The world found it’s first computer engineer woman in Ada Lovelace during the mid 19th century and its first geek doll in Mattel’s Computer Engineer Barbie announced this past month. However, centuries later there is still plenty that still needs to be done to change the assumption that engineering is a “male profession” around the world.

Through mentoring, education, and outreach to young girls and women, the National Engineers Week Foundation addresses this gender imbalance. One of the Foundation’s premiere events, the Global Marathon, speaks directly to the next generation of women engineers. Set to begin at noon (EDT) on March 10, 2010 and running continuously for 24 hours through noon (EDT) on March 11, the 6th annual Global Marathon, with the theme of “Launching Tomorrow,” provides a unique opportunity for young women engineers across six continents, as well as for middle- school, high-school and university students.

Through continuous conversation, these aspiring professionals will be able to chat about careers and experiences while networking with some of the planet’s most interesting women in engineering and technology. Empowered by the knowledge that a career in engineering has the potential to both change the world, and is within their grasp, these young women are preparing to use their talents, determination and intelligence to positively impact the way we live – now and in the years ahead.

Sound like something you want to check out? Find out more here

Vator invites you to pitch Silicon Valley at Vator Splash May
When: May 13, 2010
Time: 4:30 pm to 12 midnight
Where: Cafe du Nord, San Francisco
Cost: $150 (Girls in Tech get a 20% discount using “Vatorgirls”)

Vator Splash II will be held on the evening of May 13, 2010 at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco and will showcase 10 up-and-coming startups across the high-tech industry, as well as Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, serial entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal (founder of ClickAgents, Blue Lithium and gWallet), Founders Fund VC Dave McClure, August Capital VC Howard Hartenbaum, Mayfield VC Raj Kappor and many more. Once again, Robert Scoble will be on hand to emcee the presentations. About 400 people, consisting of industry peers, investors and media are expected to attend.

Submit an early-stage company to pitch below:
http://vator.tv/competition/vator-splash

Reserve a discount ticket or pitch table (discount code: Vatorgirls):
http://vatorsplashmay.eventbrite.com/

During this high-level event, top Publishers, Agency Executives and Brand Marketers will come together to discuss how Social Media is everywhere and is changing everything.

–>DIGIDAY gives media and marketing leaders a chance to converge and reveal high-level success strategies as well as offer insights on how the future of Social Media Marketing will play out for all.

–>Leading Women Include: Cynthia Neiman, Vice President of Mattel Digital Network, Mattel, Marty Collins, Group Marketing Manager, Windows Digital Marketing, Microsoft, Tameka Kee, editorial director, DIGIDAY, Sarah Hofstetter, Senior Vice President, Emerging Media & Client Strategy, 360i, and many more!

–> We’re partnering with digiday: Social on this event, so Girls in Tech LA Members Save $100 off the registration price. Use this code for your discount: GITDS. Register at https://registration.dm2events.com/event/socialla/.

JB

J. Briganti

Thanks to advanced technology, you know longer need to be a professional photographer to capture a unique moment in time.  Although it is true that photography is an art, even those of us just snapping away as a hobby can achieve exceptional photographs with the right camera in hand.

The Olympus SP-59OUZ will provide you with photographic pleasure.  It is an affordable camera appropriate for someone taking up photography as a hobby and can also be easily enjoyed by all members of the family.  It comes complete with lots of valuable shooting features such as optical zoom, shadow ADJ for brightening the subject against backlight, exposure compensation for adjusting the brightness and macro shooting for taking great close ups.   And let’s not forget the self timer so that all of your family or friends can be in the picture.

Taking a good photo is not really as difficult as you may think.  You don’t need years of experience or the most expensive camera.  What you do need is inspiration.  Where to find it?  It’s all around.  Take time out to notice your natural surroundings including your own garden, local parks or distant landscapes.  Family pets or small animals like birds, squirrels and rabbits make wonderful photos too.   Zoom in on your own family members when they’re not looking for photos with a natural complexion.

Here are some simple steps that you can follow and you’ll be on your way to photographic bliss.

