The first ROMBA Conference was created and run solely by current LGBTQ MBA students. Today, though Reaching Out is now a 501c3 organization with a full-time staff, we maintain student & alumni leadership as a core value for the organization to ensure our content is relevant and reflects students' interest.
To achieve that we assemble leadership teams for our annual marquis events: The Reaching Out LGBTQ MBA & Graduate Conference (otherwise known as ROMBA), The Out Women in Business Conference, and the LGBTQ MBA Club Leadership Summit.
Each member of the steering committee plays a key role in shaping the national agendas of both the MBA community and the LGBTQ community. Each event varies in its involvement with the ROMBA Conference being a close to a year-round engagement (heaviest August to October), the Out Women in Business Conference being roughly 5-months, and the Leadership Summit involving once-a-month touch points for 4 months.
OCTOBER 24TH APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR:
2018 ROMBA CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE
OUT WOMEN IN BUSINESS STEERING COMMITTEE*
LGBTQ MBA CLUB LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE
*open for professionals as well as students
Since our founding in 1999, teams of LGBTQ MBA & graduate students have been selected to create our conference’s content and be part of an ever-growing legacy of innovation, leadership and education in the LGBTQ community.
LEADERSHIP ROLES (APPLY BY OCT 24TH)
These positions work with Reaching Out’s staff and board to shape the overall theme and content for the conference’s student and professional attendees. The Leadership team is the most involved in the planning of the conference from start to finish and has all participation expenses paid for by the organization. For 2018’s Minneapolis Conference we are looking for leaders in:
We launched Out Women in Business to raise the visibility and connectivity of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women in business (at all levels, regardless of an MBA). Last year's conference saw over 300 attendees with speakers in the government sector, mainstream film & television, and entrepreneurial community.
In 2018, we will look to grow the NYC OWIB Conference's attendees and continue to build on the past two years' captivating content. All participation expenses paid for these leaders.
LEADERSHIP ROLES (APPLY BY OCT 24TH)
Now in its 12th year, the Leadership Summit brings together rising club leaders to network, share experience & best practices, and hear from 1-2 national LGBTQ leaders. Each year a core team of 5-6 students (MBA1s, MBA2s and part-time all welcome to apply) works with Reaching Out's staff to organize this event.
LEADERSHIP ROLES (APPLY BY OCT 24TH)
What is the time commitment like?
It depends on the event.
The ROMBA Conference Leaders are generally engaged for 9 months, with late March and August through October being the busier times. As conference leaders, you will be managing the content and flow of a major national conference. Different roles have slightly different timelines and commitments (e.g. overseeing tracks with competitions might be a bit of a later activity compared to building out an entrepreneur track's core content). However, time expectations can easily be managed depending on your area of interest and how you structure your team.
Out Women in Business will involve planning meetings in late 2017 and then coordination and marekting throughout 2018; we do know that students go away for breaks and have interview and structure planning accordingly with the professionals on the team. The 1-2 weeks leading up to the mid-Aprili conference will be the busiest period.
The LGBTQ MBA Club Leadership Summit generally involves a one-hour team call once a month, with some content development and logistics work in between. Of the three marquis events, this is the lowest commitment, but requires a lot of thought and preparation for robust content.
What support do we get?
You will work alongside our full-time staff who will serve as a coach to your team as you develop and promote you ideas, help manage sponsors (as applicable) and fiscal issues, and work with you on some longer-range content (such as keynotes). We also have an events planner who will work with each team to manage many of the logistic details for what happens on-site at the conference.
Do I need to be an MBA1 student to apply?
It depends. For the Out Women In Business Conference any alumni & all grad students are welcome and encouraged to apply.
For the LGBTQ MBA Club Leadership Summit, all graduate students are welcome to apply.
The Reaching Out LGBTQ MBA and Graduate Conference is kept to those who will still be students next fall. This is most likely a MBA1/grad student or part-time student but there is flexibility depending on the timeline of your degree.
For more questions please contact info@reachingoutmba.org
