Reflections on the BiTWiSE June 2011 Connect

The first BiTWiSE event was a great success. We had over 100 people turnout. Everyone seemed to have a good time enjoying the food, music and beverages as they made new connections and learned what about the mission of BiTWiSE.

After the initial conversations and networking took place, I welcomed the group and made it clear why BiTWiSE was formed and acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the BiTWiSE team, Eve Lewis, Kevin Williams, LaShawn Sithole, and Kai Dupe.

The highlight of the event was the keynote. Linda Cureton, Chief Information Officer at NASA gave an inspiring and timely speech. She told of her love and math and her journey to becoming one of the highest ranking officers at NASA.

Several of the young aspiring engineers reveled at the chance to speak with her 1-on-1. Several colleges were on hand including Baylor University of Waco, Texas and Hutson-Tillotson University of Austin.

Attendees were present from all over the state including San Antonio, Waco, Dallas and Houston. There was even one attendee who traveled all the way from Nebraska. The night was certainly about meeting new people and having a good time, but we also wanted attendees to come away with something that would help them to further their careers.

There were 3 presentations scheduled for the evening, but due to technical challenges we were only able to host one presentation. But it was a great one. The other presentations can be viewed at SlideShare, search for BiTWiSE.

Chief Operating Officer of Appiction, the largest mobile phone development shop, gave an informative and motivating talk about the opportunities that exist for those in the mobile space who prepare themselves to take advantage.

We received positive feedback from several of the guests. Here are a few of the remarks:

“Austin needs more events like this. You all did an outstanding job putting it together.”
--Ramonica Jones, Special Olympics of Texas


“This was great! We go to a lot of events and many of them have been stinkers. But this one, oh this one was wonderful. Please keep us up-to-date on what else you do.”
--Kelly Luna, Recruiting Coordinator of St. Edward’s University

We were very happy with the outcome and the BiTWiSE team is very excited and hard at work to establish the organization as a non-profit as well as planning the next connect event for 2011.

Are you BiTWiSE
Kai Dupe, BiTWiSE Advisory Board Chair