Girls In Tech

Startup Weekend is a grass roots organization of 15,000+ entrepreneurs/developers that rapidly develop new startups in 54 hours. Startup Weekend is a tech focused event currently operating in 60 cities spanning 18 countries and growing. During the event 75-200 attendees form 8-12 new ventures from mobile apps to web services to cupcake shops and anything between.

This is the second time that Startup Weekend is being held in Portland,Oregon. Girls In tech/Portland is a proud media supporter and sponsor. The event is open to anyone interested in the local entrepreneurial community, and it puts them in a setting where anything is possible. In the past 2 years, 280+ startups have started, 9,000+ entrepreneurs have been inspired. Teams have even started to generate revenue during the 54hr event, and others have even gone on to direct angel and VC investment. None of these stats take into account the amazing networking, ongoing professional relationships, and amazing experience that happen at every event.

Join us at Portland Startup Weekend: March 5-7, 2010 GIT members receive $10 off and use; discount code “girlsintech” register at http://portland.startupweekend.org/

Speakers & Mentors that will be there to help teams during the weekend:
Matt Compton (venture partner at Madrona and ex vp at Yahoo), Rob Wiltbank (venture partner at Montlake Capital and professor at Willamette U), Eric Doebele (Founder/CEO Reliable.remodeler.com), Nitin Khanna (Founder/CEO of MergerTech), Doug Fieldhouse (CEO of Vesta) and of course the guys from Mugasha Akshay and Justin will be there.

Learn more about Girls in Tech PDX or email ivo@girlsintech.net /tweet @mssonicflare

Girls in Tech Portland chapter(GIT PDX) hosted an event for inspirational speaker, Katherine Durham, Vice President of Marketing, Imaging & Printing Group, Americas, Hewlett-Packard. The event started off with social networking among women with backgrounds in technology who reside in Oregon. We had a great mix that included engineers, developers, social media specialists, marketing and PR professionals, entrepreneurs and others. The evening ended with a great presentation and Q&A during which Katherine shared her passion for the HP business and connecting with end users.

Katherine started off by sharing her background and then quickly dived in to how to shift the digital marketing and technology mindset to harness the power of an integrated approach. With constantly emerging digital trends and a new media-mix landscape, how does HP harness these trends and measure success?

Effective marketing has remained the same for years: connect the right customers with the right message at the right time and in the right place. What’s changed is that consumers are spending more and more time connecting through social networking, video and mobile.

In fact, consumers are now devoting more time online than to any other media, averaging a total of 14 hours/week or more. This amounts to more than 40% of their free time. In the last year, microblogging and social media sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, Blogger, Baidu and more have exploded in popularity. Video and mobile technology trends all continue to point up. There is huge opportunity if you look at total media consumption vis-a-vis the total U.S. advertising spend.

HP concentrates on maximizing the cross-channel shopping opportunities online, in-store and via advertising. This creates a synergy that delivers results.

Take “Pioneer Woman,” one case study in success. The campaign features Pioneer Woman, a blogger with a growing following. HP reached out to her niche audience by having Pioneer Woman show how she incorporates HP solutions into her life. By leveraging this already-existing social community, they were able to bring more credibility to the message, in that the audience is not being told what to do, but is having information shared with them.

One key takeaway from the HP social networking presentation was how important and effective it can be to find ways for your brand or business to share and collaborate in the social media space.

Katherine closed with a few takeaways:

• Digital AND social media are the future…how do they work with and impact other assets?
• Use the data AND trust your gut if you have a good compass (or get someone who does)
• Leave enough room for innovation AND experimentation
• Traditional AND emerging measurement are both important

Thanks to 24Notion for the event sponsored. As well as for everyone who attended the lecture. For more info about Girls in Tech Portland, check out our Facebook group

On July 23rd, 2009 I attended the Internet Strategy Forum Summit at the Governor Hotel here in Portland, Oregon. ISF is a global non-profit professional association headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The organization is dedicated to professional development, peer networking, information exchange, research and thought leadership among senior Internet decision-makers at client-side organizations across multiple industries around the world. This year’s full day summit included keynote speakers from Forrester Research, Hewlett-Packard, Intuit, Xerox, Intel, Welchman Pierpoint, Portland Trail Blazers and others.

