Marking a major boost to professional women in the meetings industry, two event-technology entrepreneurs have launched a new movement to support women as they trail-blaze new products and services in event tech.
Leonora Valvo and Marie-Claire Andrews have collaborated to create womenineventtech.org, which aims to provide more opportunities for women to serve as leaders in event technology in a variety of capacities, including starting companies, programming innovations and designing installations.
The new movement follows the success of the two women’s booth at Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas during IMEX America in October. More than 100 women—along with supportive men—gathered at the Event Tech Tribe booth to celebrate women in events and inspire a better future together.
Valvo is the founder and CEO of Swoogo, pioneer of the Event Tech Tribe, founding CEO of Etouches and investor in several event-tech organizations worldwide. “I truly believe every woman in our industry, as they climb higher in the ranks, should be looking about her to reach down and pull up the next wave of female leaders. My passion, of course, is technology. I’ve been inspired by some fantastic females around the world on my journey, and want to pass on that privilege.”
Andrews is director of operations for Event Tech Tribe, and formerly CEO of New Zealand-based event app company ShowGizmo and founder of Virtual Events NZ. “I scan the event-tech landscape continuously as part of my role with the Event Tech Tribe—and it’s worrying to see how few women there are leading or developing either within established companies of the new innovations.”
The website womeineventtech.org urges participation and support to that Valvo and Andrews can assess when to engineer a conference and gauge interest in other products and services. They plan to offer meet-ups, peer-to-peer coaching and investor introductions for women in all facets of event technology. The two women are working closely with Association for Women in Events, which Andrews serves as a board member, and which will serve as the membership organization that women in event tech can join.
