The first Women of InfoComm Network (WIN) breakfast gathered both women and men to discuss the wider theme of gender diversity and the self-limiting beliefs and unconscious biases that work
against it.
Sharing both positive and negative experiences from her 20-year journey in technology, Sarah Joyce, EMEA VP at Electrosonic and member of the InfoComm International board of directors, reminded the audience that women were still under-represented, and sometimes dismissed, in the male-dominated AV industry.
She encouraged companies to embrace diversity, be it in gender, age, culture and experience as a key to sustaining growth, with mentoring programmes as an essential addition to any company.
Organisational development and leadership consultant Diana Danziger then hosted an interactive session during which she addressed a variety of topics, including the need for everyone to challenge deeply held unconscious biases about gender, held by both men and women.
“Forcing the issue isn’t going to help,” concluded Danziger. “We need commitment, not compliance, to address those biases and disrupt them in everyday business.”
“It’s important for me to speak to other women who have technical experience in this field,” commented Anja Zocher, communication and conferencing technologies engineer at Volkswagen.
“Hearing other people’s experiences, I realise it’s necessary for women to encourage each other to make changes,” concluded first-time ISE attendee Anna Reljanovic, who handles marketing and communications at Draper Europe.
