Girls In Tech

…And that’s just what I’ll be doing on September 10 all over a little piece of heaven I like to call the Saks Fifth Avenue shoe department.  Louboutin ankle boots…Chloé knee-high pebbled leather… I think “I just found me a brand new box of matches, yeah!”

Join Girls in Tech LA and shop for a cause on September 10 at GITLA’s Fashion’s Night Out event at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, benefiting Dress for Success.  With 15% shopping discounts, rock star makeovers, swag bags, and cocktails, is there any way this event could get even more fabulous? Actually, there is…

Attendees can enter to win a pair of must-have Fall boots from 10022-SHOE – an even bigger piece of heaven located at Saks on Fifth Avenue in NYC.  (A shoe department so big, it has its own zip code. Yes, that’s right, its own zip code!) I told you, FABULOUS!

So take a walk around the 90210 shoe department on September 10, enter to win, and let your feet celebrate Fashion’s Night Out!

What: Girls in Tech Presents: Fashion’s Night Out sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue
When: Friday, September 10 from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Tickets: Click here!

“…Are you ready, boots? Start WALKIN’!!”

Girls in Tech is pleased to announce our newest strategic partner A Gadsby Affair. A Gadsby Affair, LLC is a full-service boutique marketing firm that helps businesses achieve maximum impact in their target market, gain and retain customers and build brand awareness through unique and customized events & experiences.

Founder and CEO Hillary Gadsby has provided service for renowned brands in the US and European luxury industry.  Hillary has collaborated with Ralph Lauren, Gucci and Vera Wang and has created successful advertising campaigns, event planning and strategic marketing for Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations and foreign dignitaries.

This year, a Gadsby Affair has serviced The Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club, Kellogg & Andelson Accountancy Corporation, Convergence Capital Partners LLC Woodcraft Rangers, Friends of Ballona Wetlands and Los Angeles Consulting Group. Hillary holds title as the Director of Strategic Events for CSQ Magazine and serves on the executive board for Business Forums International’s West Los Angeles Chapter.

Her current projects include California United Bank, Hemancipation, Young President’s Organization, Roozt.com and of course Girls in Tech’s upcoming fashion event at Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills.

Hillary Gadsby can be contacted at:

(805) 758-1524
hillary@agadsbyaffair.com

http://www.agadsbyaffair.com/

During a panel discussion at the Western Foodservice and Hospitality Expo in Los Angeles this past weekend, a Los Angeles chef brought up the topic of Yelp reviews.  While this chef was in mid-sentence, Yelp’s Business Outreach Manager Luther Lowe happened to be walking by and stepped into the room to join the conversation.

An interesting discussion ensued, focusing on issues related to negative reviews by Yelpers with no restaurant or culinary training and the increasing need for chefs (and other local business owners) to join the Yelp conversation.  

With over 12 million user reviews and approximately 33 million views per month,* the power of Yelp’s word of mouth loud speaker is having a significant impact on local restaurants.  Yelp has given millions of users the power to review restaurants’ chefs, menu items, wine lists, drink specialties, service, and ambiance and publish to an audience of millions of viewers – a power that was once reserved only for professional food and wine writers working for traditional publications.

As a result, Yelp is changing the way restaurateurs and chefs interact with their customers, as well as the way they must handle both their formal and informal public relations and marketing efforts.

On the positive side, Yelp is making the world of restaurant reviews a more democratic process rather than an elitist one.  This process allows local restaurants which might not have received attention from traditional print or online food writers to receive a new type of media attention that can be a powerful force in generating new customers.   In addition, Yelp allows restaurateurs, chefs, and front-of-the-house managers to receive real-time customer feedback that they can use to quickly evaluate and adjust everything from their menu choices to hiring choices.

On the negative side, for many chefs and restaurateurs who have amassed years of training in the culinary arts and whose restaurants are the result of considerable blood, sweat, and tears, Yelp’s democratic force in the world of reviews means that reviewers with no understanding of or training in the restaurant industry or the culinary arts can slam a chef for one off night or because they don’t understand what a particular dish is supposed to taste like.

