Talk Invite Letter

Dear [potential speaker’s name], 

Py-CU, a python users group in Champaign-Urbana, would like to extend a formal invitation to you to be a speaker at our first and experimental Women in Information Technology (WIT) Open House event on March 8 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm in the basement of the Independent Media Center at Makerspace Urbana. This informal event  is targeted at women in the professional STEM community as well as women who would like to explore this world for the first time in a supportive environment. It will consist of a schedule of mini talks and a panel while representatives of CU tech groups and specific topic discussion tables meet with attendees in-between those scheduled events.

You are being asked because of your presence in the general CU tech community and the value you would bring to what we hope will be a diverse and informative group of speakers and panelists.* As a speaker, we invite you to decide the topic that you would particularly choose for women who are interested in your field. Each speaker will be given 10 to 15 minutes with five minutes of question and answer time. Talks will be held between 1:30 and 2:30, with the final scheduling to be determined once we have a final list of speakers.  Let us know if you will need a specific time. Even if you feel that this may not be enough time for your topic of choice, do keep in mind that you will be given the chance to continue to discuss questions and concerns with attendees during the rest of the open house. 

We hope you would be able to accept this invitation. However, if you are unable to accept this year, we presently plan to have more WIT events in the near future. 

Should you accept, please respond to this email in the affirmative and go to this Google Spreadsheet to put down your name and topic: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqQxPA17l2B_dGJUd2g4VmZxM0l2ZjRTS3BycTRIenc&usp=sharing. This is for the reference of both speakers and organizers to avoid overlap and make scheduling easier. We will contact attending speakers to confirm their time slot and topic as soon as we are able.

Thank you, 

Liz Surbeck
Co-founder and Co-organizer of Py-CU


*Specifics here if possible.