Girls in Tech PDX was excited to be the association partner of ISF this year in Portland. Thanks to ISF founder of Steve Gehlen and team who’ve done an amazing job bringing in thought-provoking speakers from all over the US.
Katherine Durham, VP of Marketing Imaging and Printing at Hewlett-Packard kicked off the morning engagement with her presentation in shifting the digital marketing mindset to harness the power of an integrated approach. She gave us a snapshot of a few recent campaigns from HP that included user generated content, viral and social media tactics.
Jeremiah Owyang, senior analyst from Forrester Research spoke about the future of social media. What do we expect to see in 2015? How will the power of communities intersect with your brand and others? How will this technology change user behavior? He dove in deeper to the evolution of five eras of the social web and discussed how the future will change the way we engage with the community as a whole. Interestingly, he showed a screenshot of the movie, Minority Report, from way back in 2002. This shows us at least some of us were already anticipating the way we would receive information and how it would evolve to become real-data, real-time content driven by our preferences.
Johan Jervoe, VP of Digital Marketing at Intel talked to us about the idea of an integrated creative approach, and it really resonated with me. He took us into the process of concept through implementation and the importance of getting all of the key stakeholders involved at the beginning of the concept. Recently, they launched an interesting viral marketing initiative called “Ajay Bhatt is a Rock Star.”
Other speakers included Chris Dill, CIO from Portland Trail Blazers spoke about the integration of IT and Marketing and how they revolutionized the digital signage commodities for the Portland Trail Blazers. The panelist discussion led by Steve Gehlen talks about adventures in the Internet presence ecosystem and how to maximize ROI for enterprise services and tools. A few companies are involved in some of these heavy topics such as Covario, Webtrends, Fatwire and others.

The world is changing by the second. It’s interesting how we as a consumer are evolving as the future is near. But for now, I think the future turns on the question of who drives and control your brand presence? It was a super day to spend at the Summit. Very insightful and good overall content. Looking forward to next year! Be sure to join our GIT Portland Facebook page for upcoming events, info and perks. You wouldn’t want to miss it!

On 6.25.09 Girls in Tech Portland hosted a social recruitment event: The Changing Landscape of the Job Market in Pacific Northwest Market & Beyond. We’ve invited a few recruiters from Robert Half Technology: Jeff, Abe and Chad. We’ve had a great social networking event for the first hour and followed by a very interactive forum of panelists Q&A. Jeff, Abe and Chad were super awesome at sharing their expert knowledge in Technology as well as the changing job market in Pacific Northwest and beyond.

So what does the future hold for the technology market in the Seattle and Portland area versus that of the Bay area? Our event began with a speed-networking session. Guests were encouraged to pass around business cards and mingle with each other. Next the recruiters took center stage to discuss today’s job market. Although Portland’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation, the recruiters noted that in the past 5 weeks they have seen a rise in job openings and company’s interested in new recruits. The audiences shared many job-searching experiences and were educated by the recruiters on best practices for job searching in today’s market.

Speaking with the entire group raised a thought provoking questions, yet to be determined: Do you think the Silicon Forest could be the next Silicon Valley? Only time will tell . . .

Thanks to all of you who attended! It’s wonderful to have a group of people with varied backgrounds such as; marketing, technology, non-profit, entrepreneurs and those of you fresh out of school. Each of you brings such important views and voices to each gathering. Special Thanks to:Jeff, Abe and Chad from RHT, Souk- amazing space, Beth S- Great event coordination, 24Notion-For supporting and sponsoring the event

Check out our event photos

Girls in Tech Portland presents

A Social Recruitment Event: The changing landscape on job market in Pacific Northwest Market & beyond.

Come and join us for an amazing 2 hours event! We have invited some of Portland’s recruiters to speak on the current work environment and provide a valuable networking opportunity! During the first hour we will open the floor to a session of speed networking. Bring a handful of your business cards and be prepared to meet many new people. The second hour we will clear the floor and introduce you to our special guests. Combined, these recruiters are experts in the technology, finance, accounting and other fields. We offer you to take this opportunity to meet with a crew who has their finger on the pulse of Portland’s workforce

This is open to public, you must RSVP by June 23rd through eventbrite. http://gitpdxsocialrecruitment.eventbrite.com/

DATE: Thursday, June 25th
TIME: 5:30 – 8:00pm
PLACE: Souk 322 nw 6th avenue, suite 200
portland, oregon 97209
p: 503.517.6900

hors d’oeuvres and wine are provided

COST: $5/person (to offset cost of food/wine); At the door: $10/person

Free Door prizes sponsored by 24Notion

Guest recruiters/panelist
Robert Half International has been named to the America’s Most Admired Companies list by Fortune magazine, ranking number one in the temporary help industry.

