Wendy Russell
Following a suggestion at the last WiseNet AGM, I organised a WiseNet Breakfast at last years ComBio meeting (the annual meeting of the Australian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology {ASBMB} and the Australian Society for Plant Physiologists {ASPP}) at the Gold Coast. This simply involved finding a venue (a cafe in the Conrad Jupiters complex, where the meeting was held) and advertising the event, which I did through the conference organiser.
The breakfast was very successful, with 30 women attending, mostly non-members. Many had not heard of WiseNet. Christa Critchley, one of the founding members of WiseNet, kindly gave some background to the network, showed us some of the early editions of the journal, and left us with some inspiring words about WiseNet and the importance of such a network in addressing the challenges faced by women in science.
I would highly recommend such events associated with conferences. Experience seems to have shown that it is difficult for women to fit meetings, including breakfasts, into their normal weekly schedule. They tend to be a little freer at conferences, however, and organising a meeting is usually easy at the kinds of venues that are chosen for conferences these days. The large group caused some problems for the cafe staff, and there was some delay in getting food and paying, so I would recommend a buffet-style arrangement if possible. There were a couple of toddlers at the breakfast, and a child-friendly venue makes it possible for mothers to attend without having to organise child-care.
One of the issues that came up in discussion related to the provision of child-care at conferences. It’s a difficult one because of liability, but conference organisers can certainly find out details of local child-care facilities and make this information available to registrants. We have requested of the conference organiser that this be the case at ComBio next year.