How many times have you applied to speak at the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) for Women in Computing event? In my case 3 times and I have been accepted once. Never heard of GHC? If you are a female in tech you should definitely check it out. I will use this blog to share my winning application and my experience and by the end I hope to have convinced you to go to the conference and maybe even apply to speak.
First a word on rejection
The first time I applied to speak at GHC I remember being nervous and not wanting to tell anyone in case I didn’t get in. Funny thing is my boss also applied and didn’t tell me at the time. She got in and I did not. Yes it stung my ego a bit, but isn’t it odd that we both secretly applied and only revealed so afterwards? Sometimes I wonder if we had just been open and honest about our intentions from the beginning we could have helped each other and supported each other more. This idea of women supporting other women is really why I wanted to write this blog. If my GHC application or my experience helps others to apply and normalize their rejections, I will have done my job.
My (Winning) Application – here
So truth be told I got my application together in a day before the deadline. I had recently ran a journey mapping session for retailers and shoppers that I blogged about here, and I basically used that for the basis of my winning application. I was pleasantly surprised my application was accepted. Looking back do I know why this one was accepted when the others were not? My only guess is that the Journey Mapping topic resonated with the committee who selects these applications over my previous applications that were more specific to product management practices (and perhaps a more narrow audience).
My Session
I was also pleasantly surprised that the talk was fully subscribed. I had given previous talks before, but never have I had the amazing experience to talk to a room full of female technologists. It was the most welcoming and friendly audience I had ever encountered which made presenting really fun.
I tend to judge my presentations by the level of attendee engagement post-presentation, often evidenced by inquisitive questions or more in-depth post-presentation discussion. After I gave this talk I was happy to have lots of questions asked, but the ones I remember most were from younger women asking me how I got into product management. Lots were coming from straight engineering/computer science disciplines, and it never occurred to me that my career path was envious by others. Getting into product was never a goal of mine, but something that I fell into naturally I suppose, due to my high agency (a blessing and a curse – a future blog article) and love of tech, much before the actual product management discipline got so hyped. I remember going into this talk with really no big goals other than to share my knowledge on a subject I was passionate about, but I ended up leaving extremely hopeful that a new wave of product management was about to be fuelled by a next generation of super talented women.
My experience as an attendee
I have attended a lot of tech conferences in my career. Never in my life have I attended a tech conference where the overwhelming majority of the attendees were women. And this was not small. This was a massive US arena sized conference. It’s amazing how you get used to not working with women, and sadly you start to normalize it. You hear the same arguments presented enough and you may not believe them but you certainly start to wonder if they are true: there are not enough women getting technical degrees, not enough women applying to certain positions, too many women leaving the workforce to raise families, etc. Honestly if anything this conference showed me that there certainly are a LOT of women in tech out there, and they are doing a lot of cool shit.
Other odd things that I never experienced – at trade shows there are always the usual giveaways. Never before have I got giveaways I actually wanted. Not to play into stereotypes too much but I was pleasantly surprised to receive a really cool women in computing print (that I actually framed and put in my daughter’s room) and a beautiful vegan leather coin purse. All the giveaways were actually catered to a female audience – crazy.
Recruitment was also insane. Never have I experienced such lavish recruiting events. Think really luxurious after-hours events – no expenses sparred on meals, facilities, or decorations. I found myself invited to a special roundtable q&a with Twitter exec that included Jack Dorsey (see pic). There were so many of these companies trying to recruit female talent, and it was all honestly very flattering. I remember going to an evening event with a friend who was also attending. We watched the dance floor illuminated by a giant crystal disco ball with hundreds of women dancing underneath. All women in tech. All having the best carefree time of their lives. “Have you ever seen anything like this in your career?” I asked my friend. “No” she said rather soberly.
Go if you ever get the chance.