London Girl Geek Dinners

OK so this one isn’t strictly a London Announcement but it is useful for any of you planning on going ot the Web 2.0 Expo.

• Cape Fear the movie

A week full of events in Berlin
Web 2.0 Expo Europe (http://europe.web2expo.com/), co-produced by TechWeb and O’Reilly Media, is a conference for web designers and developers, product managers, entrepreneurs, VCs, marketers, and business strategists who are embracing the opportunities created by Web 2.0 technologies.

• Nightwatching movie download

It takes place in Berlin, on 21 – 23 October 2008, and is integrated into a whole week of events, starting with the international Barcamp Berlin 3, a Facebook Developper Garage, some yet unannounced events plus a lot of parties. It truly will be a another step in bringing the European community together.

For an overview of all events, there is a dedicated website called Berlin Web Week:
http://berlinwebweek.de/

You can register with a 35% discount using this code: webeu08gr28
http://en.oreilly.com/webexberlin2008/public/register/

• Dirty Harry movie full

International Barcamp Berlin 3
Before the Expo there is an international Barcamp Berlin 3 with a special list for international attendees (the rest is already fully booked).

http://barcampberlin3.mixxt.org/networks/events/show_event.1755

The Lazarus Child hd

Girl Geek Dinner Berlin
Also there is going to be a Girl Geek Dinner, though it is not decided yet when
exactly it will be held – your input is very much appreciated here:
Zathura: A Space Adventure ipod
http://girlgeekdinner.de/entry/29/ggd_berlin_during_web_20_expo

• Braveheart divx

Following the success of the London Girl Geek Dinner 3 year Anniversary we have been fortunate enough to gain access to Microsoft’s Auditorium for one of our biggest events yet.  We have an awesome speaker lineup including none other than the wonderful Julie Lerman of The Data Farm and the inspirational Dr Elizabeth Kelan bringing with them a wealth of expertise, knowledge and experience for us all to learn from.

The Talks

• 13 Moons divx

Julie Lerman: “Defining the –ette in Geekette”

Twenty years ago, Julie Lerman learned that she had to act and dress like the guys in order to fit into the IT Industry. Today she’s found that the cover-up is no longer necessary. Many of her “girly” qualities have become advantageous in a world of geeks where she now speaks at conferences all over the world and has just finished writing her first programming book for O’Reilly Press. Julie will share with the London Girl Geeks some of this historical perspective and lessons learned.

Bio

Julie Lerman is an independent consultant and .NET Mentor who has been designing and writing software applications for over 20 years. Julie is the author of “Programming Entity Framework” (O’Reilly) and is well known in the .NET community as a Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider and INETA Speaker. She is a prolific blogger, a frequent presenter at conferences around the world and author of articles in many technical publications. Julie lives in the tiny U.S. state of Vermont where she runs the Vermont.NET User Group and serves on the board of the Vermont Software Developers Alliance. You can read Julie’s blog at www.thedatafarm.com/blog

buy Arlington Road

Dr Elisabeth Kelan – Innovation, Technology and Gender Stereotypes

In this talk Dr Elisabeth Kelan will talk about two pieces of research she conducted at the Lehman Brothers Centre for Women in Business at London Business School (http://www.london.edu/womeninbusiness.html). The first research takes a look at the impact gender proportions have on innovation in teams. By studying knowledge intensive teams, the research shows that teams with equal proportions of men and women perform particularly well in regards to innovation indicators. In the second part of this talk, Elisabeth will address the importance of gender stereotypes at work. Drawing on examples from the Ladygeek research (www.ladygeek.org.uk) and cutting edge academic insights, Elisabeth will highlight why making gender stereotypes visible at work is crucial to work with them creatively.

Harper video

Dr Elisabeth Kelan is senior research fellow in the Lehman Brothers Centre for Women in Business at London Business School (http://www.london.edu/womeninbusiness.html). Elisabeth has researched best practices in relation to gender in organisations and gender, team composition and innovation. Elisabeth has also focused on gender relations in high-tech businesses, gender representations in popular management literature, and the so-called “glass-ceiling”. Her current research interests include identities in organisations, socialisation into organisational cultures, young professionals and technologies at work. Elisabeth has presented her research internationally, published widely, and has received various awards for her research. She has provided advice to supranational and business organisations and is co-authoring the Lady Geek blog (www.ladygeek.org.uk) with Belinda Parmar. She is also founder of Athena Associates (http://www.athena-associates.com), a consultancy that specialises in advising organisations in respect to gender and diversity. Prior to her appointment at London Business School, Elisabeth worked at the University of Zurich as well as at the London School of Economics and Political Science where she also received her PhD.

