Inaugural TGGD a Rousing Success!

Thanks to everyone who came out to last night's inaugural Girl Geek Dinner! In my completely unbiased, objective opinion as co-organizer, it was a fantastic success. :)

We had a great turnout (I counted 32 people) and women (and 1 man) of all ages and career stages chatted, socialized, and networked. The elegant and eloquent Sandy Kemsley gave an inspiring speech about the challenges women often face in the tech sector, being outnumbered by men and dealing with an "old boys' network". Lively discussion followed during the Q&A, as many women shared their own thoughts. We're looking forward to an ongoing dialogue on this and future topics here on the blog, so don't be shy!

Photos have been uploaded to Flickr -- check 'em out and if you're in one, tag yourself! I also took a couple of short videos, but unfortunately my 5-year-old digital camera was not up to the task and they ended up full of background noise and very very dark. So our YouTube debut will have to wait until the next dinner!

Mark your calendars now for September 19th! And if you have any suggestions for future venues and/or speakers, please post them on the wiki -- we want to hear from you!

Proud Girl Geek Jen

Dinner Menu at Alice Fazooli's

Hi ladies,
Here’s the menu for the inaugural Girl Geek Dinner at Alice Fazooli’s!

House Salad $ 6.25
Caesar Salad $ 6.95
Tomato Mozzarella Salad $10.95
Grilled Calamari $ 9.95
Choice of:
Fettuccine Carbonara $11.95
Porobello Agnolotti $15.95
Shrimp Angel Hair Pasta $16.95
Chicken Picatta $16.95
Grilled Salmon $18.95
Tuscan Tenderloin $25.95
Choice of:
Chocolate Raspberry Tartufo $ 4.95
Italian Chocolate Brownie $ 5.95
Mascarpone Cheesecake $ 6.95
Share Me Antipasto $15.95
Bruschetta $7.95
Goat Cheese Dip $9.95

What's a Get-Together Without a Door Prize?

No fun - that's what I say!

It's T-minus two days and counting to the inaugural Toronto Girl Geek Dinner (Wednesday June 27th), and it looks like we'll have a full house. If you'd like to attend, please be sure to register on our event wiki so we can be sure to have a place set for you.



Just to build a little excitement, we've got a really nice prize to give away, courtesy of aptly-named Girl Geek Jewellery. This stuff is made with all kinds of tech parts, including resistors, diodes and electric capacitors. Value: $100. We'll draw names from a receptacle of some kind the night of and one lucky winner will leave bejewelled!


More updates to come!

Sandy Kemsley Confirmed As Speaker!

We hope you'll join us on June 27th at Alice Fazooli's. Please register at our event wiki if you're planning to attend - Sandy Kemsley will be our speaker. Sandy will tell us a bit about her firm, the challenges she's faced as a woman in tech as well as sharing lessons she's learned running her own company. There will also be an open Q&A session afterward.

Here's some more info about Sandy:

Sandy Kemsley is an independent analyst, systems architect and blogger, specializing in business process management, enterprise architecture and business intelligence. In addition to her technical background, she has significant knowledge about business operations and is often involved in end-customer projects from business requirements and analysis through technology design and deployment.

During her career of more than 20 years, Sandy has started and run successful product and service companies, including a desktop workflow and document management product company from 1988-90, and a 40-person services firm specializing in BPM and e-commerce from 1990-2000. During 2000-2001, she worked for FileNet (now IBM) as Director of eBusiness Evangelism during the launch of their eProcess BPM product, and was a featured speaker on BPM and its impact on business at conferences and customer sites in 14 countries during that time.

Since 2002, Kemsley has returned to private practice as a BPM analyst and architect, performing engagements for financial services end-user organizations and BPM vendors across North America, and writes the popular "Column 2" blog on ebizQ at www.column2.com. She also creates and delivers BPM and related training courses. She holds a B.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

As always, please be sure to register at our event wiki if you're planning to attend - seating is limited!

Welcome to the Official Blog of the Toronto Girl Geek Dinners

Hi there & welcome!

Our first event is scheduled for Wednesday June 27th, 2007 at 6:30 p.m.

Alice Fazooli's - MAP
294 Adelaide St. W.
(At John Street)
M5V 1P6
Tel. (416) 979-1910

Our speaker is still TBA (recommendations encouraged - ideas can be submitted here or on the wiki!)


And it's sponsored by:

To confirm your attendance, please register on our event wiki - we look forward to seeing you on the 27th!