Also problematic is the fact that the democratic masses of reviewers are not part of the traditional institution of journalism, which carries with it principles of responsible reporting (in theory at least…).  An average Yelp reviewer is not likely to research the chef, his or her past experience, or the background of a particular menu’s cuisine influences before writing a good or bad review as would a traditional food critic.

The power of Yelp, however, is a reality that restaurants and other local businesses must now take into account in their business practices.  As Yelp’s Lowe emphasized, businesses have an important voice on Yelp.  Yelp provides businesses with the ability to take ownership of their listings by unlocking them on the site, allowing businesses to put information out there for the Yelp audience.  Yelp also provides businesses with the ability to respond to reviews both publicly and privately, giving them an equal voice in the conversation and a means to reach out to customers who had negative experiences.

Lowe also emphasized Yelp’s efforts to maintain the integrity of the site’s reviews.  As he explained in a follow-up conversation, Yelp employs a filtering technology to help ensure (to the best of its ability) that only trustworthy reviews end up on businesses’ pages. **

While it can be overwhelming for chefs, restaurateurs, and other business owners to have an endless parade of critics to contend with, social media outlets such as Yelp are here to stay and will continue to play an important role in influencing consumer decision-making.  Only restaurants and other businesses that take a proactive approach to social media, incorporating this new force into their marketing plans, will be able to take advantage of its benefits.

* See http://www.yelp.com/about

** For more information about Yelp’s filter system, watch this: Yelp\’s Review Filter

Meredith D. Williams is on the executive board of Girls in Tech LA and writes for girlsintech.net on topics ranging from wine technology to the intersection of law and technology. In her day job, Meredith is a partner at Miller | Williams LLP, an employment litigation and counseling law firm.  She helps businesses handle employment issues, including legal compliance, hiring, discipline, terminations, sexual harassment, workplace policies, disability accommodations, medical and pregnancy leave, and wage and hour, counseling them on a day-to-day or situation-by-situation basis and defending them against employee lawsuits. Follow Meredith: @MerEsqLA and caemployersresources.com

This is an annual favorite, with a big turnout. So register early!

Use member discount code: GITLA

http://www.witi.com/regforms/chapter_meeting_registration_form.php?id=2370

Join us for a fun evening of networking and socializing with the tech savvy community of Los Angeles! Come one, come all, bring your business cards, and schmooze with us as we enjoy the summer weather and good company!

Men are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Complimentary Hors d’ Oeuvres. Cash bar. Bring a light sweater/jacket as the event is outside.

ADP to raffle off an Apple iPAD 16GB Wi-Fi with 3G
iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G offers superfast data speeds up to 7.2 Mbps over 3G cellular networks around the world. It’s perfect when you’re out and about with no access to a Wi-Fi network, because you can still get a fast connection for surfing the web, sending and receiving email, or getting directions. Since iPad seamlessly switches between 3G and even faster Wi-Fi, you always get the best connection available. And with AT&T data plans, you’ll have access to over 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots.

Cornerstone OnDemand will raffle off a dinner for 2 people at the Penthouse, the Huntley Hotel’s Rooftop Restaurant, in Santa Monica. Enjoy The Penthouse, LA dining and nightlife soars to breathtaking new heights. Venture into the Santa Monica restaurant and ultra lounge that pulses with excitement 18 stories above the California shore.

Event Date and Venue

This event will be held from 6PM – 9PM on Thursday, August 19, 2010 at:

Shanghai Red’s
13813 Fiji Way
Marina Del Rey, California 90292
Map

Girls in Tech Los Angeles has been kicking butt and taking names.  Our most recent event at the Hotel Erwin’s High Lounge was a mix of some of LA’s premier social media circle and our first sold out event.  Attendees sipped our signature GITinis while overlooking the gorgeous pacific ocean views.  

Girls in Tech LA has been partnering with local and national social media companies such as Digiday, Women in Technology International (WITI) and New Media Vault just to name a few.

