ChickTech is a national nonprofit dedicated to retaining women in the technology workforce and increasing the number of women and girls pursuing technology-based careers. ChickTech currently serves girls and women across the US and is expanding to increase impact in cities with a ChickTech presence.
Our ChickTech: High School program offers hands-on workshops, mentoring and community encouragement to help young women build confidence, and recognize and celebrate their individual potential as future technology leaders. ChickTech: Career events, including our ACT-W (Advancing the Careers of Technical Women) Conferences, are focused on creating community among women and providing them with the support they need, whether that focuses on career preparedness, technical skills, or emotional and social support.
ChickTech is looking for an event management team to support our conferences (ACT-W locals and National). These conferences are critical to ChickTech, in that they fulfill a portion of our mission, build local and national partnerships, and raise operating and program funds. This contract team will lead local volunteer-led chapter teams for local conferences, create templates and best practices to improve conferences, and lead our national conference.
Contractor Responsibilities
● Planning and event management
● Serve as a spokesperson for ChickTech’s mission, vision, and community to potential sponsors, partners, and attendees
● Support development and upkeep of templates, project plans, marketing materials, trainings, budgets, and best practices
● Work with the National ChickTech office to secure sponsors and align fundraising with established ChickTech strategies
● Build conference partnerships with mission-aligned organizations and events
● Build vendor and partner relationships at each hosting conference site
● Help to craft sponsorships that fit the needs of both sponsors and ACT-W/ChickTech
● Review/craft contracts with vendors and sponsors as needed
● Maintain conference management software
● Create budgets and financially manage each conference
● Work with Marketing Manager to create cohesive marketing strategy that fits the ACT-W and ChickTech brands
Local Conferences
● Lead conference planning management for a minimum of four conferences from September 2019 through July 2020, with an option to extend
● Help find and train local volunteer planning teams
● Ensure that each conference is in alignment with ChickTech’s mission, vision, brand, and community
● Work collaboratively to support local teams to:
○ Ensure a positive, smooth, impactful, and inclusive local conference
○ Source and confirm venue and dates ideally 6 months in advance
○ Craft a conference budget
○ Update conference websites with confirmed speakers, sessions, and sponsors
○ Create plan and define volunteer operations needs annually including roles, number of volunteers needed, volunteer recruitment plan, and volunteer recognition strategies
○ Develop and deepen relationships with new and current partners, sponsors, and mission allies
○ Co-build marketing strategies alongside ChickTech’s marketing & events team
○ Secure speakers with inclusion of all community members (underrepresented community members and people of all genders) in mind
National Conference
● Support national conference planning management for a National conference in June 2020 in Portland, Oregon
● Own all aspects of planning and event management including:
○ Choose venues and dates
○ Create budget and set fundraising goals
○ Oversee speaker programming and logistics
○ Build, lead, and manage volunteer, staff, intern, and contract team
○ Oversee venue, food, layouts, and other logistics
○ Support website and conference management software
○ Support sponsorship fulfillment, coordination, and hospitality
○ Coordinate merchandise, as needed
○ Registration & customer service
○ Event marketing
Required Skills
Passionate about gender equity
Stellar organizational acumen
Great interpersonal communication skills
Proactive project owner
3+ years of strong conference planning experience
Demonstrated success in sponsorship sales
Conference budgeting and financial management skills
Familiarity with relevant technology tools
Strong volunteer management skills
Community-building and collaborative work style
Ability to juggle multiple priorities/events
Ideally has a conference planning team to help coordinate multiple events across multiple locations
Familiarity with basic event marketing strategies
Experience with Wordpress website content management
Reports To
This position reports to the ChickTech CEO and/or Program Director
Event Planning Contract Team Payment
This is a contract position beginning in September 2019 and ending upon completion of one National Conference and 4 Regional Conferences with an opportunity to extend the contract.
At completion of each ACT-W Conference, the contractor will be paid $7,000 fifteen (15) days after the conclusion of the event. In addition, a 10% commission of each conference’s profits will be paid fifteen (15) days after the conclusion of the event. Total conference profits will be measured by revenue less expenses (expenses including event costs).
If at the completion of a single ACT-W Conference the revenue does not reach $50,000, the base pay will be adjusted to $5,000 and paid fifteen (15) days after the conclusion of the event. In addition, a 10% commission of each conference’s profits will be paid fifteen (15) days after the conclusion of the event. Total conference profits will be measured by revenue less expenses (expenses including event costs).
Application Guidelines/Contact
We will only review contract proposal submissions through the provided link. If you know someone at ChickTech, feel free to reach out to them and get a recommendation, but if you don't go through the link as well, you risk getting lost in an email abyss!
ChickTech actively recruits persons of diverse backgrounds and supports the retention and advancement of diverse persons within the organization. We believe that having a board, staff, and volunteer base with diverse personal and professional backgrounds enhances our ability to meet our mission and creates a vibrant environment where individuals can learn, grow and thrive. People of diverse backgrounds, including diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status, are encouraged to apply.