Spring Seminar Series

Executive Summary:

Our vision for the Spring Seminar Series in Leadership, Mentorship, and Ethics consisted of sponsoring terrific speakers of interest to the community. The seminars were dedicated to engaging practicing women in technology in professional development activities, networking, and leadership. The program targets all women in technology who need professional development hour credits or are interested in professional enrichment. Our goal was to encourage leadership, education, visibility, integrity, mutual support, and professional excellence, as well as to have fun. Each seminar was worth two professional development hours.

The three seminars were once per month during the week. Attendance at each seminar was 38, 48, and 40 for the leadership, mentorship, and ethics seminars respectively. We were delighted to have such good attendance. Our section considers the seminar series a success based on the ability to draw participants, survey results, contacts made with the community, and the enthusiasm the seminars generated in our section.

Narrative Description

The Spring Seminar Series in Leadership, Mentorship, and Ethics was made possible by funding from Ford Motor Company Fund through a Project Initiation Proposal. Our vision for the seminar series consisted of sponsoring terrific speakers and providing opportune networking opportunities in an elegant restaurant known for its location and cuisine. Our goal was to encourage leadership, education, visibility, integrity, mutual support, and professional excellence, as well as to have fun. Each seminar was worth two professional development hours.

In pursuit of this vision:

· A formal committee was developed.

A committee of eight volunteers was structured to distribute the workload. The committee consisted of two co-chairs (Laura Gramann and Dawn Greenwell), publicity chair (Bev Arnoldy), treasurer (Deborah Raines), location chair (Melissa Clark), and coordinators for each speaker (Janice Glass, Kay Fleskes, and Pat Werner). This allowed for distribution of work among people depending on their availability. These 8 people volunteered a combined 270 hours for a successful seminar series.

· Speakers and dates were determined.

Ø “Bringing Out The Leader In You” – February 27, 2001

Amanda Broadnax, Training Consultant, Dale Carnegie Institute

A workshop which guided participants to discover their own leadership qualities and strengths and give them some practical coaching tools that they could use to bring out the best in others regardless of their position or title.

Ø “Women Mentoring Women: Strategies for Success” – March 21, 2001

Debra Facktor Lepore, Director of Marketing, Kistler Aerospace Corporation

A workshop exploring formal and informal mentoring which offers many benefits for women leaders and leaders-to-be, including developing increased leadership skills, sharing problem-solving techniques, and networking for success.

Ø “The Ethics of Objectivity and Subjectivity on the Job” – April 19, 2001

Dr. Jamie Ross, Assistant Professor, Department of University Studies & Philosophy, Portland State University

In this workshop, we will look at our efforts to be more objective and less emotional in our moral judgments as well as discuss the extent to which being professionals does not prevent us from being human beings.

· Location was chosen: Il Fornaio Restaurant in Northwest Portland.

This is an upscale Italian restaurant in a stylish part of town. The room we reserved is known as the “patio room” which features a fireplace and retractable roof for use in good weather. Their web site is www.ilfornaio.com. Numerous locations were researched throughout the Portland Area, and Il Fornaio was chosen based on location, availability of safe parking (Il Fornaio has complementary valet parking), and ambiance.

· Evening Agenda Determined

6:00 PM Each evening began with check-in, late registration, informal networking and appetizers.

6:30 Participants were welcomed to the event by the Continuing Development Chair. The participants then enjoyed a salad, and a choice between four different entrees, Italian cookies, and coffee or tea.

7:30 The Seminar Series Co-Chair welcomed everyone to the event and individually thanked the committee members. The Section President then gave a welcome speech and commented on different section activities people are welcome to become involved in. That evening’s Speaker Coordinator then introduced the speaker for the evening and the floor was handed over to the guest speaker/facilitator.

9:30 Thank you gift presentation of a vase of flowers presented to the speaker.

Evening closed.

· Cost of Attendance Determined

The Co-Chairs, Laura Gramann and Dawn Greenwell, and the Publicity Chair, Bev Arnoldy, determined the appropriate cost of attending the seminar and eating dinner. The grant provided enough funding to cover the speakers fees and other incidentals. A registration fee was used to pay for the cost of each participant’s dinner, as well as the speakers and photographer’s dinners.

· Flyer and registration forms developed and distributed

Bev Arnoldy (Publicity Chair), designed a flyer and registration form. (Please see attached flyer and registrations form.) Both forms were made available on our website and distributed via postal mail and e-mail to our members. Flyers and registration forms were also distributed to those contacted on our “organization” list.

