Girl Geek Dinners

Speaker Schedule for GGD #5

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for … the speaker announcement! Thanks to everyone who has agreed to speak, I can’t wait to hear from you all!

6:00 – Arrive
6:30 – Keynote – “The Challenge of Being a Generalist in a Specialists World” – Kim Lambert
7:00 – Catherine Eibner from Microsoft Australia
7:30 – Dinner served
7:40 – Lightning Talk – “The Way Language is Used Online” – Emma-Jean Stewart
7:50 – Lightning Talk – “Make:Hack:Void” – Alistair D’Silva
8:00 – Lightning Talk – “Work/Life Balance for Women in IT” – Emma Davidson
8:10 – Lightning Talk – “Geek in Training” – Tahlia White
8:20 – Lightning Talk – “Being Clear in Your Scope” – Charly Leetham
8:30 – Lightning Talk – “Sometimes I Forget to Breathe” – Michelle George

Introducing our Keynote Speaker for the 5th Girl Geek Dinner Canberra

I’m so pleased to be able to introduce our keynote speaker for the 5th Girl Geek Dinner Canberra.

As keynote for the dinner, Kim will be speaking on Women in IT in Defence/Government, IT Architecture and The Challenge Of Being A Generalist In A Specialists World. Kim says

“everyone expects you to be a deep specialist in something and no-one knows how to deal with a generalist, yet most women are better at being a generalist across at least a few areas rather than a deep specialist”

Kim Lambert

Kim Lambert has over 20 years experience in IT but like many women, she didn’t set out to ‘go into’ IT – she simply ended up doing that type of work.

Kim worked in a wide range of private industry areas, from wholesale sales, through retail management, administration and financial management before starting in the IT industry in 1988. In 1988 Kim moved from private industry to the Public Service, working in ACT Government at the time of its inception as a separate entity. After 3 years working in IT, she decided to study in that area and completed a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science in Computing.

In 1994, Kim moved to the Department of Defence as IT Manager for the Capital Equipment Program Division. Over the following 4 years she managed the implementation of wide area connectivity within Defence across the ACT and co-ordinated IT activity for the Acquisition and Logistics Program (comprised of 7 Divisions), as well as Project Managing a number of major upgrade activities.

Kim was a member of the newly created Defence Information Environment Committee which established policy and governance for the rapidly growing Defence national networks and in 1997 Kim moved to the Family Court of Australia as Manager of Network Development and Support, managing a range of major upgrades to the Courts systems across a nationally distributed network of sites.

In 1997, Kim undertook contracting roles at ACTEW Corporation (ACT Electricity and Water) and the ATO however, she returned to Defence in 2001 and carried out various contract roles over the next 5 years managing IT Infrastructure development activities for the DSN, working on major project and system integration activities, as a client liaison and stakeholder manager for ICT based projects and as a Project Manager for major building ICT infrastructure upgrades.

In January 2006 Kim returned to the permanent Public service in Defence to the role of Director, Architecture Support in the Information and Architecture Management Branch of the Chief Information Officer Group. Her broad based IT industry skills and knowledge were well suited to this role, which managed a wide range of activities covering the development and management of the Defence Architecture Framework, the Defence Standards Management System, the policy and procedures to support the use of the Architecture Framework, and the Training development and delivery in support of Enterprise Architecture (EA) in Defence, as well as the Defence sponsored EA tertiary courses offered through the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Kim was instrumental in introducing the process which ensures that all changes to the Defence Information Environment (DIE) are architecturally assessed to assure the integrity of the DIE.

On top of all of this, Kim has also been involved in a range of Whole-of-Government Interoperability Working Groups and is a past Chair of the International Defence Enterprise Architecture Specification (IDEAS) Working Group which is developing data models, architecture models and methodologies for interoperability of Allied Nations Business and ICT Architectures. She was also a founding co-Chair of the Australian Defence Architecture Practices and Training Industry Forum (ADAPTIF). She has been active in the Australian Government oriented Enterprise Architecture community and has presented on Defence architectures in 2006 and 2007 at the Telelogic sponsored ‘Innovate’ conference.

