moving the needle: how sf ruby got to 18%

Moving the Needle

How SF Ruby got to 18%

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/839344289/

1Saturday, February 20, 2010

About mesarahmei (twitter, github)

Photos copyright (clockwise starting from left) Christian Mehlfuhrer, Yukihiro Matsumoto, me, Pivotal Labs

2Saturday, February 20, 2010

SF Ruby Meetup

•Big!

•Active!

•http://meetup.com/sfruby

3Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Problem

98%

2%

4Saturday, February 20, 2010

Jan 2009 Jan 2010

98%

2%

82%

18%

5Saturday, February 20, 2010

Jan 2011??

50%50%

6Saturday, February 20, 2010

Coming up...

•Our process

•What we’ve gotten out of it

•Why is it so hard?

7Saturday, February 20, 2010

XTREME COMMUNITY

1. Set goals

2. Do events

3. Cultivate people

8Saturday, February 20, 2010

1. Set goals

2. Do events

3. Cultivate people

XTREME COMMUNITY

9Saturday, February 20, 2010

Set goals

Focus on something you can fix.

Be specific!

10Saturday, February 20, 2010

Do Events

Do the right kind of events.

Target specific audiences.

11Saturday, February 20, 2010

Tie in your goals

http://www.flickr.com/photos/limonada/214375219/

12Saturday, February 20, 2010

Logistics

13Saturday, February 20, 2010

Logistics

The easy part!

14Saturday, February 20, 2010

Logistics

•Offer childcare

•Offer nursing/pumping space

•Get sponsors

•Have an afterparty

15Saturday, February 20, 2010

MEN• Yes!

• Get them involved

• They make great volunteers

• Give volunteers drink tickets for the afterparty

• W2.0 attendance model

16Saturday, February 20, 2010

Cultivate people

• Both sides of the pipeline

• For women who’ve come to an event:

• Follow up!!

• Plan a series

• Recruit women from the 1st to help with #2

17Saturday, February 20, 2010

Get new women in• Talk your events up, to everyone you meet

• Buy a domain, throw up wordpress...UPDATE it

• Print business cards, give them out constantly

• Blog about it on your technical blog

• Talk about it on facebook & twitter

• Do talks, BoFs, meetups, etc., at conferences

18Saturday, February 20, 2010

Get new women in

• Be visible in your community

• Put your name on events

• Contribute to the mailing list

• Ask questions after talks

• DO TALKS!

19Saturday, February 20, 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davemorris/6057980/

20Saturday, February 20, 2010

What did we get?

• More women at monthly meetups

• Some who haven’t come to a workshop (critical mass!)

Expected:

21Saturday, February 20, 2010

What did we get?

• More active & lively mailing list

• More varied & interesting talks

• More women volunteering to GIVE talks

• MEN feel comfortable not knowing all the answers

• More newbie-friendly events, by and for all genders

Unexpected:

22Saturday, February 20, 2010

Why is this so hard?

• You need a woman (or 2) willing to be visible.

• You need leadership who thinks it’s worth doing (or at least, won’t get in the way)

• It’s a social problem.

23Saturday, February 20, 2010

Why is this so hard?

• You need a woman (or 2) willing to be visible.

• You need leadership who thinks it’s worth doing (or at least, won’t get in the way)

It’s a social problem

24Saturday, February 20, 2010

Questions

25Saturday, February 20, 2010