Toronto Girl Geek Dinners

Celebrating Ada Lovelace Day!

2010-03-24T08:55:00.003-05:00

The Toronto Girl Geek Dinner community is full of amazingly talented geeks, technologists, developers, web designers, engineers, social media knowledge workers, technology innovators, technology entrepreneurs and the very internet savvy.

Today we honour you: each of our presenters and our attendees. This community shines because of your effort to share your knowledge and experience.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

Looking forward to our next conversations.

TGGD with Carol Leaman, CEO, PostRank

2010-03-16T09:25:00.005-05:00

Toronto Girl Geek Dinner: Carol Leaman, CEO, PostRank
When: Monday, April 5, 2010
Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Where: Fionn MacCools (181 University Ave at Adelaide) (map)
Fee: $10.00 (This nominal fee holds your spot and will pay for your first drink.)

Sign Up at Meetup.com

Join us for Toronto Girl Geek Dinner #19

Founded in 2007 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, PostRank (originally AideRSS, Inc.) monitors and collects social engagement events correlated with online content in real-time across the web. PostRank gathers where and when stories generate comments, bookmarks, tweets, and other forms of interaction from a host of social hubs. Publishers and people interested in their content use PostRank Data Services and Analytics to gauge influence and reach with audiences.

Carol Leaman, CEO of PostRank, will talk to us about how she identifies opportunities and helps companies achieve their potential. Her background includes management consulting, virtual reality and software. She'll share some of her tips for entrepreneurs and talk about what's on the horizon for social engagement monitoring and PostRank.

More TGGD Details:

The formal portion of the program kicks off at 7:00. Folks usually gather between 6:00 and 7:00. Meals/drinks are cash & carry. We charge a $10.00 fee to sign up for the event. This money will be directly allocated to your first drink. If you sign up to attend, please come. Our events frequently sell out and we have many people on the wait list. If you can't attend, please change your RSVP so that it opens your spot to others who want to join us.

TGGD with Leigh Honeywell: January 25th, 2010

2010-01-15T18:45:00.011-05:00

Toronto Girl Geek Dinner: Leigh Honeywell on Disclosure Matters: Learning to Listen to Security Researchers
When: Monday, January 25th, 2010
Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Where: Fionn MacCools (181 University Ave at Adelaide) (map)
Fee: $10.00 (This nominal fee holds your spot and will pay for your first drink.)

Sign up to join us at Meetup.com

TGGD #18: Leigh Honeywell on Disclosure Matters: Learning to Listen to Security Researchers

Leigh Honeywell is a jane of many trades. She works as a Malware Operations Engineer at Symantec while finishing up a degree at the University of Toronto. By night (and sometimes over lunch) she is a co-founder and director of HackLab.TO, Toronto's hacker space. She also serves on the board of advisors of the SECtor security conference, is a Google Summer of Code mentor, as well as an avid cyclist, book nerd, and traveller. (Bio via: Pycon 2010)

Leigh will give us a brief overview of her career thus far, and offer some insights into success, failure and lessons learned. Then she's going to give us a talk relevant to any company or organization which produces software or has a public-facing website. When security researchers discover bugs which impact the confidentiality, availability, or integrity of data, they are faced with a tough challenge: how to get information to the right people, and ensure that things get fixed or mitigated so that users are protected. Drawing on lessons from the free and open source software communities, Leigh will talk about how hackers (the good kind!) wish you'd deal with security vulnerability disclosure.

More TGGD Details:

The formal portion of the program kicks off at 7:00. Folks usually gather between 6:00 and 7:00. Meals/drinks are cash & carry. We charge a $10.00 fee to sign up for the event. This money will be directly allocated to your first drink at dinner. If you sign up to attend, please come. Our events frequently sell out and we have many people on the wait list. If you can't attend, please change your RSVP asap so that it opens the door to others who might want to join us.

The Semantic Web and Artifical Intelligence: December 9th, 2009

2009-11-23T20:26:00.025-05:00

Toronto Girl Geek Dinner: The Semantic Web and Artificial Intelligence
When: Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 10:00pm
Where: Fionn MacCools (181 University Ave at Adelaide) (map)
Fee: $10.00 (This nominal fee holds your spot and will pay for your first drink.)

TGGD #17: Dr. Sheila McIlraith, Computer Science, University of Toronto

What is the Semantic web and how will it change our lives and how we use the Internet? How far off is Artificial Intelligence - the stuff of dreams, books and movies? What type of research is happening in the robotics field right in our own city?

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Sheila McIlraith, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, as our featured speaker for our final Toronto Girl Geek Dinner of 2009.

