Celebrating Women and Gender Diversity in Science & Engineering — Resources

If your speaker/s accept your invitation, schedule a date/time for their visit as soon as possible—or, at the very least, set a deadline for determining a date and time of their visit.

• If you would like your speaker/s to visit during the Fall Semester, we recommend that you set this deadline for September 30 (their visit would then occur sometime between October and December).
• If you prefer that your speaker/s visit during the Spring Semester, we recommend that you set your deadline for January 15 (their visit would then occur sometime between January and May, or possibly during the summer).
• NOTE: If you are planning for your speaker/s to conduct a research presentation, lecture, or symposium for your department, you will maximize attendance at your event if you schedule the talk in conjunction with regularly scheduled departmental events. Consult with the coordinator of your department’s symposia, colloquia, or seminars and determine whether your event can be part of the department’s lecture series. Alternatively, schedule your event at a date and time consistent with the department’s series (e.g., if the department typically holds a research talk once a month on a Thursday at 4pm, hold your event on a different Thursday at 4pm when no other departmental event is scheduled. The faculty, students, and staff will likely have this time slot open and be accustomed to attending departmental events at that time).
• Notify your speaker of WISELI’s support

Once you have a confirmed date/s for your speaker/s, consult with your department chair and/or administrator to determine the following:

• What departmental 101 fund number WISELI should transfer funds to
• What procedures and policies you should follow in arranging for flights, accommodations, meals, reimbursement of expenses, necessary documentation, etc.
• Contact WISELI’s Dessie Lee Clark or Ro Grok-Gallagher to provide us with confirmation of your speaker/s dates. WISELI will transfer the awarded funds after receiving this confirmation and the following information about the account the funds will be transferred to:
  • 101 Fund number
  • Name of dept. administrator responsible for managing this fund
  • Contact information for this dept. administrator

Because you will want the number of attendees to be appropriate for the nature of your event and will need to reserve the correct size room for your estimated number of attendees, consider the following advice:

• For lecture-style presentations, there is a large risk of over-estimating your attendance size. Several previous recipients of Celebrating awards were surprised to discover that attendance was actually half of their original estimate—especially if the lecture was not held in conjunction with regularly scheduled departmental lecture series. We recommend taking their experience into account and reducing your estimates of audience size—unless you have a good idea of the typical attendance attracted by invited speakers in your department, or your speaker is exceptionally well known and highly regarded, or the topic is of exceptional public interest.
• For networking-style events, we recommend keeping attendance small (not more than 15) as you will not achieve your networking goals if the group is too large.
• For small group or one-on-one meetings with the speaker/s, make sure that you have commitments or RSVPs from those you expect to meet with the speaker.

Lecture and conference rooms tend to fill up fast, so the sooner you accomplish this task, the more options you will have. Reserve your rooms as soon as possible after confirming dates. Options for reserving rooms include:

• Conference rooms and lecture halls reserved through your department
• Conference rooms and lecture halls reserved through schools and colleges
• Rooms reserved at Memorial Union and Union South
• Rooms reserved at the Pyle Center or Lowell Center

Hotel

• We recommend that you make the reservation for the speaker and pay for it with departmental funds, thus minimizing the need for the speaker to spend their own funds and await reimbursement. Make the reservation as soon as possible after receiving confirmation of your speaker/s’ availability. Changes can be made quite easily if necessary.
• Be aware of university requirements for making and paying for accommodations.

Airfare

• Make reservations at least 2 months in advance of the visit to take advantage of best rates and availability. As with the hotel, if you make and pay for the reservation using departmental funds it prevents the speaker/s from having to use their own funds and await reimbursement – but the speaker/s may prefer having the flexibility to make their own reservations. Consult with your speaker/s about their preferences. See University policy for reimbursement of travel and expenses for non-employees.
• Be aware of university requirements for air travel arrangements initiated by university employees .
• We strongly recommend that you plan for your guest/s to arrive in Madison during the afternoon/evening prior to their speaking event/s. Given the frequency of airline delays and/or cancellations it is risky to assume that a guest scheduled to arrive here in the morning will arrive in time for a lunchtime or afternoon event.

Transportation to/from the airport

• A good and welcoming host will meet the visiting speaker at the airport, drive them to their hotel in a clean and reliable vehicle, and return them to the airport at the end of the event. If you, as the primary organizer of the event cannot do this, we recommend asking a colleague (a graduate student, postdoc, or faculty member). Doing this is not only friendly and polite, but it also provides the driver with valuable one-on-one time with the guest.
• If the speaker is arriving very late at night and it is not practical to provide a ride, arrange for a hotel shuttle or a taxicab to transport your guest. Be sure to arrange for this in advance as shuttles and taxicabs frequently do not wait for passengers at the airport late at night. Also let your speaker know exactly where to meet the shuttle/cab (the cab stand is at the very North end of the airport, door #7, beyond all the luggage carousels – not at all obvious).
• Remind your speaker to keep receipts for taxi rides and to provide them to you.
• If your speaker/speakers arrive at or before the dinner hour, arrange for a few people to take the speaker out for dinner. Similarly, you may want to arrange for a few people to join your speaker for breakfast the next morning.

Transportation to/from program events

• Make sure to arrange for transportation for your speaker/s to and from all events.
• For the first event, arrange to pick the speaker up from the hotel in a clean and reliable car.
• Make sure to designate someone to be responsible for escorting your speaker to subsequent events (provide a ride for the speaker if weather is bad, distance is far, or if the speaker prefers to drive rather than walk).