In March 2008, Kim chose to leave the public service to take new challenges in her current role as Technical Services Group Manager for the Defence Regional ICT outsourcing contract, at Unisys. In this role she has established a new group with technical support and governance responsibilities, providing high level; technical resources in support of over 300 field staff around the nation. Her team provide senior technical skills in such areas as IT Architecture, Server and Desktop Management, network management, ICT Security, Project Management, Change management, Technical Writing, Testing, ITIL and Six Sigma Process Improvement, Asset Management, Technical Training development and delivery, Problem Management and root cause analysis.

During the 18 month transition from Defence to the Unisys operation of the Defence regional ICT infrastructure, Kim assembled and managed a team of 12 staff who were technical change agents, travelling to all regions of Australia to support other staff in transitioning and ensuring that service delivery to the clients was not impacted as responsibilities and roles changed. The transition has been described by Defence management as the smoothest large transition that they have ever been involved in.

Microsoft Girl Geek Dinner #5 … finally!

It brings me an awful lot of pleasure to be able to finally announce the fifth Canberra Girl Geek Dinner!

Date: Wednesday, 30 June, 2010
Time: 6:00pm
Venue: The Hellenic Club, Woden
Cost: Free, thanks to Microsoft Australia.

This dinner has been sponsored by Microsoft Australia, and there’ll be plenty of Microsoft Goodies for you to win on the night, so make sure you’re wearing your lucky pants.

I am currently confirming our speaker lineup, and will announce the talks very soon. Make sure you’re signed up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss out on the announcement. In the meantime, if you would like to give a lightning talk, please email me on ggdcanberra(at)gmail(dot)com with your name, and your talk topic. I only have a limited number of lightning talk slots, so please get in quick to make sure you don’t miss out!

Dinner will be a buffet station with a selection of finger food, including vegetarian and gluten free options (and no shellfish!). If you require anything different, please let me know and I’ll arrange an alternative for you from the Hellenic Club.

So now you have all the details, all you need to do is drop your name in the box below to let me know that you’re coming. We are limited to 50 places. Once we hit 50, I’ll open up a waiting list. Now, go!

Next Girl Geek Dinner Melbourne – The Kanzaman Restaurant

Hi everyone,

Girl Geek Dinners is back from hiatus and we’re happy to announce that Google Australia is sponsoring our next dinner, which is being held on Monday, April 19 at the Kanzaman restaurant.

Come along for dinner and meet some other technical women, including some of Google’s girl geeks, who will be in town as part of their national tour visiting Uni campuses to wave the flag for girls in tech.

Dinner details:
Monday, 19 April at 7pm.

Venue: Kanzaman restaurant, 458-460 Bridge Road, Richmond.

Map:
View Kanzaman in a larger map

Please note that as usual, men are welcome to attend if they’re the guest of a girl geek.

Please also note that Google is sponsoring the dinner, but you’ll need to pay for your own drinks.

If you are on Facebook, please help us by RSVPing for the dinner on the event page over there. Otherwise, you can email your RSVP to ggdmelbourne@gmail.com.

Cheers and see you on the 19th!

Dinner 10 with Tammy Halter

This month we’re fortunate enough to have Tammy Halter as our guest speaker. Tammy Halter is the founder and sole Director of two technology companies, Absolute Data Group, and Broadcaster Media. Tammy has over 15 years experience in the information technology field, including SGML/XML publishing and document management experience with various software integration companies. Tammy has been a technical trainer, support engineer and project manager for several SG/XML software Distributors over the years, including the Frame Product Engineer, Asia Pacific & Latin America for Adobe Systems in 1997.

The path to being a Geek, does not have to start with a Degree in Technology.

It’s never too late to get into the tech industry, more than 1/2 of my staff  (including myself), started out in another industry and "changed over" to a career in the dark side (I.T.)!

We need to encourage and educate young women and have them understand that there are many aspects to the Technology Industry’s, and you don’t necessarily have to be a Programmer or a Scientist to have a love for the industry and to be a geek at heart.

