Female Engineers’ Conference Coming to Philly

A conference of female engineers is expected to make a big financial impact in Philadelphia. The SWE, or Society for Women Engineers, will land at the Philadelphia Convention Center on October 25-27, bringing with it some of the finest minds in STEM that America has to offer. It’s been estimated that the conference will bring over $10 million to Philadelphia, but that’s based on 5,000 attendees as estimated by the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. Organizers of the event, however, say that they believe double that amount will actually show up to the event, multiplying the financial impact.

The Society of Women Engineers will meet in Philadelphia in October.

A central event of the SWE will be a career fair hosted by over 300 employers. SWE Executive Director and CEO Karen Horting told the Philadelphia Business Journal that the fair was “a prime opportunity for women seeking to make a career pivot, land a senior level position or enroll in an advanced degree program.”

There were many reasons why Philadelphia was chosen as the engineers’ meeting place, said Horting. There’s the fact that Philly is chock-full of “big name corporations,”as well as universities that are breeding grounds for the “next generation of engineers.” The City of Brotherly Love also has a long history of innovation, which made it a natural choice for an engineering conference. “When you think of engineering and tech, there are certainly a lot of firsts in Philadelphia, so i think from the engineering perspective it’s also very appealing,” said Horting. It’s interesting to note that the SWE conference was booked before the Pope’s visit last September or the Democratic National Convention (DNC), events that only brought more prestige to the city.

The SWE will encourage women to “pursue and persist” in STEM fields, as well as lay out ways that employers can desist from driving female engineers away. There will be over 300 educational sessions inside the conference, including a program for 500 girls in grades 6-12 meant to encourage a love and possible careers in STEM fields.