Our core team has been working diligently to bring you the best in content and events here in the LA area.  A huge thank you must be given to our Media Director Mollie Vandor as well as our core LA team; Heather Meeker, Dimple Thakkar, Christine Kirk, Meredith Williams, Lauren Berger, Stacey Soleil and Rachel Blum.  We could not have built such an incredible community without your support.

Stay tuned for our Social Fashion Beauty Summit September 10th sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue .  It promises to be our best event yet.

If you don’t already know the fabulous Girl in Tech @CathyBrooks this is a powerful workshop and opportunity to work one-on-one with her.

Thanks to popular demand, Other Than That is proud to be bringing another installment of Story Navigation to Southern California.  Even more fabulous, because of her sponsors, limited scholarships are available.

What is Story Navigation?

I’ll answer that question with another question … What’s your story?

It’s a common enough query, and when presented in a business setting it generally results in a common enough response – a recitation of the C.V.

Think about the most compelling professional stories you’ve heard. The stories that captured your attention and motivated you to act. Whether explicit or not, those tales share at least one thing in common – a deep connection to the teller’s personal motivation. Making that critical connection between “who” and “what” is hard to do. Take this workshop and you’ll learn how, and if you’re someone who already has a pretty strong grasp, you’ll get tips to help make your solid foundation even more powerful.

In this workshop you will learn:

• How to deconstruct your existing professional story
• To identify and/or better explain your personal “motivation” for your work
• Tips for crafting a more compelling story
• New questions to ask of other people (getting to *their* story)

You will walk out with:

• A well-defined personal “elevator pitch” that serves in business and can be modified for myriad uses/audiences.

For more information on Story Navigation, please visit the workshop web site.

For more information on your navigator, Cathy Brooks, you can check out this link.

If you’re a gamer like myself, you’ve probably heard of the electronic entertainment expo, or E3. It’s one of the biggest conventions used to preview up-and-coming and recently released video games, accessories, attire, and much much more. I’ve had the opportunity to check out this convention for the past several years, and would like to share some of my thoughts on the highlights and changes that have occurred during this time.

After walking the halls of the convention for hours and hours, what really stood out is how much the entertainment industry has merged with the video game industry. Just 5-10 years ago Hollywood was on top of the world and gamers were more of an underground or basement crowd existing completely independently of each other. Now with the recessive economy, Hollywood is losing revenue while the gaming industry is maintaining it’s numbers. Once a power house, the movie market has now switched positions with the gaming industry. There’s a boost in game development and its takers, and entertainment is begging for a chance to play a part in anything gaming.

Take for example the highlight of the show: Nintendo’s 3DS. Nintendo truly outdid themselves with this new intriguing handheld console. As the name implies, the new features include two cameras on the back which allow for taking 3D pictures, and the ability to play games in 3D. However after the 30 minute wait to get a hands-on look at this new device, the majority of uses I saw were not gaming related, but entertainment. During the preview it wasn’t so much the games, but the movies that were highly stressed. “You can watch regular movies in 3D on the Nintendo 3DS!”, I was told. Now as amazing as I think it is to be able to watch movies on a game console, I started to wonder how it became as much or more about movies as gaming.

Looking around the halls there is more integration of entertainment and gaming than ever before. Most popular movies today are being turned into video games, as well as the other way around. There have been rumors about the online game World of Warcraft being turned into a movie. A game that is being played by a whopping 12 million people. Such a following would be a sure box office success.

This strange evolution from people watching movies or playing video games independently to a world where a movie or a game enhances the overall experience is amazing. In a short time these two very different industries found a way to combine their strengths and bring two audiences into the same circle. I believe this is a positive turn of events for gamers everywhere and I hope this trend continues, and the these two communities continue to grow in unison.

You may remember that in my last blog entry I informed our readers that many lawyers are now using blogs as a marketing tool to promote themselves, their law firms, and their expertise.  The typical employment law blog, however, is usually far from interesting.  They often include items such as riveting summaries of the latest wage and hour cases and settlements along with “helpful” tips.  I can summarize an example for you here: Wal-Mart agrees to pay $86 million to settle wage and hour claims for alleged failure to pay former California workers for overtime and unused vacation pay.  (See In re Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wage and Hour Litigation.) To avoid class actions like the one filed against Walmart, it is important to make sure your company policies are up to date with current law.  Your employment lawyer can help you avoid Wal-Mart’s mistakes.  YAWN!  

