Girls In Tech

March 9, 2010

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/.

Date:	Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Time:	9:00am – 7:00pm
Location:	Universal City Hilton, Los Angeles

Last month it was that time of year again: Panel Picker Voting for the Annual South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference in Austin, TX. Sound familiar? Check out fellow GIT blogger Kristine Gloria’s post about it here: http://girlsintech.net/2009/08/31/girls-in-tech-at-sxsw-2010/

Each year the public votes online for which proposed panels should make it through to being accepted for the conference. I submitted a panel proposal, titled “Impact of Women in Technology”. Whether the panel makes it through to the final round and becomes an official SXSWi panel or not, I do want to share some of my thoughts on the subject, as well as hear everyone else’s and get some great discussion going on this.

For all you girls out there, was there a female presence that got you excited about tech? Maybe it was a mother, sister, aunt, or friend. Perhaps someone well respected in technology today, like Social Media Strategist Erica O’Grady, or Ad-Village CEO Marissa Louie for example?

If you do have an example like this, what about them or their journey in the tech world inspired or empowered you to pursue your dreams? How important do you think their roles are as pillars of Women in Technology to the future of Women in Tech? For me, two of those people are Tekzilla Co-Host & Gadget Guru Veronica Belmont, & New media producer and star of “The Guild”, Felicia Day. These two women are strong willed, have shown great initiative in their respective spaces, and have become pioneers and tastemakers in the fields of Journalism & New Media.

How have women influenced and changed the face of technology as we know it? This includes anything even remotely tech related, whether it be Journalism, Gaming, PR, Marketing, Social media, & more. Are there any famous cases of companies or brands that have seen great success due to Women in Technology? What issues as a Girl in Tech have you had to face? What issues have other women who’ve made a major impact in technology had to face on their paths to success? What would you tell younger or newer women entering the tech space to help them overcome these hurdles and encourage growth of the amount of women in the tech field?

Why are women in tech important to you, or the Tech Space in general?
I hope this post serves as some great food for thought, & would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and discussion (preferably in the comments below) about this!

Thanks!

September 28, 2009
7:00 pm	to	9:30 pm

We all know someone who shares too much — that girl who tells the whole office about her bad breakup or the guy who insists on going into gory detail about his latest extreme exploits. But most of us know when to draw the line when it comes to lunchtime discussions at the office, chats around the water cooler or meetings with management. It’s a lesson most people learned way back in the days of bologna and bag lunches: different people merit different kinds of discussions. You wouldn’t tell the playground bully the same deep dark secrets you’d spill to your best friend, and you definitely wouldn’t let the teacher in on the stuff you were passing notes about during class. From our first experiences with socialization, we’ve been conditioned to understand the unspoken societal rules that dictate what’s appropriate to share, when it’s appropriate to share it and who it’s appropriate to share it with.

But, social media is a whole different ballgame – especially now. At first, it was easy to know when to share what on the web. Your facebook friends often mirrored your real world friends, and it was easy to insure that the things you shared with those friends didn’t also get broadcast to your boss, your parents and your future potential employers. Now, with cracks beginning to show in the walls around Facebook’s garden, and the burgeoning open web movement connecting your tweets with your status updates, your blips with your blog, it’s become a lot harder to ensure that what you say on the web stays between friends.

So, how do you protect your professional brand while still staying true to your personal identity? How do you maintain a presence on the social web that complements your career goals instead of impeding them? How do you balance a personal web brand with a professional one? These are just a few of the questions we’re just beginning to grapple with as girls in tech — and as the tech industry as a whole. Lately, it seems like every blogger and big name pundit is issuing their own treatise on the topic, and a google search for “tech etiquette” returns over 6 million results, with articles from big names like CNN and Forbes just to name a few.

Clearly, this is one discussion where everyone has an opinion. So, how do you synthesize all of those opinions into a strategy – not just for your company but for yourself? How do you balance the demands of constant connectivity and personal and professional courtesy? And how do you figure out what the right answer is for you? Those are tricky questions, but they are quickly proving to be key components in determining the best social media strategy for yourself and for your brand.

Fortunately, you don’t have to grapple with these issues alone. Since this is a topic on everyone’s minds at the moment, Girls in Tech LA is hosting a discussion about all of these issues and more on September 28th. The event, called “Tech Etiquette – How Much Can you Say Online and Not Tarnish Your Brand” will feature a discussion by the following guest speakers:

*Marsha Collier – Author of 15 “For Dummies” books on ebay/commerce, Host: KTRB Computer & Technology Radio

*Lynn Langit – West Coast Developer Evangelist, Microsoft

*Brette Borow – Founder, GirlsGuideTo.com

Event Details

When: September 28th 7 – 9:30PM

Where: Fox Audience Network

2500 Broadway, 2^nd Floor

Learn More & RSVP

Hope to see everyone there!

