WiMST Symposium 2026

The Women in Manufacturing Skilled Trades Symposium is presented by Bay Area Community Colleges (BACC) and the Association of Manufacturers Bay Area (AMBayArea). The annual event focuses on best practices for recruiting women into important skilled trades careers (machining, welding, industrial maintenance, electronics, etc.).

Join fellow manufacturers and educators to discuss how to recruit more women into the manufacturing skilled trades and learn best practices from speakers and panelists. This will be the continuation of a regional conversation to determine how we can improve the recruitment of women into these careers. The following are encouraged to attend:

• Skilled Tradeswomen in Manufacturing
• Manufacturers (skilled tradesmen, HR, technical hiring managers, those who create company strategy for outreach and hiring, etc.)
• Educators in community colleges & K-12 schools who develop programs, recruit students or work with students to advise on careers
• Workforce development professionals working with clients to find new careers

We'll be doing an "unconference" this year, which is a format that allows participants to suggest relevant topics - and then form 4-5 parallel break-out sessions around the most requested. We'll start out with some short "lightning" talks to seed the conversation.

Breakfast and lunch are provided so we will have plenty of time for networking as we continue to build our community!

Students and women in the mfg skilled trades are free.

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Host or Publisher Association of Manufacturers Bay Area