[ACM-W] What's up with OCWIC anyway?

[Bettina Bair]

By now, you must be sick of my emails encouraging you to register for
OCWIC.

Oh, don't try to deny it.  I've heard the whispers in the halls.  "What is
up with this "awkwick" thing anyway?  And why is she making such a big deal
out of it?"

Yes, you know who you are.

So here's my little dissertation, and hopefully some clarification. This
email is all about how you, personally will benefit.  (However, I am not
going to tell you that OCWIC will make you rich or thin.  You have to stay
up late and buy things from the infomercial people for that.)

#1 – PEOPLE LIKE YOU. The biggest benefit you will get from going to OCWIC
is the chance to see the world in a different way.  You know how you go to
class every day, and you walk through the halls of Dreese and you listen to
your instructors?  That's just one aspect of the world.  And --hopefully you
won't be offended by this observation – it's sort of a masculine
aspect.  Chances are, that at any moment, you are either the only woman in
the room, or there are just one or two others.  Can you even imagine what it
would be like if the situation were reversed?

At OCWIC, there will be 50 women for every man in the room.  I can't tell
you what it will feel like to be a part of the majority -- it will feel
different for everyone.  You might feel shocked, or comforted, or
inspired.  But it is absolutely different from your day-to-day.

Convinced?  Register for OCWIC now:
http://cs.hiram.edu/OCWIC/registration.html

#2 – YOUR FUTURE. Okay, maybe it's hard for you to rationalize taking off
almost two days of your life just to have some sort of weird, esoteric
empowerment experience.  Does the little voice in your head say that you
should be doing something more productive and useful to your future?

Feed your little voice this:  At OCWIC, you will have a chance to look into
your future and actually have a conversation with it.  All of the speakers
at OCWIC were once students like you.  And what's amazing is that they all
ended up in radically different jobs.  Do you want to know what their jobs
are really like?  How they got there?  How they overcame obstacles?

For example, you might learn that grad students at Kent State are doing
research that you find interesting.  Or maybe after hearing Susan Sheskey
talk about being the CIO of Dell, you decide to take a few more business
classes.

Convinced?  Register for OCWIC now:
http://cs.hiram.edu/OCWIC/registration.html

#3 –VALUABLE CONNECTIONS.  Still not sure that you want to go?  You are a
pretty hard case, aren't you?  So, Ms Hard Case, aren't you going to need a
letter of recommendation someday?  Whether you're going to grad school or
out into the real world, you're going to need friends.  You're going to need
professional networks.  How impressive and helpful would it be to be friends
with women who are changing the world?

Convinced?  Register for OCWIC now:
http://cs.hiram.edu/OCWIC/registration.html

#4 – NOW OR NEVER?  Unfortunately, OCWIC only happens once every two
years.  After the last conference in 2005, a lot of people told me that they
were really sorry that they didn't get to go.

I don't want you to be really sorry.  Register for OCWIC now:
http://cs.hiram.edu/OCWIC/registration.html


Bettina Bair
OCWIC General Chair
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.cse.ohio-state.edu/pipermail/acmw/attachments/20070114/e6641fa8/attachment.html