About Us
Women in Standards is an enthusiastic network of standards professionals who provide support, resources, and mentoring to promote business and personal growth.
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Women in Standards friends,
I've been noticing that organizations have begun announcing plans for in person events for the fall and am excited to soon be seeing all of you at upcoming events.
Women in Standards will continue to offer many if not most of our events and education virtually to ensure that all participants from around the world can continue to take part, but I encourage each of you to reach out to me or another member, and when you feel ready, to meet for coffee.
Our connection as a community and ability to empower and support one another is what has kept us strong through these difficult past months and we shouldn't forget the bonds we've formed throughout this time.
I encourage you to invite a friend or colleague to join Women in Standards for an upcoming event and to reach out with your ideas and suggestions to help us continue to build our community.
Thursday, April 22nd is Earth day and Women in Standards will be sharing our enthusiasm for standards which support sustainability, resiliency, and energy efficiency with posts through out the week. Help us raise awareness by liking and sharing.
Warm wishes,
Karin Athanas
Executive Officer
Women in Standards
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The Standards Development Life Cycle
Why does it take so long?
Why does standards development take so long? I’m sure we’ve all been asked this question. The reality is that anything that worth doing, takes a bit of time to do. Especially when a key, fundamental, aspect of that work involves gaining insights and perspectives from a wide range of individuals that might use or be affected by that standard. Let’s dig in a bit deeper and look at a few steps of the standards development process that take the longest.
Drafting the Standard
Many committees begin a new standard with a blank piece of paper. There’s a general idea of what the group would like to accomplish but getting from ideas to a fully written document requires brainstorming, developing an outline, assigning groups to work on different sections, reviewing the document as a group, making additional revisions and then repeat those last two steps a few times if it’s a more complicated document.
Continue reading at WomeninStandards.org
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Convincing Management to Support your Standards Work
The Value of your Participation
You just found out about this new project and you really want to contribute your thoughts and ideas. Now you’re wondering how you will convince your employer that your involvement in a standards project will add value to your work? Let’s explore the benefits that you gain through participation that you can highlight.
Education
The best way to understand a standard is to help write it. There are a lot of ‘corner of the room’ conversations that happen when developing a standard that explain why certain words were used, why some requirements are in there or were left out and what the intent was. The final document just is not going to capture those little details. Especially the intent, what did they envision when they added those x, y, z steps to the process. Did they expect an organization to have certain equipment or facilities? What did they envision an appropriate number of staff to be? The bonus is that you get to hang out with a group of individuals that are experts on the topic, and you can learn from them too!
Industry Insider
In addition to making connections with some of the industry’s best minds, you also will be there when they discuss upcoming innovations and how the standard will contribute to or hinder that advancement. You’ll be provided with an exclusive inside look at what the potential next few years of advancements in your industry will be like and be able to communicate that information back to your organization. And those connections you just made may well be a future partner, consultant, or expert that you work with to help your company be at the forefront of change.
Job Enhancement
Working on committees is a great way to learn and practice skills such as teamwork, collaboration, time management, communication, networking, and consensus building. And these are all skills that translate back to your day-to-day work. Meaning the more you participate on committees, the better you will be at your job as well. An employer would normally need to bring in outside consultants to education staff on certain skills or hope your direct manager was working with you to develop those leadership skills, this will save the company those costs and help you advance as a leader.
There are many more benefits we could list, but these top three are a great place to start. Share these with your employer as evidence that the low cost of your participating pays for itself in your professional development and advancement as a strong leader. And starting early in standardization means that when you’re ready to take on a leadership role at work, you have already developed the needed skills and abilities to excel.
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Join the
Women in Standards
April 22nd
for the
WiS Connect
Register today, It's free!
Meet fellow standards and standardization volunteers and build your network with Women in Standards. Don’t miss out, join us for an upcoming event.
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China Standardization and the Geopolitics of Standards
In April the Women in Standards welcomed Dr. Tim Nicholas Rühlig, Research Fellow at The Swedish Institute of International Affairs who presented his research on
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the China standardization system and spoke about the politics of country participation in international standardization. It was thoughtful look at how global initiatives set the course for standardization around the world. Highlights from the event are included in the Women in Standards learning series library.
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Committee Updates
The Women in Standards Education, Events, and Inclusiveness committees are each developing ideas for future events and learning series contributions so keep an eye on the events calendar for additional opportunities to expand your understanding of standardization.
On the 22nd of April, the Women in Standards will host our WiS Connect event, an opportunity for the community to network and make new contacts and to build strong relationships by playing interactive strategy and teambuilding games. Also join us the first Friday of May for our Coffee Corner, a casual meet-up to share the news of the day, discuss relevant issues, and seek advice from others.
