Innovation Women Provides 5000 Calls For Speakers to Its Members
Version 2.0 of Online Visibility Bureau Makes it Easier than Ever to Gender-balance Events and Avoid “Manels”
BOSTON — December 5, 2019 — Innovation Women, an online visibility bureau for technical, entrepreneurial and professional women, today announced the launch of Innovation Women 2.0, with major enhancements and new functionality. The new features make it easier than ever for event managers to connect with female speakers and avoid embarrassing “manels” (all-male panels).The company has previously connected more than 1,000 speakers with speaking opportunities.
The company today also announced a “No Manel Zone” campaign (NMZ press release) to urge conferences, event organizers and venues to create policies, procedures, guidelines and recommendations that support inclusion, diversity and gender-balance for their speakers and presenters.
“Without speaking at events, women will continue to be stalled around leadership and expert status, pay equity and job advancement,” said Bobbie Carlton, CEO and founder of Innovation Women. “No event manager can legitimately say they can’t find a female speaker. Innovation Women has speakers with expertise on a comprehensive variety of topics. We’ve helped hundreds of event managers successfully build diverse panels and events.”
With more than 6,000 online members, Innovation Women is committed to providing equal visibility opportunities for women, and to helping event managers ensure diversity onstage. Independent studies show that approximately 70 percent of conference speakers worldwide are male, and that number has not changed appreciably over the last five years.
Latest Successes
Innovation Women has provided more than 5,000 calls for speakers to its members from organizations such as SXSW, IEEE, LiveWorx, Interop, Women in Tech Summit, and the WGBH Boston Talks series. Universities, including Harvard, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, MIT, Emerson, and Northeastern have used the site to find speakers and guest lecturers.
“As a conference that prioritizes a diverse and inclusive presenter lineup, Innovation Women has been a great asset to our team as the event has grown,” said Rachel Perry, Sr. Event Content Specialist, LiveWorx.
New Features on Innovation Women 2.0 Increase Opportunities
With Innovation Women 2.0, event managers create calls for speakers on the site and speakers search for and apply for opportunities by topic, industry and location. Now, instead of waiting for invitations, speakers can pitch their expertise and topics. This makes it easier for both sides. Each speaker now has a public link to their Innovation Women speaker profile for use on their websites or social media.
The updated Innovation Women 2.0 platform is designed to make filling speaking opportunities easy and stress-free. The upgraded platform allows event managers to post, manage, and promote their own calls for speakers, and potential speakers to seek out and apply for speaking opportunities seamlessly within the platform. Search capabilities have been improved and colleges can easily find their alumni.
About Innovation Women
Innovation Women is an online speaker’s bureau designed to connect entrepreneurial, technical and professional women with speaking engagements at conferences and events. Speaking provides important professional visibility and an opportunity to demonstrate thought leadership. Innovation Women helps event managers find great female presenters and subject matter experts, creating more gender-balanced, inclusive and diverse speaking slates and panels. Follow Innovation Women on Twitter at @WomenInno or visit www.innovationwomen.com
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Crystal Woody
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