SFWoW

San Francisco Women on the Web: serve, educate, empower

January 24th was another in our long string of rainy nights. Nonetheless, as SFWowers showed up for our get-together on the subject of LinkedIn, at WineBarSF, we had to move to a larger table. In attendance: Doris Beers, Teri Gardella, Maritess Hoy, Megan Keane, Ellen (?), Anna Papina, Rebecca Kidder, Erin O’Neill, and myself. It really makes a difference to have those names we see on the list come to life as real people.

We ended up sharing information one-on-one rather than shouting around the table. I
was seated beside Maritess, who I thank for her LinkedIn tips:

• ping people in my network from time to time
• let my contacts know if I am seeking info on a particular company
• participate in the “Answers” section to increase visibility.

Rebecca later added a tip about recommendations

• rather than collect general recs, wait until you have a specific employment target, and then ask for a recommendation directed toward the target.

Needless to say, I began adding to my LinkedIn network right after the get-together!

As Susan Stearman has stated: the event was ultra simple to arrange: I just picked a date, time, and place. Thanks to everyone who showed up - I enjoyed meeting and talking with you all.

Eleanor Beaton

About a year and a half ago, longtime WoWser and online community expert, Susan Tenby, revived the dormant San Francisco Online Community Report MeetUp group. There’s no shortage of technology groups in the bay area, with various focuses from web applications to software development to Web 2.0 technologies. With so many groups, often with a lot of overlap in between, why the revival? Why attend meetings for this specific group?

Online communities have been around since the early days of the Web. They’ve taken different forms from early usenet groups to online forums and email listservs. With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies and an increase in the amount of user-generated content, more and more commercial and non-commercial sites are developing some form of online community, be it on a platform like Facebook or their own site. It wasn’t until I started attending these meetings–and eventually, helping to run them–that I realized just how huge and diverse the world of online community is.

These monthly MeetUps are held the fourth Wednesday of every month at the TechSoup office. While TechSoup is a nonprofit and has a large online community, you don’t have to be a nonprofit or a community manager to attend these meetings. You can be someone with a passion or even just an interest in online communities and their value for collaboration, networking, or even just connecting over a shared interest. We’ve had guests speak from sites like Yelp, Facebook, and eBay. Past attendees have been involved in various facets of the online world from to elearning communities to video-sharing sites to Second Life.

These casual, informal meetings are a great way to learn about the different projects and work your colleagues are involved in. Discussions are tool-based and center around strategies for using tools to engage users. I’ve learned about ways to make the most of Twitter, discover new blogs and find Facebook applications worth installing. I’ve heard about projects and communities I never knew existed, be it a community remembrance site or a real estate agent using Twitter with other realtors. Usually at the end of the meetings, I’m dashing back to my laptop, eager to explore or play around with the latest platform or application I heard about from other attendees.

So if you’re interested in discovering more about online communities and connecting with other interested folks in person, come join us for snacks, drinks, and discussion at this month’s MeetUp. RSVP here. The official announcement follows below. You can also check out discussion highlights from previous MeetUps in the MeetUp group messages archive.

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Happy New Year to all you online community folks out there! We’re back with our regular monthly MeetUps in the new year. To kick off 2008, our discussion will focus on using wikis as community building tools. We’ll be joined by Adam Frey, one of the founders of Wikispaces, and Angelique (Angie) Shelton, the General Manager of Wikia’s Gaming Network. So come join us for our first 2008 MeetUp to talk wikis and other online community tools. Look forward to seeing you all there.

About this month’s guest speakers: Adam Frey is co-founder of Wikispaces, provider of the world’s easiest to use wikis. Previously, Adam founded and managed the SourceForge business at VA Linux Systems. Adam holds a Bachelor of Science from Monash University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Angelique Shelton is the General Manager of Wikia’s Gaming Network. Prior to joining Wikia, Angelique worked in Xbox division at Microsoft where she focused on International Expansion and Franchise Development. She has a B.A. in Finance from Louisiana State University and a MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Our kick-off monthly meeting for 2008 was held at Cav - a fancy-smancy wine bar that even serves beer. The gang included Mary Choy, Rebecca Kidder, Nancy Purcell, Doris Beers, Erin O’Neil, Eleanor Beaton and my humble self.

