Engender / Speed Dating Networking Event

This year, our annual Valentine’s Day professional speed dating event for women and non-binary opera-makers this year puts you in the driving seat. We’ll be using Swapcard, an online platform that allows you rather than an algorithm to decide who your screen meetings are with. We’re hosting a range of virtual sessions throughout the day including an introduction and tech orientation session, open forums curated by the Engender team, and the speed dating section. The Engender sessions will give an open space to discuss how the pandemic has impacted all of us as opera-makers, focusing on particular areas that present continued challenges. The speed dating sessions will be timed around these conversations and will give everyone the opportunity to network informally in 10 minute bursts, with another attendee of your choosing.   
  
To participate in any part of the day, please sign up via this form.  We’ll then upload your details onto the Swapcard platform from where you’ll be able to edit your personal profile and choose the shape of your day.
  
 
This event is limited to 100 attendees. Sign up early to avoid disappointment!
 
Overview of the event
 
We will be opening the floor to a range of virtual sessions throughout the day
 
Each session is optional, so please feel free to drop in and out during the day. We recommend attending the welcome and introduction to understand how the platform works.
 
  
  
10.30am – 12pm: Welcome, introduction and tech      orientation session
  
12.30pm – 1.15pm: Shifting to online / digital – A chance to talk about what we’ve all learnt,      our current thinking and what this revitalised digital space could      mean.
  
2.30pm – 3.15pm: Keeping the lights on – A discussion of current challenges / shared      solutions about how we keep our spaces open and our plans moving forward      in a safe, fair and sustainable way.
  
4pm – 4.45pm: Wellbeing in opera – What does wellbeing mean to the sector      now, post-pandemic?
  
6pm – 7pm: Closing session