As our guest speaker, Sheila will touch upon the following topics:

cognitive robotics -- creating thinking robots
what cognitive robotics has to do with the semantic web
some of the long-term societal influences of AI research

Sheila McIlraith is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto. Prior to joining U of T, Prof. McIlraith spent six years as a Research Scientist at Stanford University, and one year at Xerox PARC. McIlraith's research is in the area of knowledge representation and reasoning. She has 10 years of industrial R&D experience developing artificial intelligence applications. McIlraith is the author of over 50 scholarly publications. She is an associate editor of the journal Artificial Intelligence and past program co-chair of the International Semantic Web Conference. McIlraith's early work on Semantic Web Services has had notable impact. Her research has also made practical contributions to the development of next-generation NASA space systems and to emerging Web standards.

We're also really thankful for our awesome sponsor Hover. Check them out at Hover.com for your Domain and Email needs.

What's the Semantic web?

Here are two examples to get you thinking:

Hunch is a decision-engine designed to take our question responses and calibrate them. It is a teaching engine that gets smarter the more your share your responses. Who knows where that will lead us!

Or, take this new beta project by Xtranormal which allows simple instructions to build animation. Creating this web content is very intuitive and is just steps away anticipating your style or your content needs.

More TGGD Details:

The formal portion of the program kicks off at 7:00. Folks usually gather between 6:00 and 7:00. Meals/drinks are cash & carry. We charge a $10.00 fee to sign up for the event. This money will be directly allocated to your first drink at dinner. If you sign up to attend, please come. Our events frequently sell out and we have many people on the wait list. If you can't attend, please change your RSVP asap so that it opens the door to others who might want to join us.

Toronto Girl Geeks on [video]

2009-11-16T10:12:00.006-05:00

Toronto Girl Geek members rock! Here's a brief video all about Toronto Girl Geek Dinners and our November 9th, 2009 event: "The Future of Media".

Thanks to all those who participated. Here's to more great events.

Report from TGGD #16: The Future of Media

2009-11-10T08:31:00.003-05:00

Toronto Girl Geek Dinner’s 16th meet up on November 9th featured a lively panel discussion on the future of media. The panel featured:

Candice Faktor (moderator) from Torstar Digital
Lori Beckstead from Ryserson University
Angela Misri from CBC
Doreen Iannuzzi from Multimedia Nova Corporation

There was certainly no shortage of stimulating conversation, interesting perspectives and opinions at this TGGD event. The panel discussed an incredible variety of topics such as:

The importance of reaching cultural audiences
Content producers as collaborators
Journalists as content curators
Hype versus reality, particularly when it comes to social media
The struggle to be a trusted news source while incorporating user-generated content
What applications such as Facebook Connect mean for how users engage with content online
The role of marketers in the social media landscape
Digital and information literacy

One only has to check out the TGGD hashtag on Twitter to get a sense of the breadth and depth of the conversation going on at this event. The audience and the panel engaged with one another, the result of which was an incredibly dynamic and frank discussion about such an all-encompassing topic.

If you were at the event last night, lets us know what topics you'd like to see covered in a potential 'Part 2' of this discussion.

Thanks to our event sponsor Hover – head on over to hover.com for all of your domain name registration needs. Keep your eyes peeled for the next TGGD event!

Hover comes through with the goods for TGGD #16 on November 9th

2009-11-03T16:09:00.012-05:00

Wow, the Toronto Girl Geek Dinner on November 9th is close to sold out. We're very delighted you're joining us for the panel discussion on "The Future of Media".

The good folks at Hover (who are sponsoring our events this fall) have some cool stuff to give away to folks signed up for the event on November 9. Who doesn't love free Internet stuff?

Check out Hover. They help you build and maintain and Internet presence on your own terms.
From their blog:

"We love the Internet. The tools, the apps. The posts, the pokes and the tweets. The collaboration. The choice. For this reason, we have built a domain and email forwarding service to complement other services. We have chosen to liberate our users rather than lock them down."

Hover is easiest, smartest, happiest little service to manage your online identity.

They provide:

Simple, elegant domain and email forwarding tools
A "Hover This!" browser button for instantly creating "branded URLs" (yourdomain.com/funnyvideo)
Tutorials, videos and a great support team to help

Hover also has an exclusive collection of “shared” surname domain that allow unlimited people with the same last name to enjoy a short, memorable email address like amy@smith.net and erika@smith.net.