As usual, wonderful conversation on a wide ranging set of topics and even some business was discussed.

Our theme this year will be “Knowledge Sharing”. The idea is to have formal and informal events where SFWoW members share their knowledge of a topic to other members who are interested.

We have a group of fabulous women who know so much about technology, arts and graphics, business and marketing — our goal is to share that information amongst ourselves.

This is a chance for you to toot your own horn. No special credentials needed. You have answered questions on the list, what topics do you usually post about? Lets get together and learn about it from you.

Our first event will be organized by Eleanor. It will be an informal gathering to learn about LinkedIn. Lots of our members are interested in using LinkedIn but may want to learn more about how to become a power user. I know I am a heavy user of LinkedIn and have some tips to share; but I’d love to learn from others too. So come out to the event when its announced.

Feel free to respond to this post with your ideas of topics to discuss - what do you want to learn about? what do you want to share?

_Susan

Thanks, indeed, to Mary and her family for hosting the December meeting/holiday potluck.

The food was lovely (Mary’s mac and cheese, Susan’s vegetarian lasagne, lots of pie, amazing ice cream, and more) but what I enjoyed most of all were the conversations.

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I had no clue how wide the audience is for podcasting or that it can be a road to fame and diva-dom. I feel at least two trends behind (I have no personal blog). We weren’t all sure about whether the fame in the podcast domain “is real” (translates to money, power, or fame in other media?) and how much of the content is useful. Podcasting seems to be more popular in Europe than in the US. Most of us at the table were surprised to hear just how common and popular podcasts are. Unsurprisingly, the adult content market was out in front in seizing a new technology and distribution method. I was surprised that evangelicals are also major players in this market.

There was also talk about acceptable behavior in the workplace — is it OK to swear? How rough (free? loose?) can behavior get before it is hostile or inappropriate or harassing? Does it depend on the kind of workplace (bank vs. ad agency, for instance?). Do creatives get a free pass because of the nature of the work? Are you willing to put up with things that are close to the line so you can be yourself, too? And how hard is it not to swear once you realize you shouldn’t?

Unsurprisingly, wowsers described fascinating, cutting edge projects they are working on. I will leave it to those individuals to share when and what they can. What can be discussed in person is not always what can be written about.

You should come next time.

While the monthly meetings are generally meant for sf-wow business, there is plenty of time for conversation. Scrappy hours are designed just for getting together and letting off steam. They started when happy hours stopped being quite so happy (any wowser can set one up where and when she chooses). Announcements of the next scrappy and of the next business meeting will be posted to the list and to the events page here.

Okay, I consider myself a fairly outgoing person. Yet asking for things–especially asking for things that have to do with my career is something that I dread doing. So when I heard about SF WoW’s Salary Negotiation Panel event, I figured this was probably a good thing for me to attend.

I found the panelists to be very approachable and they gave a lot of good suggestions on negotiating on behalf of yourself in any situation, not just in salary negotiation. The presentation was very informal, with a lot of back and forth discussion between the audience and panelists.

The following tips stuck with me the most when I left:

–Above all, believe in yourself (ok, even if you’re not so sure of yourself, act as if you believe in yourself). You made it this far (i.e. the job offer) and you and your skills are worth bargaining for. Repeat this message to self as needed.

–On the hiring side, HR or other person knows it’s a negotiation situation and will bargain accordingly in their favor. Their first offer will be mid-level range, at the highest. Don’t be low-balled.

