--- title: "Social Media Roundup: The Rise of Women’s Conferences" id: "23165" type: "post" slug: "social-media-roundup-the-rise-of-womens-conferences" published_at: "2014-05-19T22:00:41+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-16T04:07:12+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2014/05/19/social-media-roundup-the-rise-of-womens-conferences/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2014/05/19/social-media-roundup-the-rise-of-womens-conferences.md" excerpt: "More and more women are hosting their own conferences on every topic imaginable. Plus: Should an intern handle all of your social media?" taxonomy_category: - "Meetings / Events" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "conferences" - "Meetings" - "Networking" - "Women in Tech" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "Director" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Social Media Roundup: The Rise of Women’s Conferences Whether it’s due to shifting cultural tides, demographic changes, or business acumen, women are increasingly taking the conference world by storm. Learn more about the movement in today’s Social Media Roundup: ### Women in the Driver’s Seat https://twitter.com/jess7bennett/status/467715729857720320 *New York Times* contributor Jessica Bennett [took a deep dive into the world of women-led conferences (opens in a new tab)](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/fashion/how-womens-conferences-can-be-a-business.html) and came up with insights into a trend that grows more popular by the day: conferences led by women and for women, whether the purpose be advocacy or networking. “There are women’s empowerment conferences for entrepreneurs, philanthropists, advertisers, bloggers, innovators, foodies, women in tech, lesbians in tech and girls who code,” Bennett writes. “There are conferences out of which movements have grown (Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘Lean In’ began as a talk at TedWomen) and those that aim to create them (the tagline for Politico’s Women Rule gathering is ‘Innovating a Movement’).” (It should be noted, by the way, that Bennett is a contributing editor and adviser for Sandberg’s Lean In Foundation.) All of this means that the stereotypical old boys’ club of grand networking conferences are in for a major shake-up, and associations will have no excuse for not reflecting the strong voice of female members in their next event. And, of course, there’s the business angle. As Bennett points out: “Women have more spending power than ever, and corporations are searching for ways to reach them.” *(ht @[jess7bennett (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/jess7bennett) )* ### One Intern to Rule Them All? > Why giving social media to an intern is a catastrophic error [http://t.co/QoZDQ7ABBf (opens in a new tab)](http://t.co/QoZDQ7ABBf) > > — Richard Osborne (@RichardOsborne) [May 19, 2014 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/RichardOsborne/status/468402614712160256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Summer is nearly here, and with it, a flock of interns transitioning from the classroom to the office. If your association is preparing for an influx of new talent, you may be working under the assumption that because they’re younger, interns should inherently handle social media outreach. But [as JK Consultancy points out (opens in a new tab)](http://www.businesszone.co.uk/blogs/jkconsultancy/king039s-content/social-media-intern-s-job) , there’s a lot more to social media than experience reading and posting through personal feeds. Interns often come into the fold with little background on your association’s inner workings, institutional knowledge, and best practices. With social media often serving as the public face of an organization, it’s important to make sure that all of its leaders have a stake in any and all outreach efforts and that each person’s thoughts and contributions feed into the greater social media plan. That’s a responsibility that requires more work than a single intern could ever accomplish. “Interns aren’t the solution, commitment and strategic thinking are,” JK Consultancy concludes. *(ht @[BusinessZone (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/BusinessZone) )* Fuse/ThinkStock [Morgan Little](https://associationsnow.com/author/morgan-little/) Morgan Little is a contributor to Associations Now. 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