I was one of lucky people invited to the TechCrunch UK launch party on Thursday evening. It was a great evening but unfortunately Mike Arrington didn’t make it… A big shame I thought… but then again… I guess it’s like me not being able to go to each of the girly geek branch first events… (too much to do and never enough time) However it would have been nice if he could have sent a short video or something… Oh well… his choice.
Apart from that one litte disappointment it was a great night full or exciting and interesing people. There were a number of start up companies there and a host of VC’s and investors as well as the usual organisers of the London events. It was rather fun having all the events organisers in one room it doesn’t happen very often!
Anyway I got to speak to lots of people both male and female. The response to “what do you do?” changed over the course of the evening from “I’m a software engineer” to “I program software by day and look after London Girl Geek Dinners by night”. (which is probably more accurate) The responses to this really ranged from how do you find the time, to “I thought the event was for lesbians…” all of which made me smile… where a guy got the idea that the event was for lesbians only is beyond me! Anyway he was corrected… and in case you are wondering, it is open to all people male or female. Only one rule, if you are male then please have the courtesy of bringing one female with you or be invited by one of the girls attending the event already!
I was chatting to one of the event organsiers for the Ruby user group and they were saying that since the London Girl Geek Dinners has been going they are starting to get more girls along. They think it’s great! They love having the diversity, it makes the events a lot more interesting for them. I was soooo happy when I heard about this! It means that London Girl Geek Dinners is actually working!
The idea of the girl geek dinners was to get the girls/ women feeling happier in a social tech environment and not worry about being the only female there… I was also hoping that by providing a way of getting people to meet each other that they would arrange to meet at such events having been to a girl geek dinner. I hope that this trend continues and that it really does help to bring more females into the industry and for those in the industry to not feel like they are the only ones out there!
The number of guys looking to get invites to the dinners is some what amusing… It means that if they want to come along they really do have to find some of those girl geeks that I know are out there and get themselves invited. At least it gives the men a reason to actually take note of the girl geeks around them and maybe they could also be persuaded to help encourage more females into the industry too.
About Sarah Lamb
Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.
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