their communication to a higher level of ease and effectiveness. The Communication Success For Women Engineers™ program builds knowledge and skills about communication styles, organizing techniques, presentation prowess and professional impact.

Presenter Bio: Suzanne Guthrie is an experienced facilitator of communication workshops. She is co-founder of Bold New Directions, a transformational learning organization that helps professionals grow through three pillars of success: Leadership, Communication and Resilience. Suzanne has delivered business communication training to thousands of professionals in corporate America, educational organizations and non-profits. She has a Master’s degree from the University of Toronto, a diploma in advanced communication and post-graduate education from Harvard University.

Presenter Bio: Jim Hornickel brings more than 20 years of professional and personal experience in leadership, management, coaching, corporate training and transformation to his service. His passion is to inspire people to take bold new directions in their lives for increased fulfillment and professional success. Hornickel is also the author of the newly published management development book called Managing From the Inside Out, available in electronic and paper versions. Hornickel earned a B.A. in management and is a graduate of the innovative Coaches Training Institute in California. He has also studied mediation, leadership, training, and counseling and utilizes this knowledge base in his work. Deeply committed to human transformation and exceptional performance, he brings an authentic and open style to his interactions that participants find refreshing.

Outrageous Thinking & Other Acts of Creative Wizardry for Solving Problems

Speaker: Anne Miller
Time: Friday, Nov. 5; 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
CEUs: .4

"A plain iron bar is worth $5. If you make horseshoes from it, the value increases to $10. If you make needles, it is $3,285. If a watch springs, it is $250,000. The difference between $5 and $250,000 is creativity." - Anonymous. On a professional basis, you are responsible for achieving specific results. Routine matters take care of themselves, but what happens when you need a fresh idea on how to solve a problem, improve a process, sell an idea, or resolve some dicey people or client issue? The key is to step back and strategize differently. This course offers training in techniques for constant renewal of your creative thinking and energies. Outrageous Thinking will refine and refresh your problem-solving powers and turn business-as-usual into business-as-unusual from now on. Attend this workshop with a current problem and leave with specific new ideas to solve it.

Presenter Bio: For more than 20 years, Anne Miller has earned a reputation for her original approaches to broadening the thinking and skill sets of even the most skeptical participants. She runs her programs with a deep understanding of learning theory, and a passion for, and knowledge of, the art and science of professional selling and presentations. Miller is the author of Metaphorically Selling: How to use the magic of metaphors to sell, persuade and explain anything to anyone, Presentation Jazz!, 365 Sales Tips for Winning Business, her own newsletters: The Metaphor Minute and Make What You Say, Pay, and numerous articles on the Internet and in business publications like Brandweek and Selling Power. Both NBC Today and Bloomberg News Radio have featured her on their shows.

Break Through, Don't Break Down: Keys to Transforming Work/Life Challenge into Breakthrough

Speaker: Kathy Caprino
Time: Friday, Nov. 5; 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
CEUs: .4

High Impact Leadership Skills for Mid-Career Women

Speaker: Gail Golden
Time: Friday, Nov. 5; 1:00 - 5:00 pm
CEUs: .4

Recent research has demonstrated that many women business leaders display a skill set that makes them especially capable of managing others. Abilities such as accurate decoding of non-verbal cues enable women leaders to communicate with and engage others effectively. At the same time, many women leaders continue to struggle against biases and perceptions that can limit their career progress and reduce their organizational impact. These stereotypes are especially apparent for mid-career women. In addition to the barriers that all women leaders face, mid-career women have the additional challenge of dealing with age biases. Too often, highly experienced and talented women leaders are stereotyped as “office moms,” passed over for high-visibility roles, or find they have difficulty getting their voice and their opinions heard. Women leaders frequently feel isolated when they confront these challenges. Recognizing the patterns and developing the skills to continue to be A-players is not only good for women leaders; it is good for their companies who will continue to derive the benefits from fully engaged senior female leadership talent.

Listen to the podcast highlighting this session.