We look forward to seeing everyone out at the event:

Register for TGGD: November 9th, 2009

A reminder, if you can't make it, please change your RSVP (at least 48 hours in advance), so a Girl Geek on the waiting list can come in your place. We cannot do refunds after that point. If the Meet-up group is full, do check back as folks tend to change availability closer to the date.

See you next week!

The Future of Media: TGGD Panel Discussion (Monday, November 9, 2009)

2009-10-27T19:02:00.014-05:00

Toronto Girl Geek Dinner: The Future of Media Panel
When: Monday, November 9, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 10:00
Where: Fionn MacCools (181 University Ave at Adelaide) (map)
Fee: $10.00 (This nominal fee holds your spot and will pay for your first drink.)

Register for this event at Meetup.com

Every day someone is declaring the end of journalism with the rise of the Internet and social media. Internet Leaders like Eric Schmidt of Google are proclaiming:

"Within five years there will be broadband well above 100MB in performance - and distribution distinctions between TV, radio and the web will go away."

Toronto Girl Geek Dinners is proud to present a "Future of Media" panel discussion on how media is changing including the challenges with the convergence of user-generated content and media.

We are thrilled to have assembled some phenomenal professionals who we're sure will bring their unique perspectives to our event.

The "Future of Media" panel:

Candice Faktor (moderator)
TorStar Digital

Candice was one of a team instrumental in creating TorStar Digital in 2005 and is currently the Managing Director of Corporate Development and Innovation. As well, she is the founder of ourfaves.com in 2007. Candice is an early adopter bridging the power of user-generated content, city search and social networking. Candice was our speaker for TGGD #10 about innovation in a tough economy, so we're very pleased to have her moderating what will surely be a lively discussion.

Lori Beckstead
Ryerson University

Lori is an Assistant Professor, School of Radio and Television at Ryerson University. As an educator, she has a unique perspective on skills training, emerging platforms and what's coming next. This summer she presented at The Radio Conference 09 on "Diversity in Representation on Toronto Radio". She is involved in a number of creative projects from Sound Art installations, soundscapes to student radio dramas. Lori has extensive education in science, education including a Masters in Media Production from the University of Technology, Sydney (Australia).

Angela Misri
CBC

Angela Misri is an Operations and Resource Manager for CBC Radio. She oversees a team of web producers and podcasters who create content for Canada's National Public Broadcaster, specifically as it regards Radio 1 and Radio 2. Prior to managing the team, Angela was the podcaster for CBC Radio, and has worked as a Radio Producer, a Web Producer, and News
Writer for cbc.ca and various other departments in her ten-year stint at the CBC.

Doreen Iannuzzi
Multimedia Nova Corporation

Doreen is the Vice President, New Media for the Multimedia Nova Corporation, best known for Corriere Canadese, the Canadian Italian Daily Newspaper, founded in 1954. The Multimedia Nova is one of Canada’s leading multilingual, multicultural, multinational communications enterprises. With a unique perspective on "hyper-local", Doreen blogs at The New Mainstream about the "move beyond the conventional thinking: Canadian consumers do cross markets every day, regardless of their cultural background."

More TGGD Details:

Meals/drinks are cash & carry. We will be charging a $10.00 fee to sign up for the event. This money will be directly allocated to your first drink at dinner. If you sign up to attend, please come. If you can't attend, please change your RSVP asap so that it opens the door to others who might want to join us.

Internet turns 40!

2009-10-12T20:44:00.014-05:00

The Internet officially turns 40 on October 29, 2009. Every day our lives and careers are changed by this invention, and it is amazing to think of the potential change yet to come around the world and for our collective futures.

In September 2009, I had the great fortune to hear Dr. Lawrence Roberts talk about his contribution to the creation and evolution of the early Internet. Dr. Roberts was part of a team of scientists who created ARPANET and packet switching.

He gave some insight into the early days of the Internet. I found it surprising that Dr. Roberts states that the basic elements have not much changed in 40 years. The highlight of his presentation was his list of the top 5 things that we need to change to make the Internet better:

1. Fairness: Multi-flow apps (P2P) overload access networks

2. Improve Network Security: Need user authentication and source checking

3. Emergency services: Need secure preference priorities

4. Cost & power: Growth constrained to Moore's law and developed areas

5. Quality and Speed: Video and voice require lower jitter and loss, consistent speed; TCP stalls slow interactive applications like the web

I think it is safe to say that each of us with our geek lives and careers have much invested in the evolution of the Internet. What do you think? What needs to be changed to make the Internet better? What are the ramifications of some of the above changes?

Dr. Robert's full presentation can be found:here. Improving packet switching continues to be his focus with his company, Anagran.

Vint Cerf, one of the early founders of the Internet, also discusses his vision on the Future of the Internet.