Doing it Right is an unparalleled resource for success – a transformative program designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs who want to become dominant players in their sectors. And last year, it expanded across the world.

The format? A comprehensive 6-day workshop, 2 month program of personalized coaching from premier experts and the opportunity to start benefiting from theglobal ecosystem of Angels, VCs, corporations, and entrepreneurs that is Astia.

Who should apply? Exceptional women-led high growth start-ups who know that success is not just about raising money but about growing a business and thriving even in today’s tough market.

Doing it Right is about…

Seizing opportunities to engage with Angel and Venture Capital.

Taking advantage of alternative sources of funding

Crafting an investor pitch to get the wallet from the investor’s pocket

Building defensible financial plans for maximum growth.

Developing a winning valuation and term sheet strategy

Drafting a blueprint for taking and defending significant market share

Bootstrapping to success through customer sales and strategy

Attracting the right team

Apply today if you have…

An innovative idea in either the Technology, Life Sciences or Clean Tech sectors

A high-growth investment opportunity

An exceptional team and business strategy

A significant market opportunity

A defendable competitive advantage

At least one woman in a leadership role (at C level) or in significant position of equity and influence

If content goes up on the internet, and nobody is there to share it, does it really exist? When you’re creating a  website featuring user-generated content, the answer is no.  Why? Because, when it comes to content-based sites, unless something’s going viral, it’s probably not going very far. And the best way to make sure your content is as exposed as Britney’s behind on a bad day, is to make sharing simple and intuitive for your users. At Ranker.com, the site I product manage, we went through a wide variety of options before settling on our current sharing solution — the AddThis button. As the Product Manager, it was my job to evaluate all the options and come up with one that worked for our needs — a process that I’m hoping I can help you alleviate by sharing it here.

In a nutshell, Ranker is a database of over 5 million items that users can drag and drop to quickly create complex lists, which they can then filter, aggregate, share, widgetize, etc. The beauty (and the bane) of our site is the combination of the metadata about each list item that gets dragged into user’s lists right along with the item itself, and the Ajax-heavy interface that makes the whole complicated process seem easy as pie from the user’s perspective. With our users already making lists about everything from “Scary Skinny Actresses I’d Like To Give A Sandwich To” to “The Best Electronics Companies To Get Free Parts From,” providing powerful ways for them to share their creative content has always been a paramount priority for us. So, why did it take us weeks to hook up? Well, because of that darned aforementioned Ajax-heavy UI.

Turns out that Ajax URLs structured like ours don’t like to make friends with Facebook, Twitter, etc. So, when we first implemented both the ShareThis and AddThis buttons to test which free feature-set would be better for our needs, we quickly found out that neither of them were going to work without some tinkering. We briefly toyed with the idea of building our own system, but scrapped that because the off-the-shelf services provided all sorts of analytics that we would have to hook up ourselves in addition to the sharing functionality. Instead, our engineers dove in to both sharing services’ APIs. And, when they finally came up for air, it was AddThis which proved to be the most pliable when it came to putting our permalink in place of our regular URL. The result? A simple sharing interface that allows our users to show off their lists without ever worrying about whether or not a link will work on whatever site they want to share with.

Now, I promise AddThis isn’t paying me to promote them (although, since our site is a startup, I wouldn’t object if they offered). But, I do think that more sharing services should start structuring themselves to handle the anomalies of an Ajax-heavy site. After all, we can’t be the only interactive consumer-facing website out there that’s trying to make the most of the magic of Ajax. Of course, this could lead to my whole rant about how the internet industry in general could seriously use some standardization, but that’s a whole other long-winded post. So, instead, I leave you with the hope that my experiences might help if you’re facing a similar sharing situation. And the promise that I’ll let you know how it turns out when we start tackling Facebook Connect next week.

Well, plenty…

I was hanging out with a friend last night who jailbroke her iPhone. The simple reason she gave for doing so was that it was her phone, she bought it, and she should be able to do whatever she wants on the phone. She then showed me all the amazing applications you could have with a jailbroken phone. She also reminded me that you have access to purchase apps from the App store as well. I thought to myself, why don’t more people jailbreak their phone?

Media Post writes, “For users who really want to use disfavored apps, the only way around Apple’s bans is to “jailbreak” their phones. Problem is, doing so potentially violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anti-circumvention provisions”.

Last week when my application was rejected, Me So Holy, EFF, a digital rights group wrote, “As we’ve said before, Apple is legally within its rights to sell or not sell whatever they choose in their store. But the monopoly they hold on applications for the iPhone means that unless users have the right to jailbreak their phones, they’ll be blocked from enjoying the fruits of 21st century thinking — and 12th century thinking as well!”

