Frequently Asked Questions - Chapter Administrator FAQ

During a Presentation, each speaker tells her story for approximately 10 minutes, explaining:

• Her background (starting with the teenage years)
• How she got where she is today (education, various jobs, likes/dislikes)
• What she does now
• The struggles, obstacles, and mistakes made along the way and how she learned from each of those

To help prepare each speaker for her presentation, you need to call them and ask them a few questions. These questions will reassure the speaker that she does have a story to tell and help her identify parts of her story that she wants to share with the girls. You may want to e-mail the questions to the speaker before the phone conversation, if that makes them more comfortable. But definitely send them afterwards, to serve as reminders or guidelines for the speaker’s story.

During any pre-Presentation conversation, let the speaker know that telling her story honestly—not hiding the difficulties and not exaggerating the benefits—will make the stories most compelling. Teenagers appreciate honesty and are more willing to respond when they know the story is genuine. Also, when asking questions, make sure you ask about challenges in general before asking specifically about gender-related challenges. This helps the speaker understand that you are looking for both a general overview of the technology field as well as the specifics of her own personal story.

Questions to Consider in Planning a Presentation Story

• What were you like in high school?
• How did you decide what you would study in college?
• What obstacles did you face along the way? How did you overcome them?
• What is your career now?
• What is exciting to you about that career?
• What advice would you like to share with the girls that you wish you knew when you were in high school?

It's finally here! The new IGNITE website, www.ignite-us.org, is live on the Web and ready to assist you. IGNITE is proud to offer you, as a Chapter Administrator, a powerful set of tools that will help you effectively manage your IGNITE Chapter.

Below is a brief set of instructions that will help get you started on IGNITE-us.org:

1. Log In

If you're already an IGNITE Chapter Administrator, you most likely already have an account on this website, with all of the privileges and access of an IGNITE Chapter Administrator.

You can login to the website by entering your username and password in the login box. If you can't remember your password, click "Request New Password" and we'll email it to you.

If you're not yet an IGNITE Chapter Administrator and you'd like to start a local IGNITE Chapter in your area, please contact us so we can assist you!

2. Connect with your students

The primary benefit of using the IGNITE-us.org website to manage your IGNITE Chapter is the ease of staying in touch with your students. Many of your IGNITE students are already using the website to sign up for events and field trips.

Managing IGNITE Field Trips, Conferences, Presentations, and Events

All IGNITE events are posted on the Events Calendar. To see the calendar, click on the "Events" menu at the top of any page on the site, or simply click here. Also, make sure you login to the site first, or else you won't be able to see everything.

To view the details of an event, click on the title of the event that shows on the date your event occurs.

The page that comes up will show date, time, location, and the list of users who have signed up.

Your Member School discussion group

Each IGNITE Chapter also has its very own discussion group on the IGNITE-us.org website. When students sign up on the website, they also join the discussion group for their school. These groups are powerful tools that you can use to stay in touch with your IGNITE students. You can post upcoming events for them to see, or post reminders about upcoming deadlines and opportunities, or just use it to keep track of who your IGNITE students are.

You can access your Member School group by clicking on "Member Schools" in the sidebar on the far left side of the website, then clicking on the "My Schools" tab in the middle of the page. Alternately, you can go there by clicking here.

Click on your school's name, and it will bring up the details for your Member School group, including events and messages related to your school. There are many different options available on this page for managing your IGNITE Chapter (and depending on your own style, you might use all or just a few of these tools), so we encourage you to explore this area and let us know if you have any questions or require any assistance.

3. Get help

We want to help you in any way we can. If you have any questions about the instructions above, or how to use the website, or something just doesn't make sense to you, we have resources that can help you out. There is an online FAQ located here, which is updated periodically as new questions are answered. You can also ask the IGNITE administrators a question by filling out our contact form.

On behalf of Cathi Rodgveller and the entire IGNITE Team, welcome to IGNITE-us.org!

Starting a new IGNITE Chapter begins with the IGNITE Toolkit. This toolkit contains everything a prospective Chapter Administrator needs to start up and maintain a successful IGNITE Chapter in their area.