If you want to learn more about the inception and growth of the Internet. Check out the National Geographic article also gives great background.

Dr. Roberts presented at the NCA Security and Technology Conference on September 15, 2009. While you are on the NCA site, check out the other keynote by Art Coviello of RSA, The Security Division of EMC.

We have a winner for the meshmarketing TGGD ticket.

2009-10-03T18:43:00.003-05:00

Pretty creative tweet! Well done Roxana! I feel particularly Girl Geeky for having broken the code.

We'll see you at meshmarketing on October 22.

Report from TGGD #15: Sarah Prevette, founder, Sprouter

2009-09-30T19:42:00.005-05:00

Text and photos by Jessie Bonisteel.

Sarah Prevette founder of Sprouter, spoke to a room full of Toronto Girl Geeks on September 29th about the many lessons she has learned as her life as an entrepreneur. Sarah has been involved with the tech industry since the start of her career. Her insightful and humorous talk was no doubt an inspiration to all of those present.

One key message of Sarah's talk was don't let your ego get in the way of your potential success. If you have an idea for a project make sure you build a network of knowledgeable people around you, do your research and don't be afraid to ask for help. Once you get to the launch phase of that project, you will find yourself better equipped with the resources you will need to make it a success. Sarah's experience with her first start-up, Upinion.com, and the hurdles she faced lead her to found Sprouter.com - a networking application to help entrepreneurs connect, share ideas and support one another.

Other key lessons from Sarah's talk were:

Network actively

Don't just collect business cards, follow up with people and ask how you can help them. Sarah randomly picks 5 business cards out of her stack and thinks about ways she could connect with and help this individual. When you make a new connection ask them 'who else do you know that I should talk to?'

Don't be afraid to promote yourself

Canadian entrepreneurs should engage in self-promotion more actively, and not be shy about trumpeting their successes. Be classy - not spammy.

Launch fast and fail fast

The best way to see if an idea has legs is to get it out there in the community. Don't let perfectionism and endless tweaking hold you back. Get your idea out there fast, be prepared to fail and try again.

Engage your community

Become actively involved in the community your product or idea is geared towards. Don't just listen to what they are saying but engage them and have an active dialogue with them.

Sarah's experience growing Sprouter.com and becoming involved as an organizer with Twestival lead her to create her three 'A's' of community engagement:

Amazing: be amazing, add value and enable the success of others

Accessibility: be accessible, don't ignore negative feedback or comments, respond as quickly as you can

Authenticity: be transparent - if you don't know the answer to something, admit it.

Sarah concluded her chat with a question & answer session, followed by a chance for Girl Geeks to mingle.

Keep your eyes on the blog for announcements about our next TGGD event. Special thanks to our volunteers and to our sponsor Hover. Head on over to hover.com for all of your domain name registration needs.

Win a pass to meshmarketing on October 22

2009-09-30T05:57:00.002-05:00

As we announced at last night's event, we have a ticket to give away to a TGGD member. meshmarketing is October 22 at Circa. This draw closes on Friday, October 2. If you have a ticket already, please enter anyway as you can give your prize away to someone else.

meshmarketing is a one-day event focused on insights, tools and tactics to help you win customers' hearts and minds, online. An insightful keynote will lead us into a series of engaging conversations and "show and tell" presentations, as well as in-depth workshops.

meshmarketing brings together people who are passionate about the potential of the Web to change how we live, work and play. This day is not just about the stage. Like our other mesh events, meshmarketing will be a highly interactive experience where we will continue the dialogue and explore the next generation of ideas, leaders and companies at mesh.

How to enter:

Write a tweet in 100 characters "why it's great to be a geek girl at meshmarketing"
Send the Tweet to Sheri @s_moore with the hashtags #meshmarketing and #TGGD.
The most creative answer wins a complimentary ticket to meshmarketing October 22 at Circa.
Get your Tweet sent by October 2. The prize is transferable.

Girl Geek Dinners - a remarkable movement

2009-09-29T15:49:00.002-05:00

I'm getting my notes together for my MC duties for tonight's Toronto Girl Geek Dinner. We're expecting 50 or so women (and a few men) from the Toronto technology community to come out to reconnect with friends, meet new people, and be inspired by the ideas and perspective of our featured speaker, Sarah Prevette, founder and CEO of Sprouter.

When Maggie and Jenny started Toronto Girl Geek Dinners in 2007, we were the first location outside of the UK. Now, there are Girl Geek Dinner communities in over 40 places worldwide. That's pretty phenomenal, don't you think?