–Salary, vacation time, benefits, flex-time, etc. are all potential bargaining chips

–Never reveal your bottom line, but know what you bottom line is before going into negotiation discussion. Your “bottom line” should be that ick factor–what is the minimum you are willing to accept and still feel ok about coming to work every day

–Always be prepared. Do your research. Know what’s an appropriate range for the job title, industry (i.e. private/nonprofit/government/education/etc.) and type of job (i.e. contract/full-time/etc.)

–Defer salary discussion to another time–avoid having conversation over the phone when you’ve just gotten job offer (this usually isn’t possible in a contract situtation, but works with a permanent position)

–Be polite, but know how to re-frame questions and re-state your position effectively. Focus on the value you can bring to the job and your passion and enthusiasm for the position. Avoid getting personal or saying what you “need” in the job.

–Practice with a friend, partner, etc. before going into salary negotiation discussion.

Afterwards, I looked into one of the books recommended by the panelists: Sink or Swim. I’m finding it to be a helpful read, with lots of common sense on-the-job tips. Other books panelists recommended included The Power of Intention and Women Don’t Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation–and Positive Strategies for Change.

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.

So I got a free exhibit pass via the Mobile Monday yahoo group and decided that Tuesday was my day to visit the Web 2.0 Expo event.

The event was a bit of a yawner if you ask me. I don’t see the paradigm shift that many people are talking about; it just seem likes a new branding of the same all stuff; some of it will make money and most of it will burn out in a flame of dust.

In the am. I sat through all the presentations. Not much to say about them. I had seen 2 of the 3 launchpad companies already Tellme and Vidoop. I did get the special invitation to signup for Vidoop at their booth but haven’t had a chance to do it yet. Their thing is a secure login using visuals rather than keystrokes. Tellme was just acquired by MSFT and they do voice search services that are pretty good. Eric Schmidt talked about Google’s acquisition of Double Click - ho hum.
The exhibits were open in the pm. It was difficult to tell what a lot of the companies were really doing. There were several booths showing corporate Wiki applications and they all looked the same to me. I agree that Wikis can be a great corporate groupware tool; but is that all there is to Web2.0?
And some of those companies need real marketing help — one booth only had the company name with no indication of what they do and no one really interested in telling me about it. Lots of the booth signage was really not informative.
Another interesting note - I haven’t seen so many free t-shirt giveaways since the height of the dot-com boom. And there were fun giveaway toys at a lot of booths. An ominous sign.

Unfortunately I was not at the event on Monday so I missed the opportunity to boo and walk out on the Spock demo - unbelievable that MCPs are still willing to show their stripes in SF these days; but there is no accounting for cluelessness among the supposed-Digerati.

I never heard of Spock but apparently they won the voting for the best Launchpad for Monday. Imagine that. On Tuesday the realtime voting count was available but not on Monday so they announced it on Tuesday. That was when I first heard the name but no one was talking about the demo, as far as I heard.

Later I heard about it from the 2 women at the Women 2.0 stand. My first encounter at their stand was with a Frenchman who was trying to understand why there would be a need for such an organization and claiming that there wouldn’t be a need in France (which I quickly corrected for him, having worked at 2 french companies in my last 2 jobs)

After he walked away, the Spock demo came up. I told the women that this was a perfect explanation for why we need organizations like SFWoW and Women 2.0 and they should be talking about their disgust at the demo and how it simply strengthens their commitment to their organization.

Next up for me is NAB in Las Vegas, its bound to be more interesting.

Wednesday night, SFWoW hosted its first-ever recruiting party: CANWOW! The CANWOW (Career Advancement for Women on the Web) goal was to assist our skilled and talented women in the Bay Area move up into higher level jobs in the technology industry.

From my very biased opinion, it was a huge success! Recruiters and hiring managers mingled and chatted with SFWoW members and guests in the private room of the Bubble Lounge. Business cards were exchanged, champagne was drunk, and networking relationships were established.