• Get up close and personal to your subject, when possible.
• When shooting animals get down low on their level.
• Hold your camera in a vertical position for a change.
• Look for a simple, uncluttered background.
• Shoot with the sun behind you.
• If your outdoor subject is in the shade, turn on the flash.
• Use a tripod for extra steadiness.
• Make use of macro shooting for great close ups.

In addition to these simple tips, take the time to read your camera’s manual; by doing so you will learn how to operate the different camera modes available.

Have fun and enjoy your photographic journey!

The Flash Gaming Summit is back for its 2nd year! Join in for a one day conference dedicated to fostering the growth and success of the Flash games community. The conference will bring together leaders in the flash game space to share industry insights and strategies on successful game design, development and monetization.

The program includes panel discussions plus a keynote by Jameson Hsu, CEO of Mochi Media. Other panelists include:

* Chris Hughes, FlashGameLicense.com

* Jim Greer, Kongregate

* Vikas Gupta, Social Gold

* Renaun Erickson, Adobe

* Mark Skaggs, Zynga

*David Stewart, Playdom

They will speak on topics such as “Money in Flash: Next Gen Monetization of Flash Games,”  “Everything About Sponsorship & Licensing” and “4 keys to a successful social game that all game developers should know.”

For more info. & to register, go to: http://www.flashgamingsummit.com/index.html

Jump to Register: click here

Women in Games International (WIGI), in partnership with Social Gold, today announced that it will host its 3^rd annual mixer at GDC 2010 on Wednesday, March 10 from 6:00pm – 9:00pm. This year’s industry exclusive VIP party will be will be held at one of the most unique venues in San Francisco — the California Historical Society Museum located a few blocks away from Moscone Center. The reception will bring together innovative developers, publishers, and top leaders from the industry along with great food, drinks, and plenty of excitement. 

Women in Games International works to promote leadership, inclusion, and advancement of women in the global games industry, and is centered around the philosophy that diversifying the game development, media, academic and publishing workplace results in not only a more equitable space, but better products.

“For the 3^rd annual GDC event, we’re focused on expanding awareness among growing and emerging markets within the games industry,” said Asra Rasheed of Women in Games International. “We are delighted to have Social Gold as our title sponsor as they represent our initiative to diversify and encourage involvement from other areas of gaming.

Social Gold provides a full-featured virtual economy platform that enables publishers to create and manage their own white-labeled virtual currency, provide an unparalleled payments experience to their users, and optimize their virtual economy using robust analytics. The company has an experienced and dedicated team founded by former leaders of Amazon.com, who were responsible for engineering such products as Amazon.com’s Flexible Payments Web Service and Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk. 

“As the industry-leading virtual economy platform for powering virtual currency and payment solutions, we are pleased to be officially co-hosting this year’s GDC VIP reception with Women In Games International,” said Vikas Gupta, founder and CEO of Social Gold. “With the growth of the virtual goods market, we see many opportunities to foster this growth among our industry peers, including events like this reception hosted by WIGI.”

Don’t Miss The WEDNESDAY, FEB 17th Event:

UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA

DATE: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

TIME: 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm

LOCATION:
Ninth Street Independent Film Center,
145 Ninth Street (between Mission & Howard Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94103

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
You have Facebook and Twitter accounts, you’ve searched for videos on YouTube, but do you wonder:

* How can I utilize social media to promote my work, raise money, build community, or collaborate?

* How can I measure whether social media is working?

* How can I keep social media from becoming a “time suck”?

Join Bay Area Women in Film and Media (BAWIFM) on February 17, 2010 for a conversation on how to best utilize social media with Social Media Gurus:

Britt Bravo (Big Vision Consulting) @Bbravo

Janet Fouts (Tatu Digital Media) @jfouts

Emily Goligoski (Federated Media) @emgollie

Suzanne Harle (Green Planet Films) @greenplanetfilm

Emi Hofmeister (Real Girls Media) @EmiHof

Rebecca Orlov (Blog Out Loud) @blogoutloud

The program will be as follows:

7:00 – 7:30 pm Registration & Networking
7:30 – 9:00 pm Speaking Program Utilizing Social Media
9:00 – 9:30 pm Questions and Answers

So come with your questions & lots of your business cards…

COST:
Free for all current BAWIFM Members.
Non-Members:
$8 online advance purchase/ $10 on the door
$5 students online advance purchase/ $7 on the door
For more info go to: http://bawifm.org