Tonight is our 15th event. Which is pretty cool. Looking back, we've welcomed an incredible list of speakers including:

Sandy Kemsley
Leila Boujnane
Leigh Himel
Kate Trgovac
Malgosia Green
Ali de Bold
Jayne Hoogenberk
Sandi Jones
Amber MacArthur
Connie Crosby
Candice Faktor
Michal Berman
Sarah Prevette

We're always on the lookout for speakers and ideas for themes and topics. If you're in Toronto, please check out our blog, wiki, Facebook and Meetup.com group. If you're elsewhere and want to get involved, please visit Girl Geek Dinners for a list of global groups.

What do you value most from participating in Girl Geek Dinner events?

Enter to Win Free Pass to "Poised for Leadership" Professional Coaching Workshop

2009-09-13T15:37:00.005-05:00

What are you doing on September 18? If you're a high-achieving professional woman, who wants to fast-track your transition into a leadership role, I suggest you take a look at this workshop.

There are two opportunities for Toronto Girl Geeks. We have a free pass to give away (see details below to enter) and there's a discount available too.

The Poised for Leadership Workshop features Jo Miller. Jo is CEO of a leadership coaching and seminar company, Women's Leadership Coaching (WLC). She helps women create roadmaps to leadership positions in business with seminars, webinars and individual coaching programs. Jo blogs at Women's Leadership Coaching and tweets as @Jo_Miller.

The Poised for Leadership Workshop is a great opportunity if you are:

a high-achieving professional
early to mid career
interested in fast tracking your transition into a leadership role
looking for a remarkable day of networking, peer-to-peer counseling, reflection and planning
wanting to learn proven strategies for adding value to your organization, gaining recognition and credibility, communicating with confidence and authority
working to establish your brand as a leader, expand your sphere of influence and accelerate your career development

Every participant will leave with a personal action plan for breaking into a leadership position. Are you ready to explore your leadership potential?

Enter a draw for a free pass
If you are available on September 18 to attend the Poised for Leadership Workshop with Jo Miller, leave us a comment sharing your thoughts on leadership development and this great workshop with Jo Miller. We'll draw for a winner and announce here on the blog on September 16, so please check back.

If you don't win our free pass, you can still participate in the workshop at a reduced rate. Members of TGGD get $75 off the fee to attend the September 18, 2009 Poised for Leadership coaching workshop. To qualify for this special TGGD rate, please write the code "TGGD" on your registration form. Download the event brochure.

Sprouter at Toronto Girl Geek Dinners

2009-08-26T11:57:00.015-05:00

Toronto Girl Geek Dinner's is proud to announce that Sarah Prevette, founder of Sprouter, will be joining us on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 to talk about start-ups, strategy and and her experiences.

The energy for start-ups is building and Sarah and her team are tapping into this growth. Sprouter, in private beta, is an online collaboration tool facilitating knowledge exchange between start-ups and business leaders. Augmenting the online tool with community networking events, the Sprouter team is currently touring North America with Sprout Ups. You can request invite codes to Sprouter.com from their twitter account and sign up Toronto's Sprout Up.

Sarah Prevette has captured attention as a passionate and pioneering web entrepreneur — an exciting voice from inside the online community revolution. Sarah’s nontraditional and multi-faceted approach to branding and promotion provides actionable insight to those looking to build communities, truly engage their audiences and leverage the full power of the web. An entrepreneur long immersed in the start-up community, Sarah has robust familiarity with the common pitfalls of early stage start-ups and the tips and tools that foster success.

Prior to starting Sprouter, Sarah built the tween pop culture community Upinion and held various strategic positions in the recently acquired Cyberbahn Group as well as at Info~Tech Research Group.

Sarah is passionate and knowledgeable on the subjects of social media, startups, usability, advocacy on the web and community building and has been interviewed and profiled in the Canadian media – from IT Business and Profit Magazine to CityNews and CBC.

Speaker: Sarah Prevette, Sprouter.com
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Location: Fionn MacCools - 181 University (at Adelaide)
Time: 6:30 - 10:00 (event agenda starts around 7)
Duration: up to 3 hours
Cost: $10.00 (This nominal fee holds your spot and will pay for your first drink.)

Register for this event at Meetup.com

We created a Meetup group for this event and are returning to Fionn MacCool's . Meals/drinks are cash & carry. We will be charging a $10.00 fee to sign up for the event. This money will be directly allocated to your first drink at dinner. Meetup is great for helping us connect and planning events. We decided to charge and reimburse you for RSVPs. See our previous blog post on this topic. If you sign up to attend, please come. If you can't attend, please change your RSVP asap so that it opens the door to others who might want to join us.