For me personally, I was energized and inspired to be in a room with so many successful and supportive women. I think the Bay Area really is a unique and special place where all of us geeky, techie women can support and encourage each other as we advance through our careers.

A special thanks to Rebecca Kidder, SFWoW Vice President, and Anna Billstrom, SFWoW President, for their crazy energy and dedication to make this event a reality. And thank you to all of the volunteers who helped organize the event, and who volunteered that night.

And thank you again to our wonderful sponsors, WordPress and Tatu Digital! We are grateful for companies who support and value diversity in the technology industry!

Check out more pictures from the night, and if you were at the event, please add a comment about what you thought of the evening.

Recap of 2/28 Interview Panel
We had a great WoWser turnout this week to the Interview Panel event held at the Craft Gym! The panel of experts did not disappoint, and we all came away with a keen appreciation of how preparation leads to interview success. As a project manager, this should not have been a surprise to me – “plan & prepare” is my mantra! Sure enough, these actions are keys to success in acing the interview process and landing the job.

Irene Marshall, (http://www.toolsfortransition.com/) a career coach of many hats, started the evening by discussing the criteria, methods of contact, and types of interviews we are likely to encounter. Irene’s straightforward breakdown made it easy to understand how to best present oneself at each phase in the interview process.

Sarah Kidder, etiquette trainer extraordinaire, reminded us how important the seemingly small things can be. How we dress, speak, and carry ourselves play as big a role in landing the job as our qualifications.

Alicia Streight, career specialist and technical recruiter with K-Force, provided savvy interview techniques and shared valuable insight into the minds of recruiters and interviewers.

Key tips that will set you apart from the pack:

• Remember that you’re interviewing the company, too! Demonstrate your interest and commitment by researching the company in advance and asking questions.
• Wear a suit – even if your interview falls on “Casual Friday!”
• By the time you reach the interview phase, interviewers already know you can do the job. Now is your opportunity to let them get to know you and why you are the right person for the job.
• Send a hand-written thank you note to your interviewers. Sure, you can also send an email, but the personalized note will make you a stand-out.
• Make sure your references know about your job search and will say good things about you.

These are just a few of the many valuable points learned from an incredible evening.

Many thanks to Rebecca Kidder for organizing and moderating the event, to Susan Stearman for leading the volunteer effort, and to the Craft Gym for graciously hosting our gathering.

A reminder that SFWoW is hosting the CANWOW recruitment event next week. Details and RSVP on the sfwow.org site.

Thanks again to all who made the event possible, and to the attendees who asked such amazing questions!

See you at the next event!
–Lee Sahlaney
photo credit: banane

A former colleague at IBM sent me this article today about the first woman to win the Turing Award. Frances Allen pioneered compiler optimization at IBM, and has, over the years, been recognized as an IBM Fellow and inducted to the WITI Hall of Fame.

Reading this article made me think back to my experiences at IBM and the female role models I had there. In my very first job out of college, the first five managers in the chain of command, all the way to the vice president level, were women. Over my five years at IBM, I worked with some amazing female engineers. Like Frances Allen, many of them joined IBM back before there were computer science departments at universities. But IBM sought them out and trained because they were looking for smart and talented people where-ever they might be.

Today, IBM and most other companies have changed how they recruit. They generally don’t offer intensive computer programming training courses, and instead look for people already with the skills they need to dive into the work. As recently as 15 years ago, IBM was still sending new employees off to three-month training courses before they started work. Now, employees get a day of orientation.

Companies are employing who the universities are graduating out of their computer science and related departments. IBM doesn’t have to be as creative as they were when Frances was graduating from school, when the distributed pamphlets called “My Fair Ladies.” There are always CS grads pouring out of school.

But the grads coming out of those schools are generally boys, and I can see how companies like IBM have changed their strategies. They used to say, “Let’s go find smart women and educate them to be programmers.” Now they say, “Let try to convince girls that they want to be CS majors in college so we can hire them as programmers when they graduate.”