To Jeff's point about diversity, one easy idea to reach more women is (like he said) to advertise to women in tech groups.
Seattle and Vancouver have Women Who Code <https://www.womenwhocode.com/> chapters, for example. I frequently see people sharing conferences on the WWC Vancouver Slack group, and WWC Global sends a weekly email newsletter with a list of conferences going on around the world. There are other women in tech groups out there, but most of them are related to a specific tech that isn't Linux (PyLadies, R-Ladies, etc.). Systers <https://anitab.org/systers/> might be another good one. If you like, you can send me some info about LFNW 2020 next year, and I can share it amongst these groups. Dawn On Fri, May 3, 2019 at 1:32 PM Jeff Silverman <[email protected]> wrote: > > First of all, overall, I was really pleased with the conference. > Everybody did a wonderful job. > > These comments are not to meant as criticism but rather as things I though > could be done to do a better job next year. > > 1) The badges are too fragile. I spoke with any number of people who had > broken badges. In prior years, we had little booklets, printed upside > down, that worked better. The cost might be an issue. > > 2) I would like to see an app to enable carpooling. There are two parts > to the app: a) carpool from were we live to Bellingham and b) carpool from > where we're staying to the campus. I might write that app, I have to learn > some server technologies for other reasons and this would be a good > learning project. Do you have a preference what language/framework I > should use? I would prefer python and flask. > > 3) More grills. The line for hamburgers, at one point, stretched across > the parking lot. Also, I think we ought to insist that the people who are > flipping the burgers wear gloves. It's a safety issue. > > 4) As usual, the boy/girl ratio was awful. There were also few people of > color. I would like to figure out a way to encourage more women to > attend. Since I am a rich white guy, I am totally unqualified to do > anything about it. What I suggest is that we reach to organizations in the > area that cater to women. Some ideas, and I have no idea if these are good > ideas or not, include such things as a room for childcare for young > children and babies (the game den is a wonderful idea - how well did it > work?), a mother's room, and a refrigerator for storing food that is > perishable. But these are just ideas I am pulling out of thin air. Ask > the women why they aren't there. > > Since I wrote this comment, I have started reaching out to some women who > weren't there. Several of them said they didn't know about it. Others > said that they had too many family commitments. > > > Also, ask the people of color why they weren't here. I haven't a clue how > to do that. The Linux tutorials were WONDERFUL ideas, and perhaps if we > emphasized to underserved communities that we are teaching people to use > Linux from scratch. I would also like to invite a hiring manager or two to > speak about how to come from zero to getting a really good job in the > industry. > > 5) I would like to speak at LinuxFest 2020. When does the Call For > Proposals open up? > > 6) I kept lost looking for the staircase between floors. I'd like to see > signs that say "This way to the staircase". I can do that. > > > > -- > Jeff Silverman, Linux sysadmin > nine two four twentieth avenue east > Seattle, WA, nine eight one one two -3507 > (253) 459-2318 > [email protected] (note the zero!) > http://www.commercialventvac.com > See my portfolio of writings and talks > <http://www.commercialventvac.com/portfolio.html> > _______________________________________________ > Fest-list mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.blug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fest-list >
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