Welcome back TGGD! Here's to a great new season. If you are interested in sponsoring a TGGD event, please contact Leona Hobbs @ leonaATleonahobbsDOTcom.

Ed. note: Sprouter was formerly called RedWire. Sarah's presentation, originally planned for April, was rescheduled to our fall season.

Upcoming Fall Season & An Opportunity for TGGD Members

2009-08-24T18:36:00.013-05:00

The last few weeks of summer mean we're gearing up for an amazing new season of Toronto Girl Geek Dinners!

I'm very excited to be working with a stellar group of organizers for the upcoming season of events. We have TGGD co-founders Maggie Fox and Jenny Bullough on board. We're pleased that Heather Leson has joined us. Heather was a huge help with our events in the Spring.

The organizers took some time this summer to look at where we're at with TGGD and how we can best meet and exceed the expectations of our amazing members. We are making one change to our meeting sign up process. We've decided to charge a nominal fee (around $10) when people reserve for one of our TGGD events. This should help us cut down on no-shows and make sure that we maximize the positive experience of our TGGD events for participants and sponsors.

Oh, and save September 29 for the next TGGD. Event details are in the works.

Leadership Development Opportunity for TGGD Members

We have a late summer treat for you! Members of TGGD get $75 off the fee to attend the September 18, 2009 Poised for Leadership coaching workshop. To qualify for this special TGGD, please write the code "TGGD" on your registration form.

This extraordinary workshop is designed for high achieving professional women, early to mid career, who want to fast track their transition into leadership roles.

Through a combination of case-studies, self-assessment tools and small group discussions, you will learn proven strategies for adding value to your organization, gaining recognition and credibility, communicating with confidence and authority, establishing your brand as a leader, expanding your sphere of influence, and accelerating your career development. Every participant will leave with a personal action plan for breaking into a leadership position. Are you ready to explore your leadership potential?

Download the event brochure.

photo: reach by thebigdurian

Join us June 16 for Toronto Girl Geek Dinner Networking Night

2009-06-02T17:50:00.002-05:00

You're invited to join us for a networking event with the Toronto Girl Geek Dinner community. We've decided to place the focus of the night on you, your connections and the value in creating and building relationships with each other. Bring lots of business cards, because you're sure to make some great connections. I hope to see you there.

June 16, 2009
6:30 p.m.
The Pilot
22 Cumberland Street, Toronto
Cash & Carry Food and Drink
Sign Up at Toronto Girl Geek Dinners on MeetUp.com

Please help us get the word out to folks about our event. Feel free to post details to your blog or on Twitter and invite other women who work in the Toronto technology community. If you'd like to make an announcement at the event (maybe you're recruiting, or looking for volunteers or promoting an event...), please let me know via email (leona (at) leonahobbs DOT com).

Career and Job Search Links - Red Canary & TGGD Wiki

2009-06-02T10:34:00.003-05:00

Trevor Stafford from Red Canary was kind enough to put together a bunch of links from our event on May 12. Please visit his Geekgirl section on Red Canary and check out Trevor's suggestions for reading on Job Trends and Realities, Job Boards, Personal Branding and the Egosystem, and skillsets and career planning.

Also, a reminder that Rachel Young created a Job Resource area on our own wiki. Please check in there for links, and feel free to add suggestions to our community wiki resource.

Report from TGGD - Job Search & Career Strategies

2009-05-14T11:47:00.005-05:00

Text and Photos by Wendy Kam

We moved to a new venue (The Pilot in Yorkville) to accommodate the growing number of Girl Geeks and last night we welcomed three guests to the panel:

Brenda A. Benedet, Business Strategy Consultant, professional Coach and Founder of Benedet Performance Group www.benedetgroup.com
Helen Krissilas, an IT Senior Recruiter with Inteqna www.inteqna.ca
Trevor Stafford, Senior Editor/Producer for Red Canary www.redcanary.ca

Aside from sharing insightful tips on job hunting, all speakers brought with them a refreshing note of optimism – so despite all the doom and gloom delivered during the 11 o’clock news, companies are still hiring, Ladies! You just have to find opportunities in creative and unconventional ways!

The information exchanged yesterday was rich and plentiful but there were three notable themes echoed by all of our speakers.

Theme #1: The power of networking and referrals.
While online social networks are all the rage today, Brenda encourages face-to-face interaction. This means more than just collecting Facebook friends/business cards but actually making phone calls and meeting for lunch dates. The goal is to build meaningful relationships that are lasting and beneficial to both parties. Recognize that everyone in your network offers some sort of value though it may not always be immediately apparent.

