The Phoenix Convention Center will be the center of activity this week as the city welcomes the Anita Borg Institute’s 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference from Oct. 8-10. More than 8,000 attendees from all over the world are expected to travel to downtown Phoenix for the world’s largest gathering of women technologists, including professionals from the industry, government and academia. The Conference will generate $11 million in direct spending and the group is staying at 25 local area hotels.
Telle Whitney, CEO of the Anita Borg Institute, explained “We are excited for Phoenix to host the Grace Hopper Celebration this year as it’s a city with deep roots in technology. It is home to both large and emerging technology organizations, making it a perfect setting for the largest conference for women in computing.”
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference is the world’s largest assembly of women technologists. It started in 1994 and is produced by the Anita Borg Institute, which seeks to connect, inspire and guide woman in the technology field. The conference is also presented by the Association for Computing Machinery, an international society for computing.
The conference annually hosts attendees from all over the world, including students and professionals from industry, government and academia. The celebration offers sessions focused on the latest technology as well as career development. Each day focuses on a different theme, one of which involves “building the career of your dreams.” Guest speakers for the Phoenix event include Staya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft and Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College.
