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Women’s Forum Success!
Looking out at the incredible crowd, it was hard to believe it had only been one year.
On Monday, I recognized many familiar faces at the National Women’s Bicycling Forum. Many folks who had attended the first event at the 2012 National Bike Summit were back to continue the conversation about engaging more women in bicycling. But even in such a short time, the Forum felt entirely different.
Instead of a two-hour panel discussion, this year’s Forum was a signature aspect of the National Bike Summit with nearly 30 diverse speakers; four in-depth break-out sessions; keynote addresses from Georgena Terry, Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth and NYC Transportation Commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan.
(From left) Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth and the New York Bike Dancers (Credit Brian Palmer)
At the start of 2013, the League made gender equity a national priority by launching Women Bike — and we’re not alone. A growing number in local advocacy organizations, leaders in the bike industry and transportation planners at all levels are tackling this divide in innovative and effective ways.
Our hope was that the National Women’s Bicycling Forum would inspire and inform those efforts — and, well, I think we hit the mark.
The keynote addresses were absolutely phenomenal; the break-out sessions were fresh and informative; and the photo booth and Women Bike Pop-up Shop added a new dynamic to the already high-energy event. We’ll be posting more in coming days but, in the meantime, watch recordings of all three keynotes below!
Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
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March 11th, 2013 at 4:45 pm
This is a good starting point, but you are not hearing from micro-size bicycle businesses. It is all the usual people. Reach out to the really little gals – like me. I can’t afford to attend this event, and was rejected for money to attend. Your event is so focused on the big organizations that you are not getting to those of us in the trenches. My shop brought in $22K last year – and we gave away 755 bicycles! There is no extra money to travel to attend events. You should be spending the money to provide resources to people like me rather than big, glitzy national events that are unaffordable for those of us that work with the most needy.
March 11th, 2013 at 5:00 pm
Thanks so much for your feedback, Benita. I’d love to know more as to what resources would be most helpful to you. Our aim is that the Forum and national events are just one component of a larger, evolving program. If you could ask for, say, three things from the Women Bike program, what would they be?