The Women in Standards events committee is also hard at work developing the content for our 2022 annual dinner. The organization hopes to hold both a virtual event with special focus on our international membership and community and an in-person event in the DC Metro area. If you would like to support development of one or both events, click here to sign up for a committee. Remember that you must be a registered member of Women in Standards to join, registration for an individual membership is free, click here to join.
In the Inclusiveness in Standards committee, task groups have been formed to support our outreach to diversity groups and to develop terminology and resources for the industry. The committee will also begin reviewing the results of our 2021 Inclusion in Standards survey with expected publication of our final report in July of 2021. If you’d like to support the committees work on any of these initiatives, click here.
Finally, our education committee continues its work to develop learning series content for members including topics for webinars and workshops. Educational modules introducing standards, the standardization process and more, are in development by committee members and the committee has developing mapping of learning goals for each phase of the standards volunteer life cycle. Additional support is welcome, if you have specialized expertise or would like to lend a hand consider joining the committee today.
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Participate in an educational presentation and voice your thoughts on standards development.
Submit an article for publication in the WiS E-news.
Follow the Women in Standards on LinkedIn and Facebook and get up-to-date information on new standards activities - events, committees, and federal programs.
Participate in online chats on issues of standards and raising the voice and participation of women in standards.
Gain life-long friends, champions, and mentors within the standards community.
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Connecting with Communities
How to get the most of our community involvement
When beginning your professional career, one of the best things you can do for yourself is join communities that support your industry. Just like pursuing internships when still in college, joining industry communities helps you advance professionally and provides you with a strong support system to help you along the way. How do you tap into all that opportunity? Let’s review a few steps that you can take to get the full benefit out of your involvement.
Community
Check the directory, attend the networking sessions, join a committee and share your contact details. Pursue every opportunity to put yourself in the same room as others in your industry. Having these connections are critical to your professional success because they help you to find opportunities that you did not know were there and they are a great resource for new ideas. Connecting with others will also expand your knowledge of the industry and the wide array of options available to you. The contacts you make through industry groups will help you find new jobs, have references when applying for jobs, and raises your stature in the industry. People know who you are and when you get the opportunity to speak publicly or publish that first article, they will cheer for you and share your success with others because they know you and want to support you.
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Education and Training
Classes, articles, workshops that are designed for people in your industry are a great resource because they are customized for what your industry knows you need to learn. The classes are typically customized with examples and scenarios relevant to your work, ensuring that when you apply them to your day-to-day activities, they’ll provide maximum impact. Seek out opportunities to take these customized learning opportunities and remember ‘community’ above, they’re also a great way to make contacts! If the industry organization also offers certification, the classes will also provide you with opportunities to gain the needs skills and abilities to pass the test. Classes from industry groups can also support your career advancement as they may be the same classes others at your work have taken and are highly valued for professional development.
Industry News
Knowing what advancements are on the horizon for your industry is a great benefit to bring back to your organization as it can be used to support strategic planning and business decisions. Attend conferences and presentations whenever you can and follow trade journals and other publications. This will benefit you and your work when you hear about new projects underway, what other organizations are working on, and where the industry thinks the next advancement will come from. And when you or your organization have a new project or research study about to be published, share your knowledge by writing an article or presenting. Giving back to the community helps grow the next generation of professionals and provides you with visibility as a thought leader.
Not sure which industry association to join? Join more than one. You might join one to help you become a better public speaker or leader and another to help you expand your expert knowledge and then another that helps you stay plugged in to the industry. Consider the benefits each group offers and ensure that you’re taking advantage of those services so that you get the most value out of your participation. And remember to give back to grow the next generation of professionals. As you advance in your career, giving back to further enhance your visibility and skillset as a leader and ensures that when you run the company, you have strong, experienced, and knowledgeable staff to support you.
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Preparing for a successful conference experience
Creating your conference toolkit
Whether in person or virtual, conferences are a key resource to any professional and should be approached with planning and consideration. Many people attend a conference with no plan, and they leave with a little more knowledge, but missing out on a lot of opportunities. By planning out your participation and developing your toolkit, you can be better prepared to maximize your time.
Your toolkit:
- Your goals for the event
- Your plan for achieving those goals
- Your elevator speech
- Your follow-up to do list
Continue reading at WomeninStandards.org
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The Women in Standards supports the professional development of its members. Here are a few positions currently available at standards developing organizations:
SDO members can post job vacancies, calls for committee members, and manage all listings from their SDO portal. Don't miss out, register today as an SDO member.
Visit the Women in Standards Participant and Employment Opportunities page today, click here.
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