Organizing an SF WoW/SHDH
There’s been a few threads on the SF WoW list about a local phenomenon- superhappydevhouse. It’s intriguing in that it’s so open door policy, and also attracts so many people. One member wrote in that she was going, another seeing if there was anyone who wanted to carpool (besides me). One other one wrote in for the organizers, asking if SF WoW knows why women aren’t attending SHDH.
Personally, after attending two, I’m not sure which is more significant or noteworthy, the youth of the crowd or the gender. I am noticing that it seems to get more diverse the longer it goes on- as my second time I saw more poeple over 30 and more women. The organizers at least seem interested in expanding the demographic.
The discussion on SF WoW seemed to focus more on whether the nature of the gathering was something more interesting to 20 something guys. Some folks pointed out that they didn’t have time or means to get down there, and that their projects were mostly done at work, not at home.
In the last year or so there’s been a couple of initial talks with organizers to do similar events up here- thanks to those volunteers that stepped up to organize it! Current, I’m working with two - thanks Sarah Mei & Angie Chang of women2.0!- to mobilize yet again. We’re encountering some hurdles- the feeling of our community and whether the list is truly interested, and of course whenever we have an event outside of SF we get a real dropoff in attendance. I believe we’re working on a “tester” event inside the city boundaries- hopefully up in Pac Heights- and we’ll see what the turnout and energy is like. SHDH down in the valley, at least the Los Gatos one I attended, had a really nice large house to sprawl around in. Venue is a huge challenge in SF! From various closeby cafes, to the New College, Women’s Building to private residences… not sure what will work! If you have suggestions please post below.
I’m also wondering if our cafe society really lends itself to a natural kind of collaborative, community approach. The only issue there, then, is the power usage and wi-fi. I’m betting that the limited bandwidth of cafe wi-fi will thwart the developers.
