Blogger and technical writer Amelia McHenry joins us from She's Geeky, where she hobnobs with some of DC's brainiest chicks for a two-day girl-geek extravaganza

Welcome to the world of She’s Geeky, an unconference for Geeky women. This is a place where women can gather and…well, geek-out. It doesn’t matter what your “geeky” interest is, if you consider yourself a geek you are more than welcome. In past unconferences there has been an assortment of geek interests; from robotics to programming to library science and everything in between. There is also a diverse representation of work sectors; from High Security Government to Non-Profit Television.

Ok, so this is how it works: The geeky ladies get together in the morning and have a little breakfast during registration after which the fun begins. The participants present topics that they are interested in discussing and post them on the wall.

As you can see, basically “anything goes.” The attendees then look at the topic offerings and choose which conversation they want to engage in.

The first session I attended had was entitled “Women on panels at conferences: Should we employ affirmative action or not?” The group presented challenges that have historically faced women becoming “accepted” experts in their field. We then discussed strategies to create the self esteem and confidence needed in order to be comfortable marketing ourselves to conferences. The best suggestion was just to get out there. Submit yourself to the smaller conferences in order to boost your resume. When you do get a speaking opportunity, have someone record your speech. Not only will this recording serve as a “clip,” but you have the chance to see how you look to the audience and adjust your style. By posting your recording on the internet, you are showing other conference committees that you are an expert and potential speaker. We also looked at some of the fears that might keep women from entering into "the public eye" like possible backlash of people threatened by strong women. There was discussion to create a community for women to strategize and create a plan for dealing with these possibilities.

The above is just a taste of the kind of conversation happening at the She’s Geeky unconferences. There were many great sessions during the day.

Here are some of the Twitter quotes from the sessions:

If you want to see more quotes from the unconference go to #shesgeeky or #shesgeekydc

 
Drinks after

 
STILL Geeking out!