moving the needle: how sf ruby got to 18%
DESCRIPTION
Scale8x talk. More context: http://bit.ly/dBjDToTRANSCRIPT
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