· Organized list of contacts developed

Bev Arnoldy (Publicity Chair), facilitated the creation of an “organization” list with contact names for societies, companies, schools, and local newspapers in the area. People were chosen to contact each organization. (Please see attached list of organizations.)

· Photographer chosen

Images by Floom was chosen as the photographer based on a friend’s positive experience over the past several years.

· PDH credits re-confirmed with OSBEELS.

E-mail was sent to the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying to ensure that they would honor 2 Professional Development Hours for each seminar attended. OSBEELS agreed.

· Speaker thank you gifts purchased

Dawn Greenwell (Co-Chair) purchased vases and had flowers arranged for each speaker the afternoon of each workshop.

· AV Equipment

AV equipment was coordinated between the speakers and restaurant. If additional equipment was necessary, a committee member would check out equipment from their employers, when possible, to avoid rental fees. At one seminar, a large t.v. was rented so the speaker could show clips from a film.

· Mementos

Bev Arnoldy (Publicity Chair), ordered pens with the SWE name and the Internet address for each participant to use during the event and take home.

· Survey

Bev Arnoldy (Publicity Chair), assembled a survey for each participant to respond to how they enjoyed the event and what they would like to see in future events.

· Nametags Printed

Nametags were printed by Dawn Greenwell, Co-chair, and allowed for easy name recognition of each attendee.

SWE Goals and Objectives

The following SWE goals and objectives were carried out at each seminar:

ü Leadership

Broadens leadership skills and confidence of participants to become effective leaders in their communities thereby stimulating women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders.

ü Education

Training in management skills will support and encourage Society members to achieve high levels of success as engineers thereby attaining leadership and professional competency.

ü Visibility

Increases visibility of Society and encourages membership by providing needed professional development hour credits that are of interest to a broad engineering audience.

Additionally the following core values of the Society were supported:

ü Integrity

Focusing on ethics in engineering brings to the forefront our dedication to honesty and dignity in our relationships and responsibilities.

ü Mutual Support

Bringing together members into a learning environment will foster mentoring and the development of professional and personal networks.

ü Professional Excellence

Furthering members knowledge in ethics, management skills, and systems engineering will encourage conducting all activities professionally and with the highest standards of business practices.

Measured Results

Committee

Twelve people were key in bringing together this event: 5 SWE volunteers, 3 non-member volunteers, and 4 professionals. Also, one of the people who was instrumental in organizing the events, Janice Glass, has agreed to run for Vice-President of Professional Development for the upcoming year. 270 volunteer hours were contributed to planning the Seminar Series.

Attendance

Participation was excellent. Several people attended one seminar and had such a good time that they came to the next seminar and brought a friend. Numerous people attended all three events. Each event filled the Patio Room at Il Fornaio restaurant with 35-45 professionals and students. The crowd consisted of about equal parts members and non-members. Society membership applications were always available and more than a few people mentioned interest in joining.

Surveys

Seminar attendees were asked to fill out a survey form at the end of the evening. The questions focused on the following areas:

· How did you find out about the seminar series?

· What other organizations do you belong to?

· What did you like/dislike about the seminar?

· What other workshops would you like to see us sponsor in the future?

· What did you like/dislike about the location where the workshop was held?

· What did you think about the cost of the workshop (too much, just right, too cheap)?

From the first two workshops (where there were 38 and 48 in attendance respectively; some attendees were at both seminars), we had a total of 38 people who filled out the survey form. In summary, here is what we found:

· Most people found out about the seminars through a co-worker, friend, SWE member, SWE email notices, flyer at the office, and SWE newsletter.

· Attendees thought that the speakers from the first two seminars were great, liked the “hands-on” training exercises, and thought that the information presented was relevant.

· Attendees thought that the facility had excellent food, was in a good location, and in a good-sized room.

· From a list of potential future workshops, the following are seen to be good candidates for next year: High Impact Presentations, Assertiveness Training, Balancing Life & Work, Critical Thinking, Starting Up Your Own Business, Leadership Training for Managers, Leadership Advantage, Project Scheduling & Network Analysis, and Setting Up a Home Office.

Publicity or other public attention

Our publicity chair, Bev Arnoldy, developed a contact list of over 50 organizations that our members knew through personal contact (list attached). With this list, personal e-mails were sent to companies, numerous societies, universities, and appropriate list serves. Additionally, announcements were made in several local newspapers and information about the seminar series was posted on our section’s website. With each successive seminar, the contact list grew and publicity improved. The seminars were advertised via e-mail numerous times throughout the three months of the Spring Seminar Series. For the last couple seminars, a few of us got on the phone and personally left messages for a handful of people on the SWE roster.