And that is also why Recruiters are your friends. Helen, knows firsthand that with a vast network, she has the inside scope on who’s hiring and can pass along names of top candidates to employers or assist a candidate in finding jobs that are not posted on traditional sites such as Workopolis and Monster.

Simply put, networking can be a powerful tool to put you in contact with the right people and ultimately take your career where you want it to go but remember, it’s not just who you know but who knows you!

Theme #2: Be a successful job candidate by developing your personal brand.
This can be done through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. so long as you are visible to employers. Trevor calls this the “new ego system” and speaks highly of leveraging these tools to brag about your accomplishments but be mindful of who may be running the next Google search on you! (Completing the Centurion - downing 100 shots of beer in 100 minutes may make you a winner to your friends but your next employer does not need to know that about you!) If you don’t feel comfortable talking about yourself, Brenda suggests emailing 50 of your peers and asking them to describe what best impresses them about you in 3 words. From there you can create a bio and be known for these things.

Meanwhile, Helen assures us that the good ol’ resume is not dead but in order to stand out in the pile it is imperative to customize each resume to the company and position you are applying for. Brenda also advises to read the company’s annual statements, understand their product cycle and go into an interview with a list of ways in which you can add value to their business.

Theme #3: Take time to build your career.

Helen provided us with an example that we all know too well… finding the perfect pair of shoes! Are you just picking up any shoe because of the necessity factor or are you taking your time to find the right fit? Like shoes, we want to be comfortable in our jobs. Brenda describes this as honouring our core values -- feeling respected at work, being able to trust our boss and aligning ourselves in organizations with whom we share the same values, then you know you’ve found the right job. Plus you won’t feel a need to repeatedly press the snooze button every morning!

So there you have it Girl Geeks… use these career strategies wisely and know that there is nothing stopping you from achieving your goals whether it be sitting in the corner office or building your own empire.

A big thank you to Microsoft Canada who kindly sponsored this event and provided fantastic door prizes along with a list of current open positions. Please visit the Microsoft Canada Careers site for more information. If you'd like to contact Carolyn Hudson from Microsoft Canada directly, please email recruitcare@live.ca.

The next TGGD in June 16 will be a mixer but please come to mingle and network with Girl Geeks old and new.

Editor's note: A huge thank you to Heather Leson, Kyla Kryski, Jessie Bonisteel and Wendy Kam for their help to make this TGGD a success.

Microsoft Canada Door Prizes for May 12 TGGD

2009-05-11T14:43:00.006-05:00

Microsoft Canada is providing some fantastic door prizes for tomorrow's event. There are many goodies, including a phenomenal Zune MP3 Player, a copy of Windows Office Home & Student Edition, The Explorer Mouse and The Explorer Mini Mouse.

There are a few (6 as of this writing) spots left for Toronto Girl Geeks to join us tomorrow night. Head over to Meetup.com to sign up.

For those of you who are signed up, please update your RSVP if you are unable to make it so someone else can come in your place.

Don't miss out, it looks like we're going to have a phenomenal night.

Toronto Girl Geek Dinner: Job Search and Career Strategies
With panelists:

Trevor Stafford, Managing Editor, Red Canary
Helen Krissilas, IT Technical recruiting specialist, Inteqna
Brenda A. Benedet, Business Strategy Consultant and Professional coach

May 12, 2009
6:30 p.m.
The Pilot
22 Cumberland St. Toronto
Sign Up at Toronto Girl Geek Dinners on MeetUp.com

Microsoft Canada sponsors May 12 Toronto Girl Geek Dinner

2009-05-08T20:09:00.002-05:00

I'm thrilled to announce that the good folks at Microsoft Canada are sponsoring our event on May 12. The generosity of our sponsors keeps Toronto Girl Geek Dinners free for our community.

"Microsoft Canada prides itself in hiring the best and brightest talent in the IT industry. The reason we are so successful is because we believe deeply in the transformative power of technology; with a vision of the future that positively impacts society and stretches well beyond the world we live and work in today." - Phil Sorgen, President, Microsoft Canada.