Join us if you are looking to:
“Own the room” in meetings and interactions
Be a more compelling, persuasive public speaker, or presenter
Overcome the habits that stand in the way of your credibility

About Bronwyn Saglimbeni
For over 15 years, Bronwyn has worked with clients to improve their public speaking and media relations skills, challenging them to bring out more of themselves in their communications. Bronwyn is known for her playful, irreverent approach to coaching, combined with her knack for delivering “tough love” in a way that allows executives to achieve true breakthroughs. In her work in public relations and communications coaching, Bronwyn encourages clients to be authentic, engaging and approachable, which has garnered coverage in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, CNBC and others; and successful speaking engagements at Ad:Tech, AAAAs, Under the Radar, Demo, and other top industry events. Bronwyn has also worked with clients preparing for television appearances including American Idol, The Oprah Show, and Home Shopping Network.

This event will be $10 and open to the public.

Please see the eventbrite page for ticket sales http://powerandpresence.eventbrite.com

I am sure many of you recent-college grads can relate to my short anecdote: I graduated in 2009 with a degree in journalism and began applying to numerous jobs right away. Every e-mail sent felt like throwing another dull dart at a dartboard. To make me feel even worse, the jobs I thought I qualified for – the ones for writers and reporters – required that I know Ruby, Java, C++, and write HTML. Frustrated I considered my options: go back to school and learn computer science? Teach myself with “For Dummies” books? Fortunately, future students won’t have to experience my frustrations thanks to IBM’s new Academic Initiative.

On February 9, in order to make sure no college kid gets left behind when entering the job market, IBM announced the launch of what it calls a free “academic cloud,” basically a bundle of web-based IBM software to help professors teach technology skills to students. The IBM software will allow professors to teach students in many specific and current skills in technology including: software development, information management, web 2.0, and cloud computing.

Not only has IBM realized the trend, but the Department of Labor has noticed as well and recently stated that the majority of jobs in the near future will have a heavy focus on technology and having technical skills, including technical consulting and computer systems design.

So, that begs the question, why the sudden increase in tech? True, we aren’t experiencing the dotcom days of the 90s anymore, but we are witnessing the birth and evolution of web 2.0—social networking and applications. Love them or hate them, Facebook and Twitter have made the masses more comfortable with technology. Pre-social networking, the older generation had no incentive to get online and explore the web. Now, generations old and young, parents and grandparents, are flocking to the sites to find long lost first loves, keep up with buddies from school, and share pictures of their kids.

With more people becoming comfortable with technology and thus tech-savvy, the consumer profile is changing. People Small businesses everywhere are changing the way they market to appeal to the new techie and creating new job descriptions to fill these new voids in the companies—hopefully, with the help of IBM, recent grads will now be prepared.

If you haven’t had the chance to be present for one of Bronwyn Saglimbeni’s workshops, you must. Bronwyn is a seasoned communications professional and works with clients to improve their public speaking and media relations skills, challenging them to bring out more of themselves in their communications.

At the First Annual Girls in Tech Retreat for GIT Managing Directors, Bronwyn and Kristine Shaefer, lead a workshop on public speaking and it was such a success and so helpful that I invited her back down to Santa Cruz for a workshop on ‘perfecting your presentations’ – lucky for me she obliged and I thought I would share some of her key points and takeaways with those of you who weren’t in attendance:

Now, who hasn’t spent countless hours putting together an important presentation only to have your audiences eyes glaze over? Are you as guilty as I am for being one of those to get sleepy in the middle of a PowerPoint? I thought so.

So let’s change the game.

1. Honor the way adults learn
   1. Show, don’t tell
   2. Novelty
   3. Relevance
   4. Emotion
2. Master the art of storytelling
   1. Turn off your computer.
   2. Decide what kind of story works best given the subject and your goals.
   3. What do I want them to… Feel? Think? Do?
   4. What do they need to remember?
3. Practice restraint
4. Be yourself

Now, next time you go to put together a slide deck, think about these simple, but key, points. If you still can’t get it right then maybe you should reach out to Bronwyn for some additional direction