Description of Deliverables

Our deliverables were three seminars on leadership, mentorship, and ethics. Our speakers were from Dale Carnegie Institute, Kistler Aerospace Corporation, and Portland State University. Each speaker gave dynamic presentations to receptive audiences. Amanda Broadnax, from the Dale Carnegie Institute, did an excellent job of presenting leadership information, providing hand-outs, and involving people in small and large group discussions. Debra Facktor Lepore from Kistler Aerospace Corporation gave an introductory presentation on mentorship and how to get it going using overheads and group discussion. Jamie Ross, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Portland State University led the audience in a terrific discussion on how ethics plays in our professional and personal lives and used the film “Remains of the Day” as a basis for communication.

We also have professional photographs taken at each event that will be sent under separate cover.

Lessons Learned

The Spring Seminar Series was a leap of faith for our section, and we held our breath until the end that it would work out financially. We worked diligently to provide an excellent seminar series at low cost with a goal of not making or losing money. The grant money paid for the speakers and a few incidental costs, and we decided to scale the event up by serving dinner.

It was a challenge including dinner in the evening and having a minimum amount of money that needed to be spent on food. We chose an expensive restaurant for our seminars to provide an upscale relaxing environment. To encourage attendance, we chose a less-expensive menu to keep the cost of attendance low, but the restaurant’s policy was that at least $1000 dollars needed to be spent on food, otherwise we had to pay the difference. As a result, we needed a minimum number of people to attend each event to break even. We also complicated things by charging different rates for members, non-members, students, early registration and late registration. The number that we shot for at each event was 40 people. The first seminar had 38 people, the second and third seminars both had over 40 people.

Publicity was also a challenge. We spent numerous hours e-mailing and calling people to encourage attendance. It was difficult to tell if people would come. A large percentage of people would send in their registrations within a couple days of the event or show up at the door. In the future, I would like for early registration to be more than a week in advance and for it to be more than a $5 difference. Hopefully this will be an added incentive for people to register ahead of time and would give us a chance to find a smaller room if necessary.

Budget and actuals

Our original and final budgets are different. It was unnecessary to spend money on postage and publicity since we mainly used free services to publicize and received printing and mailing donations from Xerox and HP. We overlooked including funding for speaker gifts, but were able to pull that our of our section’s annual operating budget. A few items that were more expensive than planned, or over looked in the original budget, include certificates of attendance, memento pens with our section’s web address, and AV rental equipment. Fortunately, there were savings in some areas that will cover these items. Also, upon request of SWE Headquarters, we hired a professional photographer for all three events. Our section covered the expense and is expecting a reimbursement.

Our section also charged fees for attendance so that we could have dinner in a private room at a nice restaurant. Money collected from registrations came to: $4365.00. The cost of food for all three events came to: $4330.96. The surplus money will be used towards a future seminar series.

The balance due is: $ 213.50

Spring Seminar Series Budget

Revised 5/15/2001

Original Final

Supplies

Name Tags $ 40.00 $ 4.78

Receipts $ 10.00 $ 5.00

Certificates of Course Completion $ 10.00 $ 13.96

Office Supplies (other) $ 50.00 $ 32.32

Photocopies (Mentorship handouts) $ 0.00 $ 88.00

Postage

Presenter Mailings $ 5.00 $ 0.00

Participant Mailings $ 10.00 $ 10.13

Advertising $ 25.00 $ 0.00

Miscellaneous

AV Rental $ 64.00

Speaker Gift $ 75.60

$50 for each seminar x 3 $ 150.00 $ 139.60

Presenter Fees

Leadership Seminar, $750 $ 750.00

Mentorship Seminar, $735 $ 250.00

(Gas, Hotel, Mileage, Parking) $ 322.98

Ethics In Engineering Seminar, $350 $ 200.00

$1835.00 $1522.98

Mementos

Pens with the SWE logo $ 204.25

Photography (received supplemental funding)

Photography Services, for 3 events: $750
Reprints, 20 - 4x6, $10 ea, 3 events: $600 $ 890.00