At this point there needs to be solution. Either the DMCA makes an exemption for jailbreaking or Apple should allow all applications to be sold within their store.

Watch me on CNN here, read the rejection post here, and check out my other app, the Animalizer here.

Are you a developer interested in creating your own iPhone app?  iPhone Bootcamp NYC is offering a great opportunity to Girls In Tech Austin and Los Angeles members on their upcoming workshops in these two cities.  They are kindly offering ONE full scholarship (value: $1699), plus five (5) 30% scholarships to qualified women from these two cities.

The iPhone Bootcamp is an intensive 3-day workshop for professional developers, taught by long time Mac software developers.  The workshop covers the fundamentals and advanced features of iPhone development and takes participants through individual instruction and hands on exercises. By the end, developers will have gained enough knowledge to create their own iPhone applications.

To apply for the 100 percent scholarship, click on the appropriate Eventbrite link below and enter GIT_1 as the discount code.  To apply for the 30 percent scholarship, enter GIT_2 as the discount code.  Resumes will be taken for the first 15 applicants, up to a cut off time of 11:59pm June 10th. Girls in Tech Austin and Los Angeles representatives will randomly select winners from those who have enough programming background to get through the workshop.

PLEASE BE AWARE: The program is an INTENSIVE 3-day workshop, and assumes you understand the constructs of OOP. Anyone registering for the workshop must have some experience with object-oriented programming, such as Java, .NET, or C++, and all students are interviewed for preparedness before final enrollment.  The program goes straight into the iPhone SDK, so there’s really no opportunity for “catch up.”

Los Angeles Workshop – June 14-16
MEETUP SITE: http://www.meetup.com/iPhone-Boot-Camp-Los-Angeles/
EVENTBRITE REGISTRATION site with discount for GIT http://www.eventbrite.com/event/261829138

AUSTIN Workshop – June 21-23
MEETUP SITE: http://www.meetup.com/Austin-iPhone-Developers-Boot-Camp
EVENTBRITE REGISTRATION site with discount for GIT: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/261829138$

May 27, 2009
7:00 pm	to	10:00 pm

There are some things in this world that really bring people together. Wine is definitely one of them, but have you ever thought of using wine to help you with your career or business? Well, that’s what Julie Brosterman’s seminar series “Close Any Deal Over A Glass Of Wine” is all about.

Julie Brosterman is the Founder/CEO of Women & Wine. Women & Wine is a lifestyle company that creates signature experiences for savvy women (men optional!) who love wine, food, travel and living well. Through their events, and by partnering with the brands they love, Women & Wine connects their members with the people, the places and what’s in the bottle through storytelling (which is their expertise). They also provide lifestyle benefits for women’s organizations and experiential marketing for luxury products. They add a great “tasting element” to all types of events. 

Julie’s seminar “Close Any Deal Over A Glass Of Wine” empowers women in various ways. She shares tips on how to order great wine off the list and save money, to networking at social events to find your next job, to entertaining and throwing high level events, to even asking for financing. Julie is graciously opening up her beautiful home in West Hollywood for this event. Attendees will also have an opportunity to taste and purchase wines straight from her Beverly Hills store, Wine Valet. This is surely not an event to miss!

Please join us on Wednesday, May 27th at 7PM. RSVP and purchase tickets here. Looking forward to seeing you there!

May 1, 2009

1:00 pm

As we all know the US economy was hit hard last year and since then there has been an enormous amount of people who have lost their jobs. I, for one, experienced this first hand by losing my job in October 2008. Not knowing where to turn at first and going into a panic, I decided to work on getting unemployment then figure out my next move. When the time came I thought, what is my next move? If you happen to be out of work and wondering what your next move is and you reside in LA, then I highly recommend attending LaidOffCamp LA.

LaidOffCamp was founded in January 2009 by Chris Hutchins. It is an ad-hoc gathering of unemployed and nontraditionally employed people (including freelancers, entrepreneurs and startups) who want to share ideas and learn from each other.

LaidOffcamp features an open, participatory discussion forum designed to educate, empower, and connect community members. Panels, workshops, and discussions will focus on building your personal brand, transitioning to a new industry, legal and accounting demands of launching a new business, finding affordable health insurance, alternative working spaces, alternative income sources, and how to become a freelancer.

LaidOffCamp LA will be held at Blankspaces, which is the perfect venue for this event. Blankspaces is a sleek, modern, co-working office space. It’s the ideal work space whether you are starting a business, do not have the funds to lease office space, or you have a home-based business and need a change of scene. You can rent space by the hour, day, month, or year. Also, it’s a great space to have events. Girls in Tech LA had their first Incubator event at Blankspaces called Startup Savvy in February.

For more info and to register for LaidOffCamp LA, please click here.