• Though many of your speakers’ costs for meals will be covered by meals you provide or host as part of the program, the speaker can be reimbursed for meals and other costs (e.g. airport parking, cab fares, internet access) they may incur. The UW Office of Business Services’ guidelines for reimbursement allow for $60 per day: $12 for breakfast, $18 for lunch, and $30 for dinner. (Consult with your departmental administrator about permissible expenses and reimbursements.)
• Let your speaker know what receipts, if any, you will need for reimbursement. Receipt requirements are listed here.
• If you are providing refreshments at events or hosting meals for students, staff, and/or faculty the UW Office of Business Services’ guidelines for hosted meals apply (Per person limits: $12 for breakfast, $18 for lunch, $30 for dinner, and $10 for refreshment breaks.)

Consult with your speaker approximately 4-6 weeks prior to their visit to ensure that their needs are met.  Some areas to discuss include:

• Ask your speaker/s if they have any dietary restrictions and/or preferences to guide you in your choice of restaurants, meals, receptions.
• Ask your speaker/s if they have any special transportation needs and if they would prefer to drive or walk between program events.
• Ask your speaker/s how they prefer to deliver presentations – do they prefer standing, do they need a podium, do they prefer or need to be seated?
• Ask your speaker/s about any audio-visual needs they may have. Be sure to ask your speaker/s about which computer operating system they use (PC/Mac/other) so that you can have the necessary equipment, software, and connections available.
• Arrange for necessary audio-visual and electronic equipment to be available in the room/s you have reserved, and make sure that you are able to either operate this equipment successfully yourself or have technical assistance in operating the equipment from facility staff. Be sure to have contact information for technical support in hand on the day of the event in case any difficulties arise.
• As you plan events and meetings for your speaker/s, be sure to build in sufficient breaks.
  • Allow sufficient time between meetings for traveling/walking to the next meeting, and for bathroom breaks.
  • If you plan a lunch event that requires the speaker/s to answer questions and/or engage with attendees over lunch, build in some quiet time after the lunch for them to actually finish eating their meal.
  • Provide the speaker/s with a break of 45 minutes to 1 hour before the main research presentation, and with a comfortable space that will allow them to rest, gather their thoughts, or do some last minute preparation.
  • See “Advice for discussing issues of underrepresentation in STEMM” (above) and consult with your speaker about incorporating discussion of suggested topics into your program.

Please see the UW Office of Business Services’ guidelines for hosted meals/receptions

• If catering meals/receptions—make initial arrangements at least 4-6 weeks before the event. Be sure to consult with your departmental administrator about what documentation is needed to cover costs and be aware that for meals the UW policy sets a maximum cost of $10/person for receptions, $18/person for lunch, and $30/person for dinner.
• If ordering food for lunches from local restaurants (sandwiches, pizza, etc.)—place your order at least 24 hours in advance. We strongly recommend ordering from places that will deliver food to campus—this will save you considerable time and effort. Again, consult with your departmental administration about what documentation (receipts, attendee list) is needed and be aware of the UW policy regarding maximum meal costs of $18/person for lunch.
• If hosting the speaker/s for dinner at local restaurants, be aware of the UW policy regarding maximum meal costs of $30/person for dinner and of the policy that prevents state funds for being used to purchase alcoholic beverages. Consult with your department chair and/or administrator regarding the possible use of other funds (foundation/gift funds) to cover expenses that exceed $30/person and/or the purchase of alcoholic beverages. Please also check into the food/catering rules for the building where you host your event.

• Prepare and disseminate publicity about your event early—as soon as you have a confirmed date. If you don’t have all the details for the event, you can send out a “save the date” notification that includes the name of the speaker/s, date, and time. We recommend you strive to send out this first notification at least 2 months prior to the visit. Send a subsequent announcement that includes more details—the speakers name, title of talk, date and time of talk, location of talk and information about any other events associated with the visit—at least 1 month prior to the visit. Send a final reminder of the event approximately 1 week before the event.
  Where to announce the event:
  • Include it on departmental/college calendars and newsletters.
  • Prepare an email announcement and ask your department chair/administrator to distribute it to the department at large.
  • Contact the chairs of related departments that will have an interest in your speaker/s and the topic/s they address and ask them to distribute your announcement to their departmental members.
  • Send an announcement to WISELI for inclusion on our calendar.
• Send an announcement to relevant campus organizations and ask them to forward it to their members. See the following for possible organizations to contact:
  • UW Organizations for Women in Science and Engineering
  • UW Organizations fostering Diversity
  • eBulletin of the Center for Research on Gender & Women (send an email to Lyddia Ruch-Doll to request inclusion of your event)

One to two weeks prior to the visit, contact others on campus who will be meeting with, dining with, and/or transporting the speaker/s and confirm arrangements.

• Stay in communication with your speaker as you make travel arrangements and plan your agenda. Contact your speaker 1-2 weeks prior to their visit to review final details for their visit.
• Provide them with information about the arrangements you have made for their transportation.
• Provide them with an agenda that lists all events and names the people with whom they will be meeting.

Let WISELI know when your event has concluded.  WISELI will then provide you with a link to the required program evaluation.  Return your evaluation to WISELI within 4 weeks after your event.