________ ________

TOTAL $2135.00 $2911.02

Appendices

1. Flyer

2. Registration Form

					Spring Seminar Series - Leadership, Mentorship, Ethics The seminars are dedicated to engaging practicing women in technology in professional development activities, networking, and leadership. The program targets all women in technology who need professional development hour credits or are interested in professional enrichment. February 27, 2001 – “Bringing Out The Leader In You” Amanda Broadnax, Training Consultant, Dale Carnegie Institute Our overall objective is to guide participants to discover their own leadership qualities and strengths and give them some practical coaching tools that they can use to bring out the best in others regardless of their position or title. March 21, 2001– “Women Mentoring Women: Strategies for Success” Debra Facktor Lepore, Director of Marketing, Kistler Aerospace Corporation Formal and informal mentoring can offer many benefits for women leaders and leaders-to-be, including developing increased leadership skills, sharing problem-solving techniques, and networking for success. April 19, 2001 – “The Ethics of Objectivity and Subjectivity on the Job” Dr. Jamie Ross, Assistant Professor Department of University Studies & Philosophy, Portland State University We will look at our efforts to be more objective and less emotional in our moral judgments as well as discuss the extent to which being professionals does not prevent us from being human beings. Where: All seminars will be in the Patio Room at Il Fornaio, 115 NW 22^nd Avenue, Portland When: 6:00-6:30 networking; 6:30-7:30 dinner, 7:30-9:30 workshop covering the main topic. Costs: $40 SWE Member; $45 Non-member; $20 Student per seminar (dinner is included; complementary valet parking) For more information: Contact Laura Gramann at lauragramann@earthlink.net or go to the Columbia River Section web site at www.swe-columbia-river.org To RSVP: Send registration form (found on our www.swe-columbia-river.org web site) and check to Deborah Raines, 8525 SE Orchard Lane #7, Portland, OR 97266, 503-775-0456. Register early (postmarked one week prior to seminar) and save $5! Pay for all 3 seminars up front and save an additional $10!
							Persons attending each seminar are expected to receive two Professional Development Hours (PDHs).
								This seminar series has been made possible by a grant from the Ford Motor Company Fund.

Please print clearly in the spaces provided below:

Name: _________________________________________________________________

Mailing Address: _________________________________________________________

City: _______________________________________ State: _________ Zip: ________

Phone Number: ______________E-mail address:________________________________

SWE Member (circle one): Yes No SWE member number: ____________________

Are you vegetarian? (circle one): Yes No

Please check all that apply:

q Leadership Seminar, Feb 27

q Mentorship Seminar, March 21

q Ethics Seminar, April 19

	Early Registration*	Late Registration	Register for all 3 seminars
SWE Member**	$35 per seminar	$40 per seminar	$95
Non Member	$40 per seminar	$45 per seminar	$110
Student***	$20 per seminar	$20 per seminar	$60

*Early Registration: registration must be postmarked one week prior to seminar. Early registration applies to members and non-members; not students.

**SWE Members: Please include your SWE membership number on your check

***Students: Please photocopy your student ID and mail with registration

Seminar(s) Cost $____________

Would you or your organization be willing to sponsor a student or make a donation?

q Sponsor @ $15/per student __________

q Donation: ________

Student sponsorship/donation $ ___________

Total Cost $ ___________

Make checks payable to Society of Women Engineers and mail to: Deborah Raines, 8525 SE Orchard Lane #7, Portland, OR 97266.

Please write on your check the seminars you will be attending.

If you have any questions, please e-mail or call Laura Gramann at lauragramann@earthlink.net, 503-296-0453.

Are you not currently a SWE member, but would like to become one? Our membership form is online at http://www.swe.org/SWE/MemberServices/appform.htm. Include a copy of your SWE membership form with this registration form to qualify for SWE member rates.

Date: 3 days - Spring 2001

Project Manager: Laura Gramann Section: Columbia River

Email: lauragramann@earthlink.net Phone: 503-296-0453

Deliverables: Indicate type (i.e. document, web page, brochure, etc.), title, and media (hard copy, email file, disk, etc.)

Flyer (included in report), Registration form (included in report), Contact List (included in report), Photographs (hard copy will be mailed)

Select[1] the one primary Strategic Priorty this project addressed:
6 Leadership

SWE Committees to which this report and deliverables would be of interest:

6 Career Guidance

6 Continuing Devel.

6 Public Relations

6 Membership

Project Audience (age, sex, diversity) Female: 99% Male: 1%

Age Group

6 College

6 Professional

SWE Volunteers (No.) 5_ Estimated Total Hours: 240

Non-SWE Volunteers (No.) ______________________________________________ 3 _________________________________________________ Estimated Total Hours: 30

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[1] To enter an "X" in any of the boxes on this page, type a "6" in place of the box.