If you would like to attend this event there are spaces for 150 people.  The details of the event can be found on our sign up page.

There are three rounds of tickets being released.

Round 1 9pm 15th September

Edges of Darkness film

Round 2 7pm 16th September

Round 3 9pm 30th September

This should give people the opportunity to plan their time and be able to get hold of tickets for the event.

Friday the 13th Part 2 rip

London Girl Geek September Event :: Superstruct ‘Play the Game, Invent the Future’

• Date & Time: Tuesday, 30th September 2008 from 7pm
• Venue: Worshipful Company of Information Technologists’ Hall
• Format: Brain/Blamestorming to Invent the Future
• Capacity: 60 people
• Attendees: Sign Up to Superstruct! – As ever, Boy Geeks are welcome to attend if invited by a Girl Geek

We’re doing something different for September’s Girl Geek Event, we’re inventing the future! We’re going to complete Superstruct Missions to focus on ways to address the below-listed five Superthreats (from the Superstruct game site) that may face Earth’s inhabitants in the year 2019. So if you’d like to join us at the WCIT, please reserve your place here and we’ll provide the lowdown as all is announced on 22nd September when the game launches.

Girl Geeks of the World Unite - It would be fantastic to have our fellow Girl Geeks in other countries also join us for the 30th September in their own location if they’re interested – as this is more a game event and informal get-together then just holding the event at a local pub/cafe might be a nice option! If you’d like to arrange this just email nicole dot mathison at londongirlgeekdinners.co.uk who will send you links and materials to run your local workshop!

Superstruct is the world’s first massively multiplayer forecasting game. By playing the game, you’ll help us chronicle the world of 2019–and imagine how we might solve the problems we’ll face. Because this is about more than just envisioning the future. It’s about making the future, inventing new ways to organise the human race and augment our collective human potential. *The Superstruct story starts SEPT 22 and the game launches OCT 6.

Free Willy release

The five Superthreats are:

OUTLAW PLANET - In 2019, the mobile internet and sensor networks we rely on to hold our societies together are being hacked, griefed, and gamed.

GENERATION EXILE – In 2019, our neighbors are climate refugees and economic collapse victims who are swarming the planet, looking for a place to live.

QUARANTINE – In 2019, Respiratory Distress Syndrome is here, and it’s not going anywhere. Outbreaks are just something we live with.

POWER STRUGGLE – In 2019, we’re all caught up in the “alternative fuel” wars as the world fights over what will take the place of oil.

RAVENOUS - In 2019, the food chain is broken. So we’re inventing new ways to feed ourselves.

For more info. visit Superstruct

The Devil’s Advocate film

• Black Irish movie download

 and the Superstruct Facebook Group to sign up for news and updates!

If you’d like to get involved before the 30th September events then participate in the Advance Missions, for example, read the dinner 2019 stories people have submitted, based on the question, “You’re you, but ten years in the future. What are you having for dinner, where are you living, and what are you thinking or talking about?” Visit http://www.iftf.org/node/2098 and submit your own.

Many thanks to Anne Stafford at iT4Communities and Barry Easton from the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists for helping arrange this event!

Son of the Mask rip

Wow what can I say… it’s been an amazing three years… I still can’t believe that they have gone so fast and how the events have grown over the years.  Looking back at that very first Girl Geek Dinner I don’t think I could ever have imagined that one little idea ending up as far reaching and as well recieved as it has been.   I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.  Its all one very big adventure and I’m looking forward to seeing what unfolds in the next few years!

So now that I’ve got over being all sentimental about it… lets get down to the details of what happened at the 3 year anniversary which we were fortunate enough to hold at the Google offices.  First of all we had a great dinner courtesy of the Google’s hospitality and catering facilities.  They do wonderful food and were great hosts for this event.

We kicked off the evening with a presentation from Google’s very own Karen Groenink who spoke on UI design, the thoughs behind some of the design work that went into the YouTube mobile UI and some of the challenges of working with mobile devices.

