CASE STUDIES:

Case Study: August 2001-November 2001

Women In Technology International-Louisville Chapter Debuts its First Annual Technology Summit at the Kentucky Derby Museum

Goal: The local chapter of WITI wished to establish its first Technology Summit for members and anyone in the general public interested in promoting or understanding the use of technology in business.

Client Profile:
Women In Technology International (WITI) is an international, non-profit association dedicated to helping women succeed in technology. Ninety-five percent of WITI's worldwide membership is professional women working in technology organizations. There are 34 WITI chapters worldwide with most located in US cities. The national WITI Web site can be found at www.witi.org.

Since August 2000, the Louisville chapter's local membership has grown to more than 400 women. Chapter events are held bi-monthly and feature a speaker or panel discussion designed to provide the attendees with additional business and technical skills. Typically, events draw anywhere from 60 -100 attendees.

WITI event attendees are professional women working in technology, with approximately 60% business decision-makers and 40% technology decision-makers from both major corporations and dot-com companies. Membership provides a broad representation from various local enterprises including Tricon, UPS, Humana, Raytheon, Papa Johns, Brown-Forman, Aegon, LG&E, Jefferson County Schools, Kentucky State Government, Stites and Harbison, Hilliard Lyons, Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, just to name a few.

Situation:
The local chapter was interested in establishing more of a market presence and showing that Louisville Women In Technology were working on significant technology initiatives in the community. Keynote speakers were to come from women who had achieved national or international significance in the marketplace. ASPectx was asked to lead this effort to put on a first-ever event and handled all agenda development, sponsor development, marketing, public relations, and planning decisions.

The Program:
With the direction from ASPectx, Women In Technology International, the Louisville chapter, provided an afternoon of case studies and inside looks at the corporations recent technology challenges on Nov. 7th,2001. This was the first year of this event to be held annually and it featured women speakers who served as CIOs and other technology professionals. The 2001 program included:

A presentation by a keynote speaker from IBM Global Services, Strategy & Change, on "Facing the Challenges of Corporate Privacy Issues" by IBMer Lisa Zentz-Zager. Ms. Zentz-Zager is an Executive Consultant with IBM's Global Services Strategy and Change category. Ms. Zentz-Zager has led initiatives to develop and implement electronic business and information solutions for the consumer packaged goods, financial, marketing and insurance industries.

Ms. Zentz-Zager participated on both state and federal legislative initiatives to address online consumer privacy concerns and the impact of regulation on the direct marketing industry. Most recently, she's been working with marquee clients and IBM's Chief Privacy Officer to ensure compliance in e-HR, CRM and HIPAA initiatives for both domestic and international clients.

Other speakers included:

The Dynamics of IT Leadership
A Successful Smart Card ID Program
The Marriage of the Voice and the Web for Corporate Use
Security Techniques that Produce Tempting Results
Representative enterprises to be featured include Tricon, and the University of Louisville, among others.

Sponsors included: Mission Data, TransDigital Solutions, Maximum ASP, Strothman & Co., and x4tress. All sponsors had tabletop booths to further discuss their offerings during breaks.

Benefits of the ASPectx Approach:

ASPectx pulled from its existing clientele and contacts in the market to develop an appropriate speaker agenda.
Public relations was begun immediately in local media outlets.
All member companies in WITI were asked to participate as sponsors and the WITI board provided organizational assistance on the day of the event, pulling together the membership.

Results:
The event was successful with more than 120 attendees from both the general public and the organization in attendance.