Sponsorship

This month WiT (www.wit.org.au) are kindly donating a 12 month membership (value $143).  All attendees are entitled to a 2 month trial membership if they wish on the night which will allow them to attend the free member’s only Infotech breakfast on 28th April.

Who is invited?

If you are a geek and a girl or know of one who is willing to escort you then you are welcome and encouraged to come along. There is a technical focus with the intention of having fun and connecting with other women in IT.

Who pays for dinner?

This month is not sponsored so you will have to pay for your own dinner

Where + When

Date: Thursday 22nd April, 2010

Time: 6:30 pm

Where: Coco Bella Shop 2-75 Welsby Street New Farm.

Menu: http://fs.eatoutadmin.com/Listings/1188/Menus/coco-bella-new-farm-brisbane-entree-mains.pdf

Updated Details for GGD #4

Now being brought to you by Reading Room!

Date: Friday, 26 February, 2010
Time: 5:30pm
Venue: Reading Room, 45 Torrens Street Braddon
Cost: Free! If you have already paid, you should have a refund winging its way to you now

This event is being run by the lovely people at Reading Room, who are celebrating the opening of their new premises, and have asked us to come along and join the festivities.

Senator Kate Lundy and Pia Waugh will both be giving speeches there, including a Q&A session. This is a great opportunity to get in and see them again, and also get in and ask the burning questions.

Additionally, there’s some cool interactive digital art on display, which is sure to entertain.

There will be a cocktail-style canape menu on offer.

This event also has the usual rule about male attendees. Men are more than welcome, but do need to be accompanied by a girl geek. Please email me on ggdcanberra(at)gmail(dot)com if you have any questions.

Please drop your RSVP in the comments, if you haven’t already done so. We’re limited to 25 places, so get in fast to make sure you don’t miss out!

I’ll see you all on the night!

Change of Plans

Sometimes, it seems, the GGD planning takes on a life of its own.

As you know, the dinner isn’t sponsored this time around, so first of all I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has already paid for tickets.

Today, I received an interesting phone call from Cathie who is the marketing and PR person for Reading Room, and also a Sydney GGD organiser.

Reading Room are holding their opening celebrations on the same night as our planned GGD Dinner #4, so they have invited us to hold our dinner at Reading Room instead.

This has a number of advantages. First of all, Reading Room will be covering costs, so if you have paid for a ticket, I will be refunding this to you in the next few days. It also means we get to hear Kate Lundy and Pia Waugh speak again, and also have the chance to check out some fantastic digital art in the flashy new Reading Room premises.

The venue is in Braddon, and the time will change slightly to a 5:30pm start. Instead of a sit-down meal, it will be a cocktail-style canape menu.

As for our keynote speaker Kim Lambert, she has agreed to be our keynote at GGD #5 (late April/early May) instead. At this stage, I can’t confirm whether or not we’ll have the ability to do some lightning talks. Rest assured though that if we don’t, and I’ve already told you that you’re in, you will get a chance at the next GGD.

I will be updating the EventBrite event as soon as I have finalised all the details. In the meantime, please register your interest in the comments. We will be limited to 20-30 attendees, so get your name down now to make sure you don’t miss out. If you’ve already bought tickets, you’re guaranteed to get in, no need to put your name down again.

If all I’ve done is confuse the hell out of you (and don’t worry, I’m confussled too at this stage!) then please just email me on ggdcanberra(at)gmail(dot)com and we’ll get it straightened out.

Thanks, and apologies for upsetting the apple cart … again!

Girl Geek Dinner 9 – First dinner for 2010

For our first Girl Geek Dinner of 2010 we’re going to have a casual networking night.

We’ll be heading to Vapiano restaurant in Albert Lane just off the Queen Street Mall.  You can have a look at the food on offer at there website : http://www.vapiano.com.au/our-food.html

Details for the night:

when: 7pm 23 February, 2010

where: Vapiano – Albert Lane, just of the Queen Street Mall

Who can attend: Any female in the IT industry or who has an interest in the industry, or any male invited by an attending member

Girl Geek Dinner #4

Announcing the fourth Canberra Girl Geek Dinner, and the first for 2010!

