{"id":28224,"date":"2024-03-25T21:23:29","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T21:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=28224"},"modified":"2024-03-25T21:28:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T21:28:04","slug":"wai2024-conference-hosts-impressive-number-of-attendees-exhibitors-in-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/international-news\/wai2024-conference-hosts-impressive-number-of-attendees-exhibitors-in-orlando\/%20","title":{"rendered":"WAI2024 Conference Hosts Impressive Number of Attendees & Exhibitors in Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Women in Aviation International held one of its largest and\nmost successful annual gatherings during the 35th Annual Women in Aviation\nInternational Conference at Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida,\nMarch 21-23, 2024. With its unique blend of world-class speakers, busy exhibit\nhall, an array of education sessions, and more than 130 scholarship recipients,\nthe WAI2024 conference delivered numerous opportunities to connect and network\nwith female peers in the aviation and aerospace industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WAI2024 Exhibit Hall was busy with over 200 exhibitors and over 5,200 attendees.
Photo Credit: WAI – Chris Miller. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“As the largest organization in the world dedicated to\nincreasing the number of women in all aspects of aviation and aerospace, WAI\nwas able to celebrate the strength of our expanding Women in Aviation\nInternational community this week during our annual conference,” WAI CEO\nLynda Coffman said, adding “At every moment during WAI2024, thousands of\nattendees were able to learn, network, and mentor one another in a venue full\nof like-minded women who come together to share their passion for aviation and\naerospace. We are helping to change the face of aviation, and WAI is proud to\nsupport our members throughout their aviation journey with a lifetime of\nprograms.” Lynda acknowledged the annual conference representing attendees\nfrom a variety of aviation and aerospace careers was an impressive venue to\ncelebrate Women\u2019s History Month. WAI thanks the generous support of sponsors,\npassionate members, and volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WAI2024 Keynote Speaker Nicole Battjes. Photo Credit: WAI – John Riedel. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A highlight of every conference is the induction of women\ninto WAI\u2019s International Pioneer Hall of Fame. This year\u2019s inductees include\nKatherine Johnson, a legendary mathematician of her time and a NASA trailblazer\nfeatured in the book and movie Hidden Figures; U.S. Air Force First\nUndergraduate Navigator Class 78-01, the first female class of six navigator\ncandidates to pave the way for other women in military aviation; U.S. Army Air\nForces World War II Flight Nurses, a dedicated group of 500 volunteer flight\nnurses who served 31 medical air evacuation squadrons at the height of World\nWar II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visits to the sold-out exhibit hall were interspersed with\ngeneral sessions on Friday and Saturday mornings, with dozens of education\nsessions, professional development seminars, and workshops held Thursday\nthrough Saturday where attendees chose which sessions were best for their\ncareer goals and personal interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the WAI annual membership meeting, Captain Bart\nRoberts was approved as a new board member, and Michaela Lucas was re-elected\nfor an additional term and will continue her role as board treasurer. Captain\nDeborah Hecker, outgoing board chair, and Marci Veronie, board member, were\nboth recognized for their nine-year terms serving the WAI board of directors.\nEffective April 1, 2024, Kathy Yodice will assume the role of board chair and\nShannon Weidekamp will become board vice chair. Linda Markham will continue to\nserve as board treasurer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The membership report detailed over 18,000 active members in\n120 countries with 1,800 international members and over 5,000 junior members\naged 18 years and younger. Both student members (over 3,700) and corporate\nmembers (nearly 500) continue to increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girls in Aviation Day Orlando<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WAI2024 – Girls in Aviation Day Orlando. Photo Credit: WAI – Jennifer Moore. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, March 23, 250 girls along with their\nchaperones, were hosted by more than 100 WAI volunteers, at Girls in Aviation\nDay Orlando. The girls, ages 8-18, visited nearly 30 activity stations, heard\nabout six different aviation careers from \u201cThe Sky is Unlimited\u201d career panel,\nhad lunch with Nicole Battjes, Rainbow Helicopters CEO and owner, met multiple\nrole models, and had fun while they learned about aviation\/aerospace. The older\ngirls had the opportunity to meet with representatives about their aviation-focused\nprograms from 14 participants including the military, universities, flight\nschools, and airline pathways. Each participant earned a WAI Aviation Fun\nPatch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other conference highlights include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Emcee Lisa Stark, WAI2024 Keynote Speaker Pam Melroy, and WAI CEO Lynda Coffman at the Friday Luncheon. <\/em>
Photo Credit: WAI – Paula Grubb. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
  • A total attendance of over 5,200 includes 142\ninternational representatives from 35 countries including Nigeria, Canada,\nUnited Kingdom, Tunisia, Brazil, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and others.<\/li>
  • The WAI Chapter network has reached 180 chapters\nin 26 countries worldwide representing 140 U.S. chapters and 40 international\nchapters. Some 42% of WAI members belong to their local chapter.<\/li>
  • The exhibit hall hosted over 200 separate\ncompanies and organizations, representing all aspects of the aviation\ncommunity, and livestream video coverage on WAI\u2019s new YouTube channel\n@WAIOnAir.<\/li>
  • This week, 131 scholarships were distributed to\nWAI members at every stage of life for academic use, lifestyle enhancement, and\nflight training, including type ratings. Since 1995, scholarship funders have\nawarded over $15 million to WAI members.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The 36th Annual Women in Aviation International Conference\nwill be held March 27-29, 2025, at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention\nCenter in Denver, Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    View all the videos from the WAI Annual Conference in\nOrlando, including the opening Conference video, 2024 Scholarship Winners,\nPioneer Hall of Fame inductees, Girls in Aviation Day 2023 wrap-up, on the WAI\nYouTube Channel, @WomeninAviationIntl and @WAIOnAir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Women in Aviation International held one of its largest and most successful annual gatherings during the 35th Annual Women in Aviation International Conference at Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida, March 21-23, 2024. With its unique blend of world-class speakers, busy exhibit hall, an array of education sessions, and more than 130 scholarship recipients, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-slider","category-international-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/unnamed-2024-03-25T132141.502-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28224"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28235,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28224\/revisions\/28235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}