my week at a tech conference #wit

I went to a tech conference this past week.  We all know that as women in tech we have become used to less than stellar treatment.  I have spoken and blogged and written many times about women in tech and how we are treated.  Here’s the lowdown from this week.

I went to a tech conference.  Over a thousand people there, so a good medium-sized event. Male attendees out-numbered female attendees easily by 10 to 1.

I attended sessions.  No one cared about my gender.

I asked questions in sessions.  No one cared about my gender.

I went to evening events.  No one cared about my gender.

I ate in the standard chow hall with all the other attendees.  No one cared about my gender.

I went to a tech conference and no one cared about my gender.  Is this how men feel?  


what happens to women at a tech conference #wit

Ask my friends, I am not a prude.  I like to have fun, with my friends.  I let loose, with my friends.  I’ve been known to curse like a sailor and tell an off-color joke or two, with my friends.  And it’s actually pretty easy to be my friend.  So before I get responses telling me to lighten up, I don’t need to, I already am.  I am not whining.  I am offering specific tangible items to help educate folks on how women in tech are treated on a regular basis.  Since I am in tech, I am not sure if the issues exist in other professional worlds.  Tech is my professional world.  None of these events made me personally feel threatened, yet none of them were appropriate in the environment of a professional conference.

Women in technology is a hot topic these days (again).  For me, being a woman in technology is irrelevant.  I am either too naïve or too arrogant to think I am treated differently because of my gender (on a regular basis, with those I choose to work with).  Going to a conference is a whole ‘nother thing.  I’ve written before about someone dropping a roofie in my drink at a large tech conference.  This is not about things to that extreme.  This is the list of annoying and inappropriate things that happen to us (women in tech) on a regular basis.  Things we shouldn’t have to put up with in a professional world.

The conference I was at is irrelevant.  It is a conference made, run and attended by professionals, a few thousand of them.  Except for the annoying few that trigger blog posts such as this one.   It is a conference that felt nearly even 50/50 men and women as both attendees and speakers.  All of the men I will be referring to here are middle age or older.  They likely have daughters, some quite likely have daughters my age.  They are men that should know better.  Somehow the young men at these conferences are the ones that know how to have fun and not cross certain lines (or maybe I’m too old for them to bother?).  This is a middle-aged man issue (from my vantage point).

Annoyance #1- there was an experts table for attendees to come to and ask their specific questions of the experts (the desk was staffed by volunteer speakers and MVPs).  At this time there were three of us staffing the table, myself and two male colleagues.  A man none of us know (at least 60 years old) approached the table, walked directly up to me and asked “is this where I get my massage?” My response was that we only massage brains here, he walked away. 

Annoyance #2- the event party was hosted at a local bar.  The sponsors had a fine selection of beverages available for us that did not include any hard liquor.  I was standing with a group of female friends listening to live music, one of the sponsors of the party was in the band, and it was kinda fun actually.  A man none of us knew, stumbled over to us, tray of shots in hand, I’d say about my age (mid 40s).  He offered shots, we all declined.  (Offering the drinks, not a problem.  Not accepting our no, there’s the problem.)  He set down the tray and picked one girl from our group as his target and was practically pouring the shot into her mouth while she was saying no thanks, hey I’m working, leave me alone kinda things.  I took the shot from his hand and placed it on a nearby table and told him to just walk away in my best mom voice.  He listened and left us alone.  No one should accept an already poured drink from someone they do not know (see above about being roofied).  No one should have to say no thank you more than once.