Date: Friday, 26 February, 2010
Time: 6:00pm for a 6:30 start
Venue: The Belconnen Soccer Club – Hawker. Corner Springvale Drive & Belconnen Way.
Cost: $40/head. Please register and pay using EventBrite

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to secure a sponsor for our dinner this time around. You can pay using PayPal over at EventBrite. In return for your money, you get a lovely meal, and some goodies from our friends at Yahoo!7 and Google. Please note that we will not be able to accept payment at the door, if you have not paid ahead of time, you will not have a seat reserved for you.

Our keynote speaker will be Kim Lambert, who will be speaking about women in IT in Defence/Government, IT Architecture, and the challenge of being a generalist in a specialists world.

I’m also on the lookout for lightning talks. These are short five minute talks, and they can be on any topic you’re familiar with. It doesn’t have to be technical, it just has to be of interest to a whole bunch of girl geeks. Please let me know in the comments if you’re interested. Also, feel free to use the mailing list for discussion around lightning talks.

There will be a sit-down meal, which will be served 50/50. If you require a vegetarian or vegan meal I must know before 24 February.

This event also has the usual rule about male attendees. Men are more than welcome, but do need to be accompanied by a girl geek. Please email me on ggdcanberra(at)gmail(dot)com if you have any questions.

I’ll see you all on the night!

Press Release: "Girl Geeks: The Challenge of being a Generalist in a Specialist World"

Are women better at understanding and coping with a wide range of information and ideas, rather than specialising in one particular area?

On February 26th 2010 local Canberra girl geek, Kim Lambert will tackle this question as the keynote speaker at the upcoming Girl Geek Dinner Canberra.

Ms Lambert has over twenty years experience in the IT industry. Like many women, she did not set out with the intention of working in computing, she simply ended up doing that type of work. Today Ms Lambert is the Technical Services Group Manager at Unisys for the Defence Regional ICT outsourcing contract. Her IT career is wide and varied and includes sojourns with the ACT Government and Department of Defence.

Ms Lambert says “everyone expects you to be a deep specialist in something and no-one knows how to deal with a generalist, yet most women are better at being a generalist across at least a few areas, rather than a deep specialist”.

Girl Geek Dinners Canberra

The 4th Girl Geek Dinner in Canberra is being held at 6.00pm on 26 February, 2010 at the Belconnen Soccer Club, Hawker.  All women who work with technology in any way are invited to attend the dinner and join our community.  Men are welcome at the invitation of a Girl Geek.

The Girl Geek Dinners in Canberra are organised by Lana Brindley, and have been running since early last year. Girl Geek Dinners are also run in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and over forty other locations worldwide.

Sarah Blow (London UK) developed the concept of Girl Geek Dinners four years ago. She had become tired of being one of the few women to attend technical events. Girl Geek Dinners aim to provide a platform for women who use technology to learn and network in an informal environment.  Girl Geek Dinners are always held in pubs, clubs or bars, and there is usually a speaker or three who talk for a short while on a chosen subject for the evening.

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For More Information:

Lana Brindley Ph: 0410 500 659

lanabrindley(at)gmail(dot)com

http://girlgeekdinnerscanberra.blogspot.com/

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If you would like a PDF copy of this press release, please email ggdcanberra(at)gmail(dot)com.

Are you ready for this?

Did you all have a good break? I did, and I spent some time redesigning the site for you while I was at it. Do you like it? Let me know!

Just to give you a quick update on the Girl Geek Dinner front, GGD #4 is already in the pipeline, to be held in late February. Keep your eyes on your Twitter stream or your RSS for more details as they become available. We’ll announce everything right here on the blog.

In the meantime, why not have a think about what you would like to see at the next dinner. Do you have any ideas about what talks you would like to hear, or what we can do to make the event really memorable? Drop your ideas in the comments and I’ll do my best to make it happen.

I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to Charly Leetham, who has been doing an amazing job of helping me out with planning. You might remember that Charly gave a lightning talk at GGD #3. Well, she made the fatal mistake of offering to help, and since then I’ve put her to work! You’ll probably see some blog posts and media releases from her pen as well over time.

