Have you wanted to get started with a conference speaking career but don’t know how? It’s a lot easier than it appears on the outside!
Own Your Expertise. We are all experts of our own experience. Sharing our path, passion, and knowledge inspires others. We don’t need to know everything about a topic to have something valuable to say!
I was inspired by three different sources to give a talk at Barcamp this past Saturday.
First, I attended the inaugural Write/Speak/Code conference last year. During the Write day, we learned how to own our expertise and write op ed columns (something that’s on my short term goal list). The Speak day was all about the mechanics of drafting and submitting talks. (Pam Selle and I spoke on the Code day about feminist models for open source participation).
Continue reading Barcamp Philly 2014
I gave a workshop today at Barcamp Philly that heavily drew from Julie Pagano’s workshop and slides. I reorganized the time frame (her workshop is a whole day and walks you through many more steps of conference presenting) and made it fit in a 45 minute time frame.
Philly Tech Week is a week-long celebration that unites technologist across varied disciplines. The events range from playing pong on the side of skyscraper to hacking space apps to the future of music and everything in-between. The events typically bring together a cross section of the local tech scene.
On Friday, I spoke on the panel “Native Apps, Responsive Web Development and the New Mobile Ecosystem” at the sold-out Mobile, Marketing and Ecommerce Trends event. In a two part series, I will share the questions asked and my thoughts on each. I’d love to hear your feedback and hope to see you at a future event.
Although I love the idea of highlighting geeky leaders and businesses that make a difference in this city, I’m disappointed that the mobile community has been undeserved for two years running.
Last year there was a category to recognize the best iOS app of the year. I found out about the event rather late and mounted an unsuccessful campaign to get an Android category on the roster. Although defeated, I was encouraged about the future, because the organizers promised to have a category the following year to highlight all platforms.
Continue reading Why I’m Not Attending the Philly Geek Awards
Interested in mobile technologies? Want to learn from leaders in Philadelphia? Join us on Tuesday, April 24th for fast-paced evening of lightning talks. These five minute talks will cover Android, iOS (iPhone/iPad), and mobile web topics.
This event is part of Philly Tech Week and hosted by the Android Alliance and PhillyCocoa. This event couldn’t happen without generous sponsorship from Chariot Solutions and Seed Philly. The event will provide dinner and drinks during and/or following the event.
Chariot Solutions, my new employer, has a nifty day of learning called Chariot Day. This Saturday, Charioteers will give 45 minute presentations on a broad spectrum of topics, including enterprise Java techniques, mobile, and Arduinos.
Originally I had planned to use it as practice for my Philly ETE talk, but instead I’m trying out material for my Skillshare class (which I can also use for my Android Girl Develop It class).
Agile software development helps a team focus on the most important tasks to accomplish a shared goal. Jason and I both use the methodology at work and have adapted the process to our daily living. We’ve become much more productive at both work and home and have used the process outlined below to plan our wedding, two moves, and career goals!
We are the “business owners” who decide what the most important tasks are to accomplish at any given moment. The tasks are prioritized in order of importance, which is based on our values and short to mid-term goals. Each weekend “sprint” we pick a theme, or a set of “user stories” (e.g. unpack kitchen, improve financial process, prep food for the week, plan a camping trip).
The arrival of pizza around 6:00 sparked conversations among the 38 geeks in attendance as they mingled and served themselves. We continued informal networking until 6:30, which gave plenty of time for stragglers to arrive before the meeting proper. This worked well and I plan to follow a similar pattern for future meetings.
Continue reading Event Report: Android Alliance – May Meeting
Up until last year, I’ve always lived in the south and in the suburbs. In this now-foreign lifestyle, a car was a requirement. If you didn’t have one, you probably didn’t have a job. You drove everyday to work, shops, and even parks. Public transportation, bicycle paths, and safe sidewalks were non-existent. Conservation, recycling, and other green practices weren’t valued (and often mocked).
