Know Before You Go
Steps to get you prepared for making the most of your conference experience.
Planning your Sessions
If you are eager to plan out your day, feel free to bookmark the sessions you would like to attend by clicking the "Bookmark" button next to the session title. You can then view your bookmarked sessions under “My Sessions.” Be sure to click the scroll arrow so you don’t miss out on a whole track of talks!
Setting Up Your Profile (link)
Customizing your profile will help you connect with attendees with similar interests at both the conference and after it ends. In addition to your basic introduction, you can include social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc) URLs and identify interest keywords. You can also highlight what you are hoping to learn and the conference and what types of people you are hoping to meet.
Getting to Know Accelevents
Lobby
Lobby is the first place you’ll see once you enter our virtual conference! Make sure to check out multiple useful tabs you find here including Announcements, Sessions, Help Desk, and Photobooth. The announcements tab is similar to a Facebook wall, where you will see useful information posted by organizers. You can also check out the gamification leaderboard. The most important is the Sessions tab, where you can see all of the sessions happening during the conference. Head over to the Help Desk if you need help troubleshooting on the platform. Lastly, the Photobooth is where you can take a WiDS conference photo with fun stickers and backgrounds to post on social media!
Sessions
Sessions are where you’ll find all the talks for the conference. Use the “bookmark” button to save particular sessions and get notifications when they are about to begin. The “My Sessions” tab will show you all the sessions you’ve signed up for. But don’t worry - even if you don’t register for a session ahead of time, you can still join up until they begin!
Workshops
You can expect to find workshops scheduled throughout the conference within the “Sessions” tab. They are meant to be even more interactive where attendees and speakers can be seen and heard. Be sure to register as some workshops have caps on attendance!
Networking at WiDS
Networking at WiDS this year is going to be exciting! From scheduling 1:1s, speed networking with fellow attendees to Lounges and Expo/Sponsor Booths, there are a lot of ways to build your network.
Speed Networking
In this session, each participating attendee will be randomly matched with another attendee for a quick 5-10 mins chat at 3 pm based on a common factor of interest. This is a fun way to get to know your fellow attendees, and don’t hesitate to look through our fun ice-breaker suggestions below to make this session both fun, engaging & knowledgeable for both you and your speed networking date.
Lounges
While speed networking and scheduled 1:1s may feel intimidating to some, lounges are an opportunity to meet attendees in a structured setting, with a lower bar to entry. These sessions are designed to provide an opportunity to meet fellow attendees with similar interests instead of a quick chat with a couple of people. These will be 25-minute dedicated sessions, at 3 pm to network with attendees with similar interests. The sessions will focus on the following topics:
Data Analytics & Business Intelligence
Calling all analytic geeks for a fun-filled casual discussion around the yays and nays of data analytics & business intelligence. This lounge will feature small breakout rooms to meet fellow data analytic & BI folks in the field along with some ice-breakers to get the conversation started!
General Machine Learning
Data Science Consulting
Bringing the in-person conference feel to the virtual world! Join us for a casual discussion around life in data science consulting. This lounge will feature small breakout rooms to meet fellow data scientists in the field along with some ice breakers to get the discussion started!
Data Engineering / Data Ops
Deep Learning/ Artificial Intelligence/ Natural Language Processing
Do you have an affinity for neural networks? Want to go beyond 2 layers? If so, then this is the session for you! In this lounge, we will discuss the rise of deep learning due to the exponential increase in compute power, and its applications, such as natural language processing, image recognition, recommendation engines, etc.
Expo
Expo is the place to go for connecting with companies! Whether you're interested in knowing more about what a company does, what the culture is like, or if you are on the hunt for new opportunities, head over to the Expo at 1 pm. Company representatives are at each booth where they can answer your questions, direct you to open roles and give you additional materials about their company.
Scheduled 1:1
Do you want to find and connect with other conference attendees? Maybe you just saw a great talk, or had a random networking conversation and made a great connection. The People tab in the sidebar menu enables you to connect with that person directly via messaging. You can even set up time to meet and talk one-on-one as well as learn more about attendees’ backgrounds and experiences. In addition to being able to search people by name, you can search for others attending the conference by common interests, such as machine learning or rock climbing.