Presenter Bio: Gail Golden, MBA, Ph.D., is the Principal of Gail Golden Consulting, LLC. As a psychologist and consultant for over 20 years, she has developed deep expertise in helping businesses to build better leaders. Her experience as an entrepreneur, business owner, and consultant to senior leaders of both Fortune 1000 and non-profit organizations informs her approach to executive selection and development. Golden’s work encompasses a broad range of consulting with senior executives about the human side of strategy. Besides providing in-depth assessments and coaching for business leaders, she helps organizations to build team effectiveness, develop future leaders, and manage the increasing pace of change. She combines her extensive experience and skill as a psychologist with her keen understanding of the challenges of the business environment to design powerful interventions that enable her clients to improve both engagement and effectiveness in their organizations. Golden received her Bachelor’s degree in psychology from The University of Chicago, her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Indiana University, and her MBA from The University of Western Ontario. She is a registered psychologist in Illinois and has extensive experience as a university teacher, public speaker and media commentator. She teaches at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. She has been quoted in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Today’s Chicago Woman and numerous other publications.

Negotiating Success for Women Engineers

Speaker: Suzanne Guthrie & Jim Hornickel
Time: Friday, Nov. 5; 1:00 - 5:00 pm
CEUs: .4
Listen to the podcast interview of Suzanne and Jim.

Many engineers are not trained in the techniques and practices of successful negotiations. This program takes participants on a step by step overview of the phases and practical application of negotiation tools.

How to Create, Market and Role Model a Powerful Personal Brand

Speaker: Sherri Thomas
Time: Friday, Nov. 5; 1:00 - 5:00 pm
CEUs: .4

The key to a successful career in engineering is understanding which of your passions, strengths and successes a company or industry values, and then creating career opportunities in which you are recognized and appreciated for your talents. This workshop provides the strategies and framework to teach engineering professionals and executives how to successfully build a powerful personal brand and put yourself in high demand with managers, clients, senior executives, industry experts, and potential employers.

Presenter Bio: Sherri Thomas has worked for three Fortune 500 Companies, Intel Corporation. She specializes in marketing, branding and management development as well as serving as one of Intel’s leaders in career development. Thomas is an international speaker and is interviewed regularly by the media for career strategies, including five interviews with the Wall Street Journal.

So, You Want to be an Executive: How to Build Your Career Board of Directors

Speaker: Pamela Malinzak
Time: Saturday, Nov. 6; 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
CEUs: .4

Who besides you is committed to your career success? This session explores the characteristics of an executive, what they are, how to develop them and how you can leverage an entire team of mentors to enable your success. This career board of directors will really work for you! This session will pertain to any career professional trying to move up in their career.

Presenter Bio: Pamela Malinzak is Vice President, Global Business Services at IBM Corporation, and has been responsible for providing has been providing global IT services to clients for over 27 years. Malinzak leads a team of 2,000 professionals in four countries and manages an annual revenue stream of over $300 million dollars. Malinzak earned an engineering degree from the University of MN and a M.S. in business from the University of Colorado. She has volunteered on several non-profit boards, most recently board vice-president for The Bridge, an adolescent treatment and educational facility for disadvantaged youth in Atlanta, GA.

Breaking the Cycle of Stress: Martial Arts for the Mind

Speaker: David and Karen Gamow
Time: Saturday, Nov. 6; 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
CEUs: .4

Gain clarity of mind and an increased capacity to meet and overcome life's challenges. This nationally-recognized training, also used at NASA, is at the cutting edge of stress reduction. It provides a combination of cognitive training for getting at the root causes of stress, along with powerful breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques. These methods have been clinically proven at Harvard and MIT to reduce blood pressure, and reduce or eliminate chronic pain and insomnia, reduce errors on the job, improve communication with others and increase concentration.

Presenter Bios: David and Karen Gamow are two of America’s leading stress management and meditation trainers. Founders of Clarity Seminars, they provide training for many fortune 500 companies and government agencies, including: NASA, GE, Nokia, Marriott, Stanford School of Medicine, Yahoo! and the U.S. Army. They have personally trained over 20,000 people since 1996. Authors of Freedom from Stress, their work has been featured in Gannett News, Investor’s Business Daily, Chicago Sun-Times, San Jose Mercury News, Information Week and on Fox-TV.

David Gamow presents with a direct, challenging style that includes a healthy dose of humor, colorful analogies, and a deep understanding and empathy for how the human mind works. No stranger to high-stress careers, Gamow was a high-performing stockbroker in his early 20's and one of Paine Webber’s youngest vice presidents. He has launched two businesses and has successfully navigated three small business turn-arounds. He is a life-long entrepreneur who understands that people are an organization’s most important resource.

Karen Gamow is a 30-year writing and marketing veteran, with extensive experience in advocacy and crisis management in the non-profit sector, including numerous television and newspaper interviews. Gamow is empathetic and connects easily with others. Years of musical training give her voice a calming, peaceful quality, ideal for guiding students in relaxation and breathing techniques.