Looking forward to doing this all again soon, take care!

Lana

Press Release: Geek Women Wear The Badge With Pride

On October 14th, 2009 the 3rd Girl Geek Dinner Canberra (sponsored by Google Australia) was held at the Burns Club in Kambah. The keynote speaker for the event was Senator Kate Lundy, who shared her experiences as a woman using technology through her career. Over 50 women (and men) attended the event to make it an outstanding success.The 4th Girl Geek Dinner Canberra is now being planned for February, 2010 and we are seeking women who work with Technology (in any way) to join our community. We are also seeking sponsors for our events to help raise the profile of Girl Geek Dinners, and women who work with technology in the Canberra region.

Girl Geek Dinners Canberra
The Canberra Chapter of Girl Geek Dinners was started in February 2009 by Lana Brindley, a technical writer, when other Girl Geek Dinners started up in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

Lana Brindley says “My vision for Canberra dinners is to provide a casual and fun environment, with a variety of speakers on different topics. The dinners provide an opportunity for attendees to network with like-minded people in a relaxed atmosphere. I aim to keep the dinners light hearted, and fun, with a range of speakers on different topics. It’s a diverse and interesting group, which comes through in our talk schedule.”

What Are Girl Geek Dinners
The concept of Girl Geek Dinners was introduced by Sarah Blow (London UK) 4 years ago when she tired of being one of the few women to attend technical events. The ethos behind Girl Geek Dinners is to provide a platform for learning and networking in an informal environment for geek women (that is, women who use technology). Girl Geek Dinners are always held in pubs, clubs or bars, and there is usually a speaker or three who talk for a short while on a chosen subject for the evening. Men are welcome, of course, but only at the invitation of a Girl Geek – this ensures that the event has a female majority. There are 49 active groups, and another five in the pipeline, worldwide.

Are you a Girl Geek?
If you are a woman who uses IT, you are welcome to join Girl Geek Dinners Canberra. Meet women from all walks of life who use technology in many different ways in an informal and friendly environment.

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For More Information:
Lana Brindley Ph: 0410 500 659
lanabrindley(at)gmail(dot)com
http://girlgeekdinnerscanberra.blogspot.com/

Girl Geek Dinner 8 – Open Mic Night

Who is invited?

If you are a geek and a girl or know of one who is willing to escort you then you are welcome and encouraged to come along. There is a technical focus with the intention of having fun and connecting with other women in IT.

This month we’re having an open mic night. Please let us know if you’d like a 5 min speaking slot to talk about a topic of your choosing.

Who pays for dinner?

This month is not sponsored so you will have to pay for your own dinner

Where + When

Date: Tuesday 24th November, 2009

Time: 7:00 pm

Where: Greystone Bar & Cellar – 7/116 Grey Street South Brisbane QLD 4101

Menu: http://www.greystonebar.com.au/sites/default/files/Enitre%20Menu.pdf

Announcing: Canberra Google Girl Geek Dinner #3!

I am very pleased to announce that the third Canberra Girl Geek Dinner is finally here, thanks to Google!

Date: Wednesday, 14 October, 2009
Time: 6:00pm for a 6:30 start
Venue: The Burns Club, 8 Kett St Kambah, ACT 2902

There will be a sit-down meal, which will be served 50/50. If you require a vegetarian or vegan meal I must know ahead of time. Please mention it on your RSVP.

I’m also on the lookout for lightning talks. These are short five minute talks, and they can be on any topic you’re familiar with. It doesn’t have to be technical, it just has to be of interest to a whole bunch of girl geeks. Please let me know when you RSVP if you’re interested. Also, feel free to use the mailing list for discussion around lightning talks.

This event also has the usual rule about male attendees. Men are more than welcome, but do need to be accompanied by a girl geek. Please email me on loquacities(at)gmail(dot)com if you have any questions.

And now … set to, and I’ll see you all on the night!

