On the 19th and 20th of March my best friend from university (and sole other female in our year of Civil Engineering at La Trobe University Bendigo) and I travelled across to Melbourne to attend the Robogals Rural and Regional Event!

The event was designed to be a networking and brainstorming session for women such as myself, who are studying science and engineering disciplines at Regional and Rural universities across Victoria. It was a way for us to get together with and learn from the Robogals Global team, with the ultimate goal of planning a Robogals event in Regional areas.

Some of the sessions of the weekend included:

• A very interesting presentation by the Cochlear Foundation about what they do (Dr. Carrie Newbold—Project leader, Biosafety and electro-neural interface projects, HEARing CRC—presented)
• Workshops where we learnt all about marketing, setting up partnerships, brainstorming, a personal leadership presentation,
• A presentation by Astrid Kauffman, Engineers Australia Victoria 2010 Young Professional Engineer of the Year High Commendation Award Winner,
• Motivational clips of the inspiring Boston Philharmonic conductor Ben Zander,
• A leadership discussion facilitated by Mary Barlow, former Vice
  President, Boston Consulting Group

Whilst the weekend was very jam-packed and full on, it was very interesting and informative, and a great way to meet women in engineering from other universities! It was during this weekend that I got the chance to get to know some of the most enthusiastic, creative and motivated people that I have ever met.

During the weekend my partner and I were encouraged and assisted to start planning a Robogals event in Bendigo. We were given white board markers and encouraged to map out our ideas on a white board. Brainstorming was particularly helpful as it got us dishing out practical ideas under experienced guidance.

We have decide that our event will be organised and run by us, with the help of Engineering and Science students at La Trobe. We will be holding a Science, Technology and Engineering Expo.

This expo will be held on campus and is aimed at. Grade 5 & 6 girls from surrounding primary schools. The expo will be of the "hands on" variety, with a number of experiments for girls to observe as well as participate in. The aim of the event is to spark an interest in young girls, in the fields of science, technology and engineering. The ultimate goal of this event is, of course, to see more girls enrol in these disciplines at university in the future.

As such, it is our hope that this event will be the forerunner for others, and that La Trobe University will endeavour to hold such events once my partner and I have graduated.