Try looking at more UI / Javascript centric talks. I've been to a few UI centric things like FOWD and Colin Mook - there's loads of ladies at stuff like that. If we could get some of them to speak, that would be nice.

I know its a bit off topic from CF, but the conference seems to be broadening anyway. Just a thought.

I love this question!

I agree, we need more women speakers! Selene Bainum will be added next month as a speaker. She along with Jeremy Kadlec and Nate Nelson will be organizing a Database track for CFUnited. Don't forget Dee Sadler is speaking as well.

Anyways, I know from looking at the registrations we have now, there are a good handful of women. Each year I'm happy to say we've increased that number.

I'm curious as to what we can do to attract more women to the conference myself.

BTW, The call for speakers had only 3 or 4 women submit topics.

Here in Washington DC Metro area, there is an organization - DCWebwomen - http://www.dcwebwomen.org/

I know there are similar groups all over the US. Conference organizers may want to check with these organizations to see if there are anyone who would be interested in speaking at conferences. Sometimes it's just that one doesn't find out about speaking opportunities until it's too late to submit proposals.

Another factor might be that some women simply don't have the time to leave their families to speak at conferences. What to do about this, I don't know.

Excuse me, but Louis Vuitton? That's the most sexist thing I've ever heard.


The answer here is obvious. Stop scheduling conferences to take place while I'm PMSing. ;)

The only presentation with female presenter that I have listened to is:

Mate @ 360|Flex conference
http://mate.asfusion.com/news/360-flex-presentatio...

it would be great to see men and women speaking at the conferences... but as a woman, i can say that what i prefer is that the best person to present the topic would be selected... regardless of gender... although i have noticed the deficit of women speaking at events... i cannot say it diminishes my learning experience.

and no thanks to the louis vuitton comment above even if all in good fun. not only is it a sexist comment, but it is also misspelled! (besides, i know several men who would come up and speak for free fashion gifts... not all programmers are fashion ignorant!)

honestly, i would be interested to see some statistically corrected analysis as to how many women apply to speak and are rejected as compared to men. that would be a better indicator purely than the observation that there are more men at these events than women... perhaps there just are not as many women trying to get a spot in proportion to the male segment?

Ray,
This is a great question and dialog for the community. I too have noticed that the presenters at CF conferences are almost completely male, and also lack ethnic diversity, which does not represent the wealth of diversity in the community.

I am a woman and minority who has been working in the IT field for 20 years, though it was not something I studied in college, rather, fell into through a series of excellent circumstances and opportunities.

I think presenting, regardless of field, requires a special skill that is not innate to most, though can be learned and developed. A good presenter captures the audience's attention through the method of delivery on a topic of interest. People have different communication strengths, and public speaking is definitely a strength required for presenting. Also, certain personality types lend themselves well to public communication. Extroverts tend to do better in public speaking than introverts, and while it's a stereotype, it's one that has some truth to it--techies are not noted for their comfort in public speaking nor for their great public speaking skills...it's not a natural skill most of us in this field have. Though we can learn to present well, for most of us, it will never be in our comfort zone.

I've also noticed that presenters tend to be the 'celebrities'* of the CF community. This can be intimidating to those of us who might consider presenting. We feel that perhaps what we know is not as good, as interesting, or as technically advanced as those who present frequently.

I think that the User Groups can help in this area by discussing presentation methods and encouraging members to present to the group, perhaps smaller topics to the group, such as how a certain problem in their work was solved. This can be a great training ground in preparation for presenting at conferences.

The CF community is the best sharing community I've experienced over the years. So perhaps we should start sharing presentation how-tos in addition to the technical knowledge we freely distribute.

But I also think we as a community should try to determine why the overwhelming majority of conference attendees, and the majority of bloggers,etc, are white male. What's holding the rest of the community back from attending and blogging? The community is very diverse, so why is the diversity not represented in attendance (or presenters) and blogs?

CFUnited is the best conference, year after year, I've attended (as a side note, it's the only CF conference I've attended, haven't yet had the opportunity to attend the other CF conferences out there...). Perhaps there should be topic(s) on presenting and writing.

When presentations are received for consideration, what does the reviewing panel look for? How do they evaluate the proposed presentations? When calls for presentations go out, perhaps there can be some guidelines that go with it to assist those of us who are new to presenting that can assist us in developing a winning presentation.

And perhaps we can survey the community and evaluate the responses to try to determine what's causing the lack of diversity in conference attendance, presenting, blogging, etc., so that we can come up with some solutions. Perhaps the CFUnited site is the place to do it?

*P.S. We LOVE our CF 'celebrities', and they've helped and encouraged us to grow in our work and skills over the years.

@Michele - I wanted to comment specifically on one part of your comment - using the user group to help teach presenting. You know, that's not a bad idea, especially since most UGs have to scrounge up speakers and really push members to volunteer to speak.

@Michele, I like the idea of a survey. I'll contact you offline to maybe work on a survey together. I'm curious myself.

In the past people probably noticed that I was too shy to get on stage. Being one of the easily recognized faces of the community is really intimidating. I've been to events like MAX and people recognize me at almost every corner. Over time I learned to embrace it. I try not to hide anymore.

Some tips I'd give women (even men) is to start speaking at your local user group obviously, but in my case I've been speaking at colleges and high schools to get over my fears. Its a lot less intimidating and they really admire someone taking the time to talk to them from the real world perspective. I recommend it to everyone.

As far as this year's event, Michael Smith is no longer giving Keynote welcome/intro. It will be me. I haven't announced that publicly yet because I'm SUPER nervous but really excited. I'm recruiting some of my advisory members to help me figure out the best intro (fun and entertaining is the key).

I think women are worried about image more than anything. At least that was my fear. I think this blog will make women think that its ok to put yourself out there. No one is going to judge you heavily... at first. If you remain true to yourself and listen to the feedback people give you, the community will love you. Let the harsh stuff roll off your back but understand where it comes from.

I'm going to propose a challenge to women, I'll open up 5 more topic slots for women starting today. Submit on the call for speakers until March 20th. http://callforspeakers.cfconf.org/
I'll post all the choices in a survey on March 23rd and let the community vote again for two weeks. And to further my support I'm going to submit a topic as well.

Secondly, I'm going to see if Charlie Arehart could do an online User Group talk about presenting and guidelines. Maybe he can organize a few different ones from various super star speakers.

Third, I'll publish a blog entry on cfunited.com with what I think makes a great speaker. I see all the feedback and I hear all the complaints. There are some no nos.

Thanks again Ray for this entry!

I am doing a BOF. It's a Developer vs. Designer BOF. We are making a checklist and guidelines for designers to use. Designers don't know what they don't know. We can help them out by giving them a checklist. :) My focus this year is shortening the gap between designers and developers. I considered a Pimp Your Personal Brand BOF, but would take suggestions. :)

Dee

This is an excellent topic that seems to have started a few great ideas in the discussion. I have been to CFUnited for the past 3 years and I've only been in one session with a female speaker. Further, like Michele, I've also noticed a lack of diversity among speakers, which is certainly not reflective of the larger community. There are plenty of both women and ethnic minority members of the CF community. I agree with many that the fear factor may play a large part in the lack of submissions by women and minorities. The "CF Celebrity" factor Michele mentioned is one reason I've never even considered the idea. I think if a concerted effort could be made to encourage new speakers that would be a great. Many of us sit in a cube all day in front of a computer so our communication skills are not always the best. Maybe a series about making technical presentations might be of some use. I think t he user groups are likely the best place to start for such an effort.

Thanks Ray for raising the issue.