29 September: Bumped this post back up to the top of the page. L
8 October: Closed RSVPs and removed form. L

Talk Schedule for Kate Lundy/Google GGD

We have an absolutely amazing talk schedule lined up for you all on the 14th. Of course, our star speaker is the one and only Senator Kate Lundy, who will be giving a talk titled “How the Geek will inherit the Earth”. After the Senator speaks, we’ll have a range of five minute lightning talks with topics ranging from the Canberra Dorkbot chapter to geek health and wellbeing. There’s bound to be something to interest you.

6:35 – 6:40 Welcome by Lana

And, just because I keep getting asked, Google will be covering the cost of your meal.

See you all on the 14th!

Update: We found a speaker for our empty slot! Thanks Caronne

Talking up the GGD on 2CC

You might like to tune in to 2CC with Mark Parton tomorrow (Wednesday) morning around 7:30. Why? Because I’ll be there, talking up the girl geek dinners!

Radio 2CC with Mark Parton

Senator Kate Lundy, Google, and the Girl Geeks

If you’ve just landed here from Senator Kate Lundy’s website, welcome! You will find all the nitty gritty details about the Google dinner on 14 October, and a form to RSVP, right here.

Please feel free to browse around, and you might want to consider signing up to our mailing list, so you know when the next event is!

Software Freedom Day – 19 September

Saturday 19 September is International Software Freedom Day. Software Freedom Day aims to promote and inform about programs that are freely available to everyone to install and use. You may be using some of these well known programs:

* Firefox – Web browser
* Thunderbird – Mail client
* Open Office – An office suite for word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, databases and more.
* Scribus – Desktop publishing
* Inkscape – Drawing program
* Gimp – Image editing
* VLC – Media player

To help you become familiar with these and others there are two events organised over two weekends.

Event 1: The Stall

Come to the Software Freedom Day Stall where we’ll be handing out free software as well as demonstrating and discussing the software available. If you have any questions about Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) this is a good place to start. Come and have talk to a local expert, or try one of the programs one one of the demonstration machines. Free CDs will be handed out (while available) and many examples of FOSS software for use on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Location: Computer Markets, Old Bus Depot Markets
Date: Saturday, 19th September 2009
Time: 10am to 2pm

Event 2: Install Fest
If you want help installing your free software, or just want to ask some more questions, then come along to the install fest. Bring your
computer and your questions to:

Location: Room N101, Ground Floor, Computer Science and Information Technology building, ANU
Date: Saturday, 26th September 2009
Time: 10am to 3pm

For more information:

General information. http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/
Information about the Canberra events http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/Canberra
Information on some of the programs being given away http://www.theopendisc.com/programs/
Open Source as alternative http://www.osalt.com/
One of the distributions of Linux available on the day http://www.ubuntu.com/
Another distribution of Linux available on the day http://fedoraproject.org/

Contact Details
Organiser Paul Wayper
Email paulway@mabula.net
Phone 6251 5257

Have you missed me?

After a couple of months off, which (due to illness) turned into a couple too many months off … GGD Canberra is back!

And not just that, but we’re back with a sponsor, does it get any better than this?

And so now it’s full-steam ahead into planning for GGD #3. Keep your eyes peeled, set up your RSS feed, and make sure you’re signed up for the mailing list. Then just hang on for the ride …

Watch this space!

Girl Geek Dinner 7 – Broadbeach Gold Coast

This event we’re going to try something a little different.  This year, Microsoft TechEd event is being held on the Gold Coast and we’d love to see as many of you as possible at the event – registration details can be found here: http://www.msteched.com/australia/Public/registration-info.aspx. We’re taking advantage of having so many ladies at one location and holding our next dinner at Broadbeach.

Of specific interest to all the girl geeks is this year’s Women In Technology Event at the conference is the Women Build LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY (LSP). Microsoft have partnered with LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY (LSP) through Robert Rasmussen & Associates with their local agency Management Consultancy International to create a unique interactive workshop, using LEGO® Bricks to model solutions for growing strong female leaders in the software industry.

The session will give you an opportunity to meet other females in the IT industry – local and international, learn from role models that have been successful in their career and give you access to resources that can help you build your career and your own network. The session will help you make the most of the Microsoft Women in Technology community.

Who is invited?