Thankfully, Mark Tosh, employment lawyer and Chief Legal Officer of Manpower Inc.’s* North America Operations, has created a better kind of legal “blawg” – the Manpower Employment Blawg.  Highlights from the “blawg” include: Tosh’s weekly legal analysis of NBC’s “The Office”, covering both serious issues and seriously funny jokes; regular contests for readers and webinar viewers to win prizes by spotting fake laws and missed legal issues from his “Office” analyses; a link to the best lawyer jokes; and Tosh, himself, playing Elvis in the video “How To Hire If You Want To Get Fired.”

In addition to providing witty and interesting content, Tosh’s “blawg” also provides a credible and reliable source of informative legal tips and resources for executives and human resources professionals, including “cheat sheets” on numerous employment laws, legal news updates, a sample social media policy for the workplace, and a great piece on “Why You Should Care About Employment Law.” You can also follow the Manpower Employment Blawg on Twitter at @manpowerblawg.

Meredith D. Williams is an employment lawyer in Los Angeles, California and a partner at Miller | Williams LLP, an employment litigation and counseling law firm, providing businesses of all sizes, as well as selected employees, experienced and cost-effective legal services in a wide range of employment-related litigation and counseling matters, including matters involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage and hour issues.

Contact Meredith at mwilliams@millerwilliamslaw.com

*Manpower Inc. is a world-wide recruiting, staffing, and human resources consulting firm headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

This weekend was the first annual Fashion Camp LA.  Fashion Camp is a weekend-long conference that brings together members of the mainstream fashion, independent fashion, and technology communities. Participants explore the future of fashion through workshops, panel discussions, and presentations.

Anyone with an idea is welcome to present, lead a workshop, or organize a panel discussion. One of the main tenets of Fashion Camp is that everyone is expected to participate by presenting, volunteering, or by being an active part of a discussion.

Fashion Camp LA 2010 covered a range of topics from Developing QR code campaigns, augmented reality and wearable technology, to digital lookbooks, the legalities behind fashion and the new rules of fashion PR.  Stay tuned for more events from Fashion Camp in your city.

Visit the website for complete details: http://www.la.fashioncamp.org/

Laurel Kaufman, Esq.
Managing Director Girls in Tech Los Angeles

www.ak-cg.com

As we submerge ourselves deeper and deeper into the chasm that is social media, we are beginning to see the affect and evolution IRL (in real life).  The most humorous of these real life interactions is, of course, meeting a person IRL who you know only be their avatar.

It’s a little like online dating.  You get excited about the back and forth, the witty repartee on your social media drug of choice, and develop expectations that the real person will be even better  Sadly the trend seems is to the contrary.  In fact, as I traverse the social media event scene in Los Angeles, I have come across more avatars in real life and come to the realization that my social media induced fantasies have been reduced to little more than pixels.  Of course this is not always the case.  There are many sparking avatars that we come to love as real life people, capable of human interaction, in spite of the fact that their avatars look infinitely better than their real life counterparts (again, much like online dating).

Most recently, I had an experience that exemplifies the growing disconnect between online interaction and real life.  For many weeks I had been tweeting with an avatar who seemed to be in a similar social circle, in fact I had met him many times before in passing.  Many replies, retweets and DMs later, we found ourselves together at an event.  We shook hands, made small talk and enjoyed the evening in close proximity, interfacing with each other and those around us.  The very next day in response to a tweet about the previous night’s event I got a message stating how sorry he was that he missed me.  I thought to myself, “this is why we wear name tags while networking”.  The question is whether we should be offended by this disconnect.  Is it disingenuous interaction or just a slip of social graces more prevalent than ever due to the abundance of communication methods, handles and titles.

The takeaway?  Weblebrities (as they have come to be known), have usually created online personas for a reason.  Leave them there, keep your web fantasies intact and grab an Us Weekly.

Laurel Kaufman
Managing Director Girls in Tech, LA
www.ak-cg.com