Annoyance #3- this one crosses a bit of a line that the others did not, but the man in this story responded respectfully and appropriately when confronted.  A woman at the conference let me know that a friend of hers, also a woman attending the conference, had acquired a stalker and he was making her very uncomfortable.  My immediate response was let’s find this man and tell him to stop.  I find out a little of the story.  He is older than I (I’d say mid to late 50s), recently divorced, a tad bit socially awkward and unaware.  He and my new friend had exchanged a few texts like people might do at a conference.  Then he went too far.  Like 100 text messages a day too far.  Like comments about her stripping as a job if the tech thing didn’t work out.  Too far.  We are in the expo hall, we notice this man I go to speak with him.  I do feel the need to say, it was a well-attended public place and at no time did I put myself in danger by approaching him.  I introduced myself, ask if he had a minute to talk. I explained we had a friend in common and that he was making her very uncomfortable.  His texts and conversations we smothering and inappropriate and needed to stop.  This is a professional conference and we should keep it that way.  He seemed genuinely surprised.  Agreed to leave her alone.  He sent one more text to her, apologizing.  Then he stopped.

I did nothing special.  I did what women do for each other.  Had I been on the receiving end of the unwanted attention again, any one of the women around me would have done the same thing.  It’s what we do. 

We shouldn’t have to.


The Road to the Cloud Events!

Here’s some info on a series of events put on by some pretty big superstars.  Both Dave and I will be at the event in Denver on October 20, 2014.  There are several events, scroll for the link to the master event page.

Here is the Denver Registration Page:  http://bit.ly/1CG0IF1

What is the event?

The Road to the Cloud is a series of global events led by Microsoft Regional Directors. The event focuses on the tremendous opportunity the new cloud market presents for the business leaders of established ISVs.

Agenda

1. Applications to Apps: The Shifting Software Market

The rapid co-evolution of hardware and software in a mobile-first, cloud-first world is changing the way ISVs do business: from concept to delivery to sales and monetization. Thriving in this evolving environment means looking at customers and the industry in a new way. In this session we’ll look at market trends and the ways many ISVs are evolving the way software is developed, marketed and sold.

2. Cloud Computing Models: Private, Public and Hybrid

Analysts project that SaaS applications will significantly outpace traditional software product delivery in the near future. As ISVs facing this ever-changing cloud landscape, you need to make critical decisions about your application lifecycle and hosting models. Evaluate some of those considerations, and learn how the platform you choose can support the model you determine.

3. Cloud Business and Cost Models

Cloud computing is less a technological revolution than it is a business revolution. In this session we'll look at trends that are driving cloud computing and the opportunities these bring to ISV organizations to compete in the marketplace. We’ll see how cloud computing can change an ISV's business model in potentially radical new ways and discuss concrete ways your business can grow in the modern world of software.

4. ISV Success Stories

5. Networking Reception

What is the business driver

You should attend this event if you are interested in learning how to capture the strategic opportunity that the new cloud market presents. This opportunity brings not just technical changes, but fundamental shifts to your company’s business model, and a platform decision is a key component of that shift.

Who should attend – partner size, industry, job title etc

The event should be attended by business leaders within ISVs

What you will get out of attending the event

Join this event to learn from your peers in the industry that have leveraged the benefits of the cloud to build a successful business. You’ll hear from owners and leaders of successful software businesses about best practices and lessons learned, and gain insight about the cloud opportunity for a software business.

We also have a networking session right after the event.

This event is focused on business strategy, and is not a technical learning event.

Where and how to register

Here is the Denver Registration Page:  http://bit.ly/1CG0IF1

Here is the main landing page for other events: https://azureinfo.microsoft.com/All-Road-to-the-Cloud-Events.html?ls=Email&lsd=RD


Call for speakers Denver Dev Day

Are you looking for a reason to come to beautiful Colorado?  Well, Denver Dev Day is happening again October 18, 2014, in time for our fall colors.  If you’ve never seen the stunning golden aspen trees, you really should!  And if you have seen Colorado in the fall, you know exactly why you should come back in October.

Though the last Denver Dev Day was rather focused, our attendees have asked for quite a variety of technical topics to be covered for October.  So, submit your sessions now!  We need 60 minute sessions and lightning talks (10 minutes or so).  If you’ve got a good topic for an extended session, tell us that in your submission so we can try to fit that in too.  We are seeking up and coming speakers and super stars alike.  So whichever category you put yourself in, we have a spot for you.

