From a few completely different sources I have heard of nascent conferences to train women how to talk at tech conferences. From everything I have seen, women know perfectly well how to talk at technical and computing and web 2.0 conferences. But I still see posts like Stowe Boyd's in puzzlement asking "Where are the women speakers?"
I would like to offer myself as a resource for tech conference organizers who can't figure out how to find "the most qualified" women speakers on particular topics. Ask, and I will help to hook you up. If you find a speaker you are happy with based on my recommendations, then pay me per successful connection. I propose as well that if you usually lean on the few geeky women you know to diversify your conferences, pay them in the same way.
So, back to that issue of speaker training. Great idea, valuable service. I'd like to question the idea that women don't know how to speak at conferences. Wait, I thought we were the communicators, the ones with the social skills, the teachers and professors, used to being heard by an audience. It's not just about women who don't know how to present themselves - it's also about people who are so complacent in their own circles that they don't know how to listen to the qualifications and capabilities of amazing women.
No comments:
Post a Comment