Earlier this month, I had the
opportunity to attend two great events: The Colorado Technology Association’s Women in Technology
Conference and The Digital Summit Denver. Here’s recap
of the highlights from both events:
Women in Technology Conference
This sold out event was
hosted at the beautiful Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield and had an attendance
of over 500 women. My main purpose in
attending was to learn more about getting involved in the CTA and to network with
the local women in technology. I had the pleasure of sitting with some very
accomplished women who were not afraid to share their stories of both success
and failure during our roundtable discussions.
My favorite session of the day
was the luminary leadership dialogues. A lot of time was spent discussing the
recent article in The Atlantic – The Confidence Gap which talks about how most women are not as confident as
men in the workplace and how that affects everything from promotions to
salary. “The
problem, argue the broadcast journalists Katty Kay and Claire
Shipman in The Atlantic’s May 2014 cover story, is that
women are less self-assured than men—and that this persistent disparity between
the genders is what keeps women from achieving at the highest levels……despite
being just as qualified as men, women often hold themselves back.” It was very interesting to hear this discussion as it
related to women in the male-dominated technology industry.
I always walk away from these types of
events motivated to do more. It is amazing how easily I can feed off of the
energy of others. This conference inspired me to focus on getting out of my comfort zone and to take
more risks.
I will definitely be attending the
Women in Technology Conferences in the future. Another bonus – at this event, I
won tickets to the Denver Digital Summit the following week!
Denver Digital Summit
The focus on this event was
on content marketing and the new tools and tricks of the trade. I loved the
“Tech Media” app, which allowed me to easily follow the conference conversations
on Twitter and see who else was in attendance. My main purpose in attending was
to learn the latest strategies and also to network among my peers.
The highlight of the event
for me was the keynote from Joe Fernandez, Co-Founder of Klout. I loved hearing his story on how the company began
up to its recent acquisition by Lithium Technologies. He said many people ask him what the most popular
social media sites are or what is coming next and his response is that the
channels are constantly changing. Instead of focusing on the channel, you
should focus on the people. He also talked
about Klout scores and his experience getting death threats from people who
didn’t like their scores! Unbelievable! He
said the average Klout score is around 42, so I was pleased that mine is
currently at 46, phew! http://klout.com/#/mbagnulo.
Another highlight from the event was
the presentation by Skye Sant, UX Manager Consultant. She talked about “Navigating
the Visual Social Sharing Culture.” One key take away was her slide on what a
successful social campaign looks like:
My favorite tweet of the day was this one:
@jeffperkins8 · Official
digital marketer uniform for guys at #DSD14 - jeans and a
blazer.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only
one who noticed!