If you are a geek and a girl or know of one who is willing to escort you then you are welcome and encouraged to come along. There is a technical focus with the intention of having fun and connecting with other women in IT.

Who pays for dinner?

This month is not sponsored so you will have to pay for your own dinner / drinks

Where + When

Date: Wednesday 9 September, 2009

Time: 7:30 pm

Where: Alto Cucina & Bar – Shop 47, The Oasis Shopping Centre, Broadbeach, QLD 4218

http://www.altocucina.com.au/

Girl Geek Dinner 6 – IT and law

Our 6th Girl Geek Dinner was held on the 2nd July. We were fortunate to have Kay Lam-Beattie as our guest speaker, who runs her own legal IT business and answered many legal questions from our geek girls. 

Kim Weatherall, a UQ Law Professor, also helped out with many of the questions and conversation.  The discussions ranged from politics with a hot topic being the proposed Internet filter, file copying and sharing, how copyright can be changed etc.  The discussions went well into the night and it was great to see a bunch of new faces!

The guys at the Hutch Bistro were great. We even had our own personal menus made up which was a really nice touch. The food and service were great too!.

Thanks to Tim for taking photos on the night an look forward to seeing more ladies at the next dinner.

More photos on Tim’s Flickr stream here.

Girl Geek Dinner 6 with Kay Lam-Beattie

For our July Girl Geek Dinner we’re heading to The Hutch Bistro at New Farm and we’re fortunate to have Kay Lam-Beattie as our guest speaker.  So gather all of your legal/IT questions to ask Kay on the night!

About Kay:

Kay graduated from QUT in 1992 with a Bachelor of Business (Accountancy) and an honours degree in Law. To obtain more specialised skills, Kay also completed a Masters in Law concentrating on the areas of intellectual property (IP) and IT-related legal issues, as well as a Graduate Certificate in IT.

Kay has been the principal of IDEALAW (and its predecessor Legal Capital Lawyers) since 2005.

Kay’s broadly based academic qualifications places her in an ideal position not only to understand the intricacies of her specialist areas of IT and IP related law, but also technical IT and business issues. Kay also speaks conversational Japanese, having lived and worked in Japan for a number of years.

Who is invited?

If you are a geek and a girl or know of one who is willing to escort you then you are welcome and encouraged to come along. There is a technical focus with the intention of having fun and connecting with other women in IT.

Who pays for dinner?
This month is not sponsored so you will have to pay for your own dinner

Where + When
Date: Thursday 2nd July, 2009
Time: 7:00 pm
Where: The Hutch Bistro

75 Welsby Street, New Farm

http://www.thehutchbistro.com.au/food-wine.html

We have a mailing list

Cast your eyes to the right of this blog post. It’s a white box with a hole in it for your email address! Put your email address in, hit the button, and be assured that you will never again miss a GGD Canberra announcement. Yay!

Linux n00bs

Please forgive the shameless promotion, but over at my other blog, I’ve just posted a poll and an associated blogpost about an idea I’m developing. If you’re new to Linux, or just thinking about it, I would love you to head over there and vote on what you think about a series of independent Linux absolute beginner courses.

InstallFest this Saturday at ANU

I’ll be there, and would love to see you if you can drop in. There will be a sausage sizzle lunch available, and all the free and open-source help you can take! Bring your hardware, or just bring your expertise. It’s a great opportunity to learn about free and open source software, even if you’re just dabbling, or to help others grok what it’s all about.

Details are available on the Install Fest website.

Beginner CLUG announcement

This is the announcement of this Thursday’s beginner CLUG meeting, from the CLUG mailing list. See the next blog post for details of the mini-GGD meetup happening beforehand.

Canberra Linux Users Group Meeting – 28th May 2009
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Mini GGD meetup on the 28th of May at ANU

Hi everyone,

It’s been a bit quiet on the GGD Canberra front recently (there are machinations afoot, so please hang in there. We’ll be back bigger and better than ever in August!).

But, if you’ve been missing the girl geek love, then why not hop along to a mini GGD on the 28th of May? I haven’t pinned down event details yet, but would love to hear from you if you think you could make it.

