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02/11/14 | OOO

What I Got Out of the Women 2.0 Conference

Past attendees share what they learned from our conference and why they are encouraging others to attend.
By Jessica Schimm (Editorial Assistant, Women 2.0)

We’re gearing up for our fall “How To” conference at the beautiful Hotel Kabuki in Japantown. Here’s what some of our past attendees had to say about their previous experiences.

Madhavi Jagdish

Product Designer at Wanelo

I think the most valuable thing for me was the diversity of women present. There were women who had already spent 10-15 years in their careers, and there were high school students (the girl who created a wireless way for friends to listen to the same song). What was also very inspiring was the variety of ideas that people had, especially during the PITCH contest – ranging from a solar powered lantern to a website that compiled real-time news from ordinary people on the ground in places of conflict (exactly what people use Twitter for these days!)…The fact that I can remember these ideas is testament to their originality, and to the unique and memorable format of the conference.

      ….It wasn’t networking just for the sake of networking, you actually learned something about the person you were meeting for the first time.

Amina Abdulla

Solutions Architect at Cloudera

The Women 2.0 conference is one of the few dedicated conferences that through mentorship, panel discussions, PITCH sessions allow experienced and novice founders to cultivate ideas, or rather the process required to think through setting up their startup for the real world. …As an attendee and founder myself, I’ve learned a great deal from PITCH; presenting powerful pitches in front of a large diverse audience to rationalizing and iterating with a great panel of judges and attendees.

Rebecca Lipon Weekly

Product Marketing Manager, Senior Staff at Synopsys / (Previous Women 2.0 PITCH Coordinator)

Being a female engineer can be very isolating. Women 2.0 provides a community; one that nurtures the growth and success of one another, and has played an important role in connecting me with other technology-minded women. Women 2.0’s conferences provide an incredible opportunity to be inspired and network with interesting women.

Unlike some technology events, these are upbeat celebrations of truly successful women that help provide a context for why the struggles of being a woman in technology, and being an entrepreneur are worth it. It is impossible to come away without feeling like changes are happening in the industry. It is impossible to come away without feeling like we can all continue to make a difference. The events are empowering because of the community, the access to intelligent mentors who clearly want to see more women succeed, and the speakers who demonstrate the heights that can be achieved.

Annie Winhold

Interactive Creative Director, Altius Education, Inc

Go because you are curious. The talent and inspiration at each conference is enough reason to go. I found myself learning about the role of design in business and how important it is to champion it in the workplace…I left with more tools, tactics and advice in design than I anticipated.

…Go because you want to grow as a designer. Learn the basics of coding, dive into UI/UX and start exploring performance-based design. If you get a chance to see a PITCH competition, you will learn that the more tools you have as a designer the more valuable you will become for any company. See what a bootstrapped startup can do with a few people and basic tools. Find out how they are making it work. Designer turned entrepreneur? Possible…”

Photos

What does the event actually look and feel like? See the photo albums below of some of the past Women 2.0 conferences these women have attended to get a better idea.

Women 2.0 Conference 2013 – Las Vegas

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Women 2.0 Conference 2013 – San Francisco

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Women 2.0 Conference 2012 – New York

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Photo by Erica Kawamoto Hsu.

Register for our San Francisco conference here.

Jess headshotJessica Schimm (@JessicaSchimm) is the assistant editor at Women 2.0. She is a recent graduate of San Francisco State where she earned a B.A. in journalism and was the editor-in-chief of SF State’s Her Campus chapter. She has a strong interest in women’s topics and writes about them on her blog.

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