After this we went and moved onto Technology and Schools with Drew Buddie who is a teacher at a London School.  He spoke about the technologies that schools use, the challenges that they face and some of the solutions that they have come up with to get children involved with technology.

And finally we had the discussion on Work Life balance hosted by Dr Al James who has been researching this subject in depth.  The session was well structured, focusing on key aspects of work life balance and bringing forward suggestions to problems when balancing work and home life.

The video from all the sessions will follow in due course, however in the meantime I’ve placed some of the slides onto slideshare for you to browse.  We will post the video up as soon as it’s been edited and uploaded!

If you would like to read what others have said about this event then feel free to take a look here:

Girl Geek Dinner 3rd Birthday @ Google Towers

Girl Geek Dinner at Google and other stories

Happy Birthday Girl Geek Dinners!

• The Devil’s Advocate trailer

Climbing Mountains to The Cloud

Girl Geek Dinner in London at Google

Dining with girl geeks at Google

Partying it up Google style

Girl Geek Diner – 3 Year Anniversary

Girls Geek Dinner @ Google The Lake House download

Now that Developer Day voting is open the competition to an MSDN subscription is closed. We ended up with three potential female speakers, one from an MVP, Bev Hatchard who spoke at DDD Scotland and is now bitten by the presenting bug, one from Chris Hart

The Firm rip

on virtual worlds and a submission from Helen Emerson

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Now the competition was going to end when voting ended; but as Bev is an MVP and already has an MSDN subscription and Chris has a subscription from Dave Sussman that leaves Helen. This isn’t a win by default; Helen has been ramping up her talks at usergroups as well, so last night when she spoke at my usergroup last week I presented her with her prize; please enjoy it Helen!

From speaking to a few others some potential speakers had considered it but were too nervous to attempt it; this is perfectly understandable – my first speaking engagement was a favour for a friend at work who forgot to tell me it was for a major conference and there could be up to 100 people in the room. Nerves are unfortunately part of it, they never go away and I’m not sure how to address that. If you’re one of the nervous folks would a mentor help? I’ve been thinking about this for a while and popping emails back and forth between a few of us; the community needs more speakers – how can the community help you overcome your nerves or objections and get you up to the front?

If you missed the change to submit for DDD you have another option. With REMIX around the corner on 18/19^th September 2008, once again the community is gearing up to provide its own unique brand of  “entertainment while you learn” plus opportunities for all members of the UK Community to take part in events and promote their groups and themselves.

To that end, the REMIX team are organising another Speaking Competition along the lines seen at TechEd and the UK Launch.  The community team is offering a fantastic opportunity to do just this by offering the chance to speak at a major event to your user group members.  In the process they can get some help in improving their speaking skills plus have a chance to win an Xbox 360!  Yes “Ready Steady Speak” is back for REMIX.

The Secret of NIMH rip For those of you not familiar with it, the format is as follows;

Contestants will present a 5 minute session on a subject of their choice relating to Web Development or Web Design.  They will present in front of the REMIX audience and in front of a panel of judges.  If there are more than a  certain number of contestants (TBD), there will be ‘heats’ earlier in the day with the winners of the heats in a ‘speak-off’ in the evening session.  The ‘speak-off’ will take place as stated in the evening of the first day of MIX and the first prize is an XBox 360 and some goodies!

• Kill Switch dvdrip

Mandatory Prerequisites:

• Speakers must NOT have previously presented ‘full sessions’ at DDD, TechEd, DevWeek, SDN, SQLBITS, VBUG Conference, NxtGenUG FEST or any similar such conferences.
• Speakers must create a new session of their own with new material which can be based on existing material but cannot be a simple copy of it.
• Speakers must limit their session to as close to 5 minutes as possible (overrunning time will cause the speaker to be marked down.)
• Speakers must not have previously won Speaker Idol or “Ready Steady Speak” UK Launch
• Speakers must state their desire to enter the competition by no later than COP Monday 15^th September 2008.

Escape from L.A. movies Desirable

• Speakers should provide if at all possible their own laptop, but one can be provided if necessary.  The speaker should notify the organisers of any software prerequisites.
• Speakers should have spoken previously at a User Group meeting even if only for a 10 min mini-session or ‘nugget’.  This is NOT mandatory.

This is a great starting point for your speaking “career”; all you need is a five minute topic and the feedback you receive will be constructive and helpful, unlike the real Pop Idol. If this is tempting then Dave McMahon is the person to email.