Some logistics for you:

The link to the speaker registration is http://aka.ms/ddd-speakers

The event will be at the Microsoft Office, Denver, Colorado

The event will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2014 from 8:30 to 1:00 PM

We are in the process of securing sponsorships at this time.  Right now we cannot offer any travel subsidies, but that might change.  If you know of any potential sponsors, send them our way!

Questions and suggestions, please contact:  Julie Yack, [email protected]


Denver Dev Days- June 14- Call for Speakers!

Denver Dev Day will be Saturday, June 14th, 2014 at the Innovation Pavilion in the Denver Tech Center. The event leadership team includes many of the same talents that brought Trifecta to Colorado. This one-day event targets enthusiasts & professional developers. This year, Denver Dev Day focuses exclusively on ASP.Net. This is a call for speakers.

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL(S) TO: Ely Lucas at [email protected]

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL(S) BEFORE: Friday, May 23

denverdevdays

Sessions will run between 9AM and 4PM. Each session is 60 minutes long. You may submit more than one session title. Please ensure your session is about ASP.Net (which includes WebForms, MVC, WCF, WebAPI, Visual Studio, client scripting, and more) and/or Windows Azure (in the context of web development only). If your session(s) is selected, we will reach out to you soon and make local arrangements and/or travel arrangements. Thank you in advance for your participation.

MORE INFORMATION:
https://denverdevday.eventday.com/page/speakercall


How to be a good booth babe or booth abe #conv14

Now before you assume this doesn’t apply to you, I mean all booth staff, if the title makes you uncomfortable, then I’m not sure how you found your way here at all.  I’ve been doing these conferences for a while and have picked up on a few good and not so good behaviors.  And this applies to more than just a cookie cutter nerd fest event.

Today I met my first professional booth babe.  To be fair, he gave me some fancy sounding made up job title, but at the end of the day, he’s a booth babe (or a booth abe?).  He engages customers, partners and the like.  Promises double the leads and so on.  I am a little skeptical, but I like the idea.  He inspired this post actually.  So did the stalker badge scanner lady.

Do talk to people.  How else do you know if there’s anything in common or business interests?

Don’t just stand (or sit) there.  Engage.  I walked all the way back across the expo hall floor to say hi to the vendor that tweeted to me.  I needed to tell them they are doing it right.

Lighten up.  Sure what you have is great, but same thing for everyone else in the expo.  Your t-shirts may be cool today, but someone else’s is better.  And at the end of the day it’s likely just going to be given to my kid or worn on a frumpy rainy sweats kinda day.

Do find that common thing to talk about, and it’s not always business.

If you want to scan the attendee badges (and who doesn’t), give something in return.  Even if that something is simply a conversation.  If you have fun swag, great, but that’s not required.  Don’t be that lady that walks up to me and doesn’t say anything else except “can I scan your badge?”  The answer to that is a big fat no.

I guess at the end of the day it’s about treating people how you’d want to be treated.


Getting ready for Convergence? #Conv14

I know I am.  I hope to see a few of you there.  I will be one four panels this year; two for MVPs and two talking about new features in CRM 2013.

One of the most exciting parts for me of this year’s conference our user group, xRMVirtual, celebrating five years!  It’s hard to believe that five years ago, on a bit of a whim Shan McArthur and I jumped off a cliff and started this great virtual community.  We share a passion for the user community and love to bring the meetings to you every month.

Here’s the standard advice for any professional conference:

  • Good shoes are a must.
  • Have a game plan.  Review sessions in advance, find the ones you must go to.  Know that even if the topic is not something you need to learn RIGHT NOW, that maybe the networking in that session should be your goal.
  • The expo hall has loads of value
  • The parties have loads of value, but this is a professional conference, eat and drink appropriately.  It’s all about the networking and seeing people relax and be real people.
  • Don’t be that one drunk dancing on the stage.  Dancing is good, just be the sober happy dancer.
  • If you are there to build your contact list, then be involved.  Ask questions at sessions, talk to booth staff, etc.
  • Find people you know from online (me?) and say hi introduce yourself.
  • Everyone there is approachable, regardless of their job title. 

See you there.