Directory identifies women to participate in industry events

NATIONAL REPORT – To further showcase diverse voices at hospitality industry conferences worldwide, the Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance has introduced an interactive Speaker Directory featuring over 700 senior-level women with subject matter expertise across all facets of the hospitality industry.

By allowing conference organizers to filter the list of over 700 speakers (and growing) by career background, title, company type, home base, and other data points, the Directory yields a shortlist of speakers for any topic and stage.

According to The Penn State School of Hospitality Management 2023 Women in Hospitality research report, women held only 24% of the podium spots at hotel investment conferences and 37% of main stage speaking spots. However, women make up 58% of the hospitality industry workforce.

“Representation matters, and visibility is a key component to career advancement,” said Rachel Vandenberg, who chairs the Alliance’s Podium Committee and is the Founder of Accelerate Women Leaders in Travel, an Alliance member. “Despite there being many women with significant expertise within the hospitality industry, there are still fewer women on stage.”

In collaboration with conference organizers, the Alliance Podium Committee identified several recurring challenges to sourcing more diverse voices for conference stages and immediately set out to overcome those barriers and provide solutions. One key initiative was helping to identify as many thought leaders as possible, overcoming any perception that there are not enough women speakers to source, and providing a tool that the entire industry could use.

“Every event benefits from having greater diversity of thought and balance across its speaker lineup. Showcasing speakers with a wide range of perspectives on the stage is a benefit for attendees while simultaneously ensuring greater visibility for these leaders, which will move the needle further on overall representation in the hospitality industry,” said Rachel Humphrey, Founder of the Alliance. “The Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance Speaker Directory, powered by RaizUp, means that no conference should ever be lacking in representation of women speakers, no matter the topic, stage, or location.”