2022 Schedule

Registration

We’ll provide coffee, tea, water, and a variety of breakfast snacks.

8:30 - 9:00 AM

Welcome

9:00 - 9:15 AM

Using Our Powers for Good: Tech and Social Impact

Hilary Stohs-Krause (she/her)

9:15 - 9:40 AM

Want to make a difference in your community, but don’t know how, or feel like you don’t have time?

You’re not alone. Luckily, there are a number of ways you can use your tech-industry skills to create positive change in your community - and yourself! (Fun fact: volunteers live longer and make more money than those who don’t volunteer.)

We’ll explore the why’s, how’s, and where’s for sharing our skills, both technical and non-technical. You’ll learn more about the breadth of ways to give back, and hopefully leave feeling empowered to reach out in your own community and start making connections.

Impostor Syndrome and Advocacy

Ross Larson (he/him)

9:40 - 10:25 AM

This session will explain impostor syndrome and encourage you to be the best advocate you can be for the people around you.

Break

10:25 - 10:40 AM

Accessibility Best Practices

Savina Imhan (she/her) and Oliver Ramirez-Velazquez (he/him)

10:40 - 11:25 AM

What is accessibility?  How can prioritizing accessibility benefit both products and users?  What is the importance of the ADA, and how can we ensure our compliance?

This talk will go into all of this and more, including some examples of accessibility in the real world as well as best practices in digital accessibility, based on WCAG 2.1 Level AA Standards and the 4 core principles of content being Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust.

Is Your Software Teachable?

Dorothea Salo (she/her)

11:25 - 11:50 AM

Software that is polished, usable, and well-documented enough to be taught in a college classroom has a distinct edge in the market, as new graduates arrive ready to hit the ground running. What blocks instructors from teaching particular software packages, and how can you avoid those blockages?

Lunch

Attendees will be provided Union vouchers to allow folks to choose a meal that best fits their needs. Grab a new friend from the conference and explore the Union!

12:00 - 1:30 PM

What’s Hockey Got to Do With It? Building Inclusive Teams On and Off the Ice

Amanda Thornton (she/her)

1:30-1:55 PM

Hockey is a fast-paced game and one where many folks have felt historically excluded. Growing the largest LBGTQ hockey league in the world requires careful consideration around inclusivity, bias-training, and team building to allow players to feel like they belong on the ice.

12 Stages of Burnout

Naveen VK (she/her)

1:55 - 2:20 PM

Burnout in the tech industry has always been an issue and the pandemic has only exacerbated it. This talk covers the 12 different stages of burnout as defined by psychologists and some techniques that have actually helped people in the tech industry. All coping mechanisms and ideas came from an open space about the same topic at THAT conference last month (July 2022). The main take-away from this talk is to be able to recognize burnout in oneself and others (friends/family/coworkers) and to use tools that have helped others.

Just be a person – the importance of empathy in creating an inclusive team culture

Morgan Andersen (she/her)

2:20 - 3:05 PM

Creating a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment in the workplace is not really that difficult, but it requires commitment and the willingness to really see and listen to your co-workers. This talk will emphasize the importance of empathy while also providing a few concrete steps that you can take to facilitate and foster an inclusive team culture.

Break

3:05 - 3:20 PM

Empathy is Hard: Why Web Accessibility is Still an Unsolved Problem in 2022

Sadik Shahidain (he/him)

3:20 - 3:45 PM

Empathizing with people very different from yourself, with entirely distinct perceptions of and interactions with the world, is a high energy/effort task. Most accessibility tooling does not attempt to lower or erase this empathy barrier, focusing instead on reducing technical hurdles. A new class of tooling is needed, one that makes empathizing with disabled peoples’ experiences easier than ever before.

Professional Self-Care

Lauren Kieliszewski (she/her)

3:45 - 4:10 PM

You are an individual, and you belong in tech. Recognizing your humanity, advocating for your specific individual needs, and understanding your priorities are critical components of professional self-care. Acknowledgement of our shared imperfection makes for stronger workplaces, happier colleagues, and a better version of you.

Talkback Session / Retro

4:10 - 4:30 PM

We want to hear from YOU.

What were your takeaways? What made you feel seen or understood? What will you take back to your workplace with you? We’ll pass some mics around to find out.