Firstly I have to apologise for not posting this sooner, I have been in my very own world of chaos this week. I am now catching up with it all and as such have finally got round to doing this! So here goes:
I knew from the sign-up pages that the fifth London Girl Geek Dinner was going to be big and it really was quite busy. We had about 150 - 175 people there at this event but fortunately it didn't feel quite that busy because the venue (pitcher & piano, Bishopsgate) has a lovely big downstairs area for such events.
Poor Helen Duguid was fantastic. I gave her the history of the girly geek dinners and how many people usually turn up. The original brief was 20 min talk to around 45 - 50 people and don't worry they don't ask too many questions. However this was NOT the case this time... 150 - 175 people, no mic and loads of questions.... We did try the mic but it was easier to hear Helen as just her. (There was a big hole in the ceiling - deliberate gap in the ceiling -letting noise down from upstairs in P & P so if you are looking for a venue where you want a speaker, I wouldn't recommend it for that.)
Helen was talking about some research that she did on women in technology and what she saw as being key to these people. Something that came up time and time again was the subject of mentoring and the "glass ceiling". There was a lot of discussion over most of the senior mentors being male and passing the info over to their male counterparts. Personally I have never had this problem. I try to find people I can learn from, people who are excellent at what they do and just ask them if I can sit and chat with them for a while over a coffee. Usually they are more than happy to do that. I ask them loads of questions, but not like an interview, and they seem to be happy to answer them. Sometimes they ask me questions too and I do my best to answer them. The meetings can become a regular occurrence, that's when it becomes mentoring. I really don't feel the need for "official mentors" within organisations. I choose who I want to learn from, and more often than not those people, male or female, are happy to give me an insight into how things work from their perspective.
The event was sponsored by Women in Technology and they will be picking up on this subject and taking it further in a discussion forum event. All the details are on their website.
I'm planning the 6th London Girl Geek Dinner for the 16th May. We have Celia Frances the CEO of Wee World talking at our next event, which I think will be really interesting as she founded that company a few years ago, and everyone these days knows what a weemee is. I guess people will have to start thinking of their questions to ask. The venue and price for this event are yet to be set but I anticipate the venue to be The Polar Bear near Leicester Square as they have a PA system... (always useful) We are still looking for a sponsor for this event, otherwise it will probably be a small payment on the door to cover the food cost.
If you know of someone that you would like to hear speak at a London Girl Geek Dinner, do let me know... who knows... a little gentle persuasion and a few people saying that they would like to hear from a specific person or people and maybe we can get them to talk. :)
Thanks to everyone who is supporting the London Girl Geek Dinners. I never thought they would take off as they have!
BTW: If your at the Marc Canter geek dinner tonight, I'll see you there!
PS: Please remember to sponsor me for the London to Brighton 54 mile bike ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation!
posted @ Monday, May 01, 2006 12:13 AM