There are still spots left to join for networking and the panel discussion about job search and career strategies. Sign up to join us at Meetup.com. Don't miss hearing from our great panelists:

Trevor Stafford, Managing Editor, Red Canary
Helen Krissilas, IT Technical recruiting specialist, Inteqna
Brenda A. Benedet, Business Strategy Consultant and Professional coach

May 12 Toronto Girl Geek Dinner: Job Search and Career Strategies

2009-05-04T20:09:00.005-05:00

Toronto Girl Geek Dinner: Job Search and Career Strategies
May 12, 2009
6:30 p.m.
The Pilot
22 Cumberland St. Toronto
Sign Up at Toronto Girl Geek Dinners on MeetUp.com

Post by Heather Leson

Spring has brought massive change for many Toronto Girl Geeks. Whether you are currently unemployed or interested in learning insight into your career path, join us for the May Toronto Girl Geek Dinner for a Job Search & Career Strategies Panel featuring a recruiter, a life coach and an editor of an online job site.

Many Girl Geeks count on networking or specialized blogs or websites to uncover the next best opportunity. Trevor Stafford is the Managing Editor of Red Canary, a technical job site providing a job board community, research and articles on how to make the best of your online job search. Trevor has spent the last three years bringing jobs and technology professionals together at Red Canary. A casualty of the dot bomb crash of 2001, he knows something about the need for career planning.

Agencies and recruiters help you tap into the hidden job market. Every job search needs multiple avenues to research and locate the right job. Recruiters can be sleuths with magnifying glasses. Their sharp skills guide you through the whole process from first meeting to refining your resume to landing the interview to closing the deal. Helen Krissilas, an IT Technical recruiting specialist for Inteqna will join us to give her unique view on how to conduct your job search. Helen is an award-winning Recruitment Consultant and also brings us a vast amount of business knowledge drawn from her experience running her own Value Added Reseller/Technology business.

TGGD also welcomes Brenda A. Benedet who will give a unique perspective on defining and meeting your career goals. Brenda is a Business Strategy Consultant and professional Coach. As founder of Benedet Performance Group, her firm partners with professionals and organizations with a mission to help them achieve their goals. Brenda frequently delivers seminars and motivational keynotes on a variety of topics including; organizational learning and performance, leadership, sales excellence, career development and work/life balance.

TGGD is a community. Even if you are not looking for work, you may be able to help another girl geek with your knowledge and experience. If you are looking, check out Rachel Young's list of job search resources for TGGD on the wiki. Please note that this Girl Geek Job Panel is focused on women working in and with technology. We know there are many people looking for work, but ask that attendees be folks with questions related to this field.

Bring your questions and a smile. We are growing in numbers, so we changed venues to The Pilot. Please join up on our Meet up Group.

The room can hold about 100 people. If you RSVP and cannot attend, please update the Meetup profile so that someone else can attend in your place.

Editor's note: A huge thank you to Heather Leson for putting together this event for Toronto Girl Geeks.

Postponed: TGGD with Sarah Prevette, Redwire

2009-04-24T14:01:00.002-05:00

Due to scheduling issues, we're going to postpone our TGGD with Sarah Prevette, founder of Redwire. I'd like to thank Sarah for her willingness to come out and meet with us. We'll do our best to line something up with Sarah for a dinner later this year.

TGGD #12 Sarah Prevette, Redwire

2009-04-18T14:01:00.003-05:00

April 28, 2009
LOCATION TBD*

Our guest for our next dinner is Sarah Prevette, founder of RedWire, an online collaboration tool facilitating knowledge exchange between startups and business leaders.

Sarah Prevette has captured attention as a passionate and pioneering web entrepreneur — an exciting voice from inside the online community revolution. Sarah’s untraditional and multi-faceted approach to branding and promotion provides actionable insight to those looking to build communities, truly engage their audiences and leverage the full power of the web.

An entrepreneur long immersed in the startup community, Sarah has robust familiarity with the common pitfalls of early stage startups and the tips and tools that foster success.

Prior to starting RedWire, Sarah built the tween pop culture community Upinion and held various strategic positions in the recently acquired Cyberbahn Group as well as at Info~Tech Research Group.

Sarah is passionate and knowledgeable on the subjects of social media, startups, usability, advocacy on the web and community building and has been interviewed and profiled in the Canadian media – from IT Business and Profit Magazine to CityNews and CBC.

A Volunteer Project...

2009-03-25T13:21:00.004-05:00

I'm writing a VERY BELATED Ada Lovelace Day post, only to realise that we don't actually have an aggregated list of all our past TGGD speakers. Would anyone be interested in volunteering to take this on? All we need to do is set up a separate page on the wiki, and I think it would be very helpful!

If you're able to help out, please leave a comment or send me an email maggie AT socialmediagroup DOT com.

Thanks!

Update: Special thanks to Teresa Almeida, Jessie Bonisteel and Marce Bylinska for volunteering to take this on! Stayed tuned - as soon as the list is compiled, we'll let everyone know where it is.