Pro tips!
Update your own profile to make sure people can find you and reach out to you! Post your LinkedIn or other contact information to ensure long-term connections.
Customize your meeting availability so others know when it is a good time to connect with you
Enable notifications so that you can see when you know when you have a new connection request
Get ready to make the most of your conference experience!
Requirement: Use a Chrome browser. Other browsers will lead to technical issues.
Documentation: I'm an attendee at a virtual event, what do I do?
Enter Event Button: After Monday April 26th at 8:00 am, an “Enter Event” button will appear on this page and you will be able to login to the Accelevents platform and check out the virtual event hub.
Logging In: Login to Accelevents with the email address that you used to register for the conference - search for an email with the subject line “Your Ticket for 2021 Women in Data Science Puget Sound Conference” from Events@accelevents.com to find your registration confirmation. Once you are in the event review these instructions to set up your attendee profile, bookmark your sessions for the day, and join interest based lounges.
Sessions
Sessions is where you’ll find all the talks for the conference. Use the “bookmark” button to save particular sessions and get notifications when they are about to begin. The “My Sessions” tab will show you all the sessions you’ve bookmarked. Don’t worry - even if you don’t bookmark session ahead of time, you can still join a session!
If there are multiple parallel sessions you want to attend, good news, you can watch the recordings of the missed sessions within 30 days within Accelevents.
Networking
Networking events can be found in the Sessions. Random match networking sessions are scheduled at specific times. You can attend for the entire allotted time or just jump in and out as it allows. If you choose to participate, you will be randomly paired with another conference attendee for a set amount of time. While you’re talking to someone you can “connect” with them and if they do the same, you can set up additional meetings in the My Connections tab of the People section. After the time is elapsed, you’ll get randomly matched with a new person in the networking session. If you already know who you want to connect, head over to the People tab to set up a meeting! Pro Tip: Keep a link to your LinkedIn profile handy so you can share and connect with folks on the spot!
Review our Networking Pro Tips!
To learn more about Networking in the Accel Events Platform, check out this link!
Workshop
This year we have one workshop. It’s a more interactive type of event where attendees and speakers can be seen and heard. Be sure to register as the workshop is limited to the first 250 attendees!
Expo
Expo is the place to go for connecting with companies! Whether you're interested in learning more about what a company does, what the culture is like, or if you are on the hunt for new opportunities, head over to the Expo:
See materials the companies have posted in their booth about their team and open opportunities.
Speak with company representatives to get all your questions answered.
For more information on the Expo in Accel Events, check out this link!
Pro Tip - Coaching - We’ll be offering 25 minute coaching sessions courtesy of the Washington State Chapter of the International Coach Federation. Sessions will be limited in number so head over to the ICF Coaches expo booth to reserve your session.
People
Do you want to find and connect with other conference attendees? Maybe you just saw a great talk, or had a random networking conversation and made a great connection - the People tab enables you to connect with that person directly:
Connect directly with other attendees via messaging
Set up time to meet and talk one-on-one with other attendees or speakers
Find additional information about attendees' backgrounds and experiences, or how to get in touch
Pro tips!
Update your own profile to make sure people can find you and reach out to you! Post your LinkedIn or other contact information to ensure long-term connections.
Customize your meeting availability so others know when it is a good time to connect with you.
Enable notifications so that you can see when you know when you have a new connection request.
Note that you can only search for attendees by name so jot down names of folks you want to keep in touch with and request to connect with them on LinkedIn!
For more information about connecting with other attendees in an Accel Event, check out this link!
Raffles!
Win raffles throughout the day by being highly engaged! Here is how to play and what you can win.
All winners receive gift cards to the Intentionalist.
Sponsor Diversification
Visit all sponsor booths
$50 (3 available morning)
Most Curious
Ask awesomely good questions to the speakers
1st - $150, 2nd - $100, 3rd - $50 morning
Session Expert
Go to 3 or more sessions
1st - $150, 2nd - $100, 3rd - $50
Cohort Prize
Be a highly interactive cohort group!
TBD
Networking Extraordinaire
Network with the most people
$50 to the top three in each of the two sessions
Networking All Day
Network during all three sessions
$100 to the random two