Here’s the details so far … the Canberra Linux Users Group is holding a “Beginner CLUG” at the ANU on Thursday the 28th at 7pm. Yours truly will be giving a speech entitled “10 Reasons why you do not want to install Linux. Ever”. I know of at least one other girl geek who wants to attend the meeting, and we were discussing joining up for dinner beforehand. Of course, there’s no pressure to get along to the meeting, but if you want to swing by the ANU after work (around 5:30/6pm) then I’d love to have a few drinks and something to eat with you. Venue to be decided by consensus

If you can make it, just drop your name in the comments. I’d love to catch up with you all!

Update 19 May 2009:

Just a quick note to say that the CLUG meeting is not a GGD event, anyone and everyone is welcome.

The GGD event is the meetup before the CLUG meeting, and the usual rules apply – open to all women, and men must have a Girl Geek to escort them.

Also, I’m not very familiar with ANU meal options (it’s been years since I was last studying there!) … does anyone have any good suggestions?

You can find out more about CLUG on their website

Girl Geek Dinner 5 – A Success

Thursday 30 April we held our 5th Girl Geek Dinner in Brisbane.  This event was a bit different to the previous ones as we all converged upon the Microsoft office in Brisbane to have a night of Game playing.

Tracy Whitelaw was our guest speaker for the night and I’m sure all will agree she did a great job.  She shared a bit about herself and talked about women in gaming.  40% of gamers are women!

Catherine Eibner was up from Sydney and brought some great prizes with her.  The Marcus Fenix figurine and signed Gears of War poster would be a prized possession for many games.

We had a range of consoles/games set up for the ladies to play:

XBox 360 with Rockband

XBox 360 with tennis

PS2 with the original Guitar Hero

Wii with Dancemat and Wii Play

The night wouldn’t have happened without the help from some key people. Many thanks to Jorke and Catherine for the use of the office, helping on the night and supplying the prizes, Tracy for her great talk, Carolyn for cooking and helping me prepare the food, Jenine for the use of her PS2 and Wii, John for helping with the GGD support vehicle, food and manning Rockband all night, and Tim for taking some photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/alborath/sets/72157617437592785/.

Tracy Whitelaw speaking at Girl Geek Dinner 5

For Girl Geek Dinner 5 in Brisbane we’re fortunate to have Tracy Whitelaw as our guest speaker who will talk about women in gaming which is very appropriate for our Girl Geek Guitar Hero night!  If you haven’t signed up for the event you can register here: http://girlgeekdinnersbrisbane05.eventbrite.com/

Tracy Whitelaw is a self-confessed geek and gadget girl who creates robot brains in her position as the Chief Knowledge Engineer at artificial intelligence company ‘MyCyberTwin’. Based on the Gold Coast, Tracy works in an environment that delivers fully customised personalities and characters to a number of companies and businesses including NASA, AMP, NAB, PBL Media and others.

Holding a BSc(Hons) degree in Behavioural Science, Tracy has long had an interest in the social construction of identity in popular media forms. She specializes in studying trends in society, how individuals act within a social milieu, and in helping MyCyberTwin technology be rich in response to these patterns. She has been involved in online technology for a number of years.

Her particular areas of specialisation are online worlds, gaming, character creation and formation of identity in popular culture.  With a passion for emerging technology and how it is used, Tracy enjoys the challenges of creating engaging characters who keep users entertained and informed. She combines this with her interest in video-games and gaming culture, working voluntarily as the PA for a number of female based gaming websites. She writes freelance for a number of online and print sources, primarily about her passions for gaming, culture and geekiness.

Upcoming Melbourne Girl Geek Dinner – April 23 2009

Hi everyone, you’re invited to the next Girl Geek Dinner for Melbourne.
Date: Thursday, April 23

Time: 7pm

Venue: Nyala African Restaurant, 131 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (map)

Please note RSVPs are required for this event. Geek guys are welcome if they’re accompanied by a girl geek.

If you’re on Facebook, please head over there to RSVP. Otherwise you can leave a comment here  - but please leave your email address so we can get in touch with you to confirm.

Hope to see you on the 23rd!