With perhaps the perfect backdrop of having our country newly elect the first female Vice President ever in Kamala Harris, Publisher Tony Monteleone and Editor-in-Chief Nancy Klosek welcomed as their Dealerscope Insider Kathy Murray, Co-founder and Advisor of Tech Up For Women.
Tech Up for Women bills itself as a collaborative technology hub created for the advancement of women. It provides resources, tech products and trends, education, and networking opportunities to take the fear factor out of technology. Their annual event, typically held live at the Jacob K. Javits Center every year, will be held virtually this year on November 17.
As the organizers of the event explain, Tech Up For Women, “was created to take the fear factor out of technology and empower women in every career to surf the technology wave.” With Forbes referring to the event as one of the Top Five Most Inspiring Conferences, it appears as though whatever organizers are doing, they are doing it right.
Murray opened by making one thing clear about Tech Up For Women, “We don’t only focus on women in tech, we focus on all women, because we believe that every career needs to know about tech.”
Murray highlighted the event’s rapid growth over its four year history, pointing out the first year saw some 400 attendees, along with a few sponsors, with last November’s show at Javits having over 2,000 attendees. She added, “We’re on pace with our virtual event this year to have 3,000 to 4,000 attendees.”
Murray also mentioned that the event’s fast pace, with a multitude of speakers, who speak for only 10 or so minutes, help to keep the pace brisk, lively and energized.
The event attracts a diverse audience with 49% of attendees being Fortune 500 corporations, 42% small to midsize companies and 9% entrepreneurs and startups. Breaking those numbers down a bit further, Murray points out that the audience is very diversely composed of women from positions such as HR, marketing, sales and legal counsel, to name the top areas of work.
“About 10-15% of our audience is actually from the tech space,” she points out. “And I must say that we always have about 10% men attending. That make up and variety of who attends is what really contributes to the event’s energy.”
Murray added that if you can’t make the event on November 17 not to worry, as Tech Up For Women will be available to view through December 31, 2020.
For Murray, there is a life-long history with tech as she recalls, “I have always loved tech and in 1967 I started a computer club at my high school. Tech has always been part of my existence in life.”
Click here to register for this year’s virtual Tech Up For Women event here. And check out the full Dealerscope Insider Talk with Kathy Murray on Facebook here.
