It's a wrap: June 25 Toronto Girl Geek Dinner

Yesterday, once again, I had my mind blown by the awesome energy of the Toronto Girl Geek Dinners. I didn't count noses, or take attendance (and between us we managed to forget to bring name tags), but we had a full house, some pub grub, and a few beverages and lots of great conversations.

Jayne Hoogenberk from eHarlequin gave a wonderful talk about community. I think everyone there would agree that Jayne gave us lots to think about while sharing insights gleaned over more than decade of community management. I scribbled down a few notes for those of you who couldn't make it. If I missed something you caught, please let us know in the comments.

• Community spaces unite the world in an amazing conversation
• Think about simple ways to reward constituents
• Essential to acknowledge people's contributions and that you've heard what they've said
• Establish a rewards and recognition program to encourage and incent active users
• To encourage more participation allow users to comment anywhere and everywhere
• Think about people in your organization who are passionate and get them involved with the community
• Foster a culture of empowerment
• Typical community - 90% of people read/are passive; 9% make some contribution; 1% get really active
• Harlequin community is highly engaged - 75% are back within 24 hours - huge commitment to participating
  
• Encourage positive behaviour and ignore the bad
• Everyone loves contest and games - they cultivate culture and egg on participants in terms of positive and healthy competition
• Showcase and highlight the best of your users. We're living in a cult of personality - highlight key contributions and contributors, make them feel important
• Jayne's best practice for moderation: As nice as you are in real life, be twice as nice online
• Moderate to guidelines, iterate on guidelines by documenting situations and responses as your encounter them
• Facilitate conversation and dialogue be open and transparent in the conversation. You are not a marketing brochure
• Don't warn your users publicly - take it offline
• Don't let negativity get to you - take a deep breath and congratulate yourself that someone is so passionate to get involved and say something. Go with the flow, open up the doors and listen.
• Be patient. Communities simmer a long time before they boil.
  

A special thanks to the Social Media Group for their sponsorship last night. Our sponsors keep Toronto Girl Geek Dinners open to everyone. If you're interested in becoming a sponsor, check out our wiki for details.

There's a bunch of questions and discussions on the Facebook Group, we're looking for feedback on the venue, food and beverage, and timeslot. Let us know what you think!

A bunch of us we're talking about a couple of Toronto Girl Geek summer projects. Rachel suggested a Girl Geek Job Board and I'd like to aggregate all the Toronto Girl Geek blogs into a single feed (also I've been looking for an excuse to learn Yahoo! Pipes). Watch this space.

Have a great summer everyone. We'll see you on September 10 for Sandi Jones from Rogers.

Who's on your "girl geek" reading list?

I just checked the sign-up page on the wiki, and we're booked up to 50 for June 25. Sweet. If you'd like to join us, please add your name to the stand-by list. If you're currently signed up, and have to bail, please remove your name so someone else can take your spot.

Are there any blogs/podcasts out there written by girl geeks who you totally adore? I'm always up for discovering new voices and ideas. Here are three of my favourites:

1. danah boyd

In her words: "My name is danah boyd and I'm a PhD student in the School of Information at Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society. I currently live in Venice, CA. Buzzwords in my world include: identity, context, social network sites, youth culture, social media, performance, Friendster, MySpace, Facebook."

2. Jane McGonigal

Writing at Avant Game, Jane writes "I'm a game designer, a games researcher, and a future forecaster. I make games that give a damn. I study how games change lives. I spend a lot of my time figuring out how the games we play today shape our real-world future. And so I'm trying to make sure that a game developer wins a Nobel Prize by the year 2032."

3. Grammar Girl

Mignon Fogarty is the creator and host of Grammar Girl, a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast, which provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. "Mignon believes that learning is fun, and the vast rules of grammar are wonderful fodder for lifelong study. She strives to be a friendly guide in the writing world. Her arch enemy is the evil Grammar Maven who inspires terror in the untrained and is neither friendly nor helpful."

Who's on your "girl geek" reading list? Let us know in the comments.

photo: No, this is not uploaded by lady pain

Eight more spots open for June 25 event

That's right just eight more spots available for the event on June 25.

Sandy and Qixing were on the stand-by list on the wiki, so I've moved them into 2 of the 10 spots we've just opened up. We're capping the event at 50 so we've got enough seating and room to mingle.

Jenny has arranged with the good folks at Fionn MacCools to have drinks and food available on a cash and carry basis.

This is shaping up to be a great event. Looking forward to it.