Cornell Women in Computing Hosts Virtual Mixers for 200+ Students
Computer science classes provide many opportunities for collaboration. That’s why Women in Computing at Cornell (WICC) hosts mixers for women to find partners for working on computer science projects. Due to COVID-19, WICC had to find a way to host these mixers virtually.
“We’ve had to be creative with ways we can run our existing programs virtually, which has caused to explore new online platforms like Glimpse,” said Jessica Feng, Social Co-Director of WICC.
Glimpse is a platform where people in a virtual room engage in one-on-one, time-boxed video calls with fun features including icebreaker questions, min-games, and a photo-booth. “We chose Glimpse because it provides a more personal and intimate environment,” Feng said.
WICC also chose Glimpse because it can support the large capacity of 200+ women that would attend, and has matching features that allows students to connect with other students in the same class.
Through mixers and other programming, Women in Computing at Cornell strives to make computing inclusive for all and foster a supportive community of women and allies. “We’re excited to continue providing academic and professional support to our members this semester, even though it may be different than what we’re used to,” Feng said.
Our Tips and Tricks
If you are planning a virtual event for a student group, here are some tips and tricks for using Glimpse:
Follow our Hosting Guide for general advice to get started :)
Customize the question prompts to suit your event/organization
Decide on a match length (default is 2 minutes) that makes sense for your use case
Begin or end your meetings with a link to a Glimpse room! The time-boxed, one-on-one conversations are a great way for people to bond