Abraham Klatt- Branch Manager of Professional Staffing Services
Jessy A. Culp-Division Director – OfficeTeam, a division of Robert Half International
Chad Meek-Technology Account Executive
Jeff Markham- Technology Division

Join our FB Portland Group and view our FB invite

Girls In Tech PDX cordially invites you to mingle with our local GIT members. Thanks to all of you for joining and supporting Portland Girls In Tech.

We would like to welcome all of you to join us for an evening of cocktails, mingling and of course some tech talk! Bring your friends and co-workers to the Tear Drop Lounge on Thursday May 28th from 5:30pm-8pm

Pls RSVP through eventbrite or Facebook

Where: Tear Drop Lounge
1015 NW Everett St, Portland, OR

Free Door prizes sponsored by 24Notion
$50 Gift Certificate to Kanani Pearl Spa
$50 Gift card to Sephora

Girls In Tech Invite You to Attend InnoTech Oregon Conference
InnoTech Oregon – The Business & Technology Innovation Conference & Expo

Last year, over 2000 business and technology professionals converged at the Oregon Convention Center for the fifth annual InnoTech Oregon event, the region’s premier business and technology innovation conference and expo. With the sixth annual InnoTech approaching quickly, excitement is already building for the 2009 InnoTech Oregon program which will be held Thursday, April 23, 2009. Girls In Tech Invite You to Attend InnoTech Oregon Conference. Girls in Tech Portland Chapter will be at the conference this year! Thanks to the amazing Prospera event of Innotech on being our great big supporter and partner. We are super stoked to have Girls In Tech presence at the expo.

Two options for registration
1) Discounted InnoTech Oregon Conference & Exhibits Pass includes Luncheon Presentation with Rahaf Farhoush, Obama Campaign Social Media Team member, at the reduced rate of $40.00 per person ($60.00 per person standard price.) Click to select and enter Discount Code EASY4T to confirm your place at InnoTech and the luncheon.

2) 15 complimentary passes to attend InnoTech are available through Girls In Tech, Portland Chapter. Please contact Ivo directly at ivo@girlsintech.net for this information.
Please register at www.innotechoregon.com (This pass does NOT include the Keynote luncheon speaker, NW CIO Summit, NW ISSA Security Conference or eMarketing Summit, extra registration fee is required)

Here are a few of the InnoTech conference tracks & special events (ALL great reasons to take part in InnoTech):
- Cloud Computing, Desktop Virtualization, Optimizing Network & much more
- Code in the Cloud with Salesforce.com executive Peter Coffee
- Microsoft APS.NET MVC with Scott Hanselman
- Windows 7.0 Sneak Peak with Microsoft Solutions Theater & Parnter pavilion
- Clean Technology Summit
- Mobility Track – iphone, Blackberry, mobile application, oh my!
- InnoTech Happy 45-Minutes (the perfect place to mingle over complimentary beverages, appetizers, live music and exhibits)
- What the Federal Stimulus mean to Oregon’s tech community, Digital Healthcare And more!

This year includes an impressive line up of national and local sponsors and supporters (all posted on the www.innotechoregon.com website…check it out!)

Be sure to join us through Facebook for local chapter on any upcoming info/event/perks:
Girls In tech-Portland, OR

See you at InnoTech – Portland, Oregon on Thursday, April 23.

We are excited to connect, empower and inspire all women in the technology industry here in the silicon forest. Portland is one of the coolest metropolitan areas who have done a great job attracting high tech start up and other computer technology company including Intel, IBM, Tektronix and everything in between. Did you know that Portland is also named the #1 green city by Yahoo Green? Well, speak no more… Girls In tech is creating a presence locally for all PDX’ers to network among the brightest men and women.

Introductions::

I am Ivo Lukas, the managing director for GIT Portland chapter. Most recently, we’ve announced our chapter launch in mid January of 2009. Ever since the launch, the Portland team have been busy on planning our event calendar for 2009. In the past few weeks, we have been working on securing venues, sponsorships, lectures, workshop, networking mixer etc… Be sure to join us on Facebook, GIT Portland chapter , regarding upcoming events and info. Also, if you would like to get involved, don’t hesitate to drop me an email ivo@girlsintech.net

Be sure to join us in Portland for our first event launch and social networking mixer get together:

RSVP through Facebook or send me an email ivo@girlsintech.net

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the event!!!