Recapping 2016

Last year I wrote my first recap post of accomplishments, travel and presentations I did in 2015 along with some goals for 2016. Looking back at some of my goals feels a bit like public shaming myself but it’s also a helpful reminder of what’s important to me and what I should try to make more time for in the upcoming year. It’s also amazing to me the accomplishments and events I can forget in a year’s worth of time.

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Planning a conference – tales from a first-timer

Planning a conference can be one of the most time-consuming, difficult things you’ll ever do. But it can also be one of the most rewarding. This is my personal experience with planning my first one, Ela Conf. I learned so much along the way and hope I can be a resource for others who have had the idea to plan a conference or something of a similar scale. I considered breaking this post up into multiple posts but considering how long it’s taken me to publish, I’m going to keep it all as one. First, a little background about me and my event planning experience.

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Recapping 2015

I’ve never really been one for new year’s resolutions or even writing out any of my goals but a friend of mine suggested doing a 2015 recap and it sounded like fun so here goes nothin’. Since I didn’t have any goals written down for last year, I didn’t really have anything to compare to, so here’s a recap of my year according to my Google calendar, Instagram and Twitter.

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LadyHacks Ⅲ

me presenting at LadyHacks 2014
The SheTechPHL team presenting at LadyHacks 2014. Photo credit: Corinne Warnshuis

LadyHacks is Philadelphia’s only women-only* hackathon. Well, it used to be the only women-only hackathon in Philly until femmehacks was born. So awesome to see more events like this one! The goal of LadyHacks is to introduce women, who are typically underrepresented at most tech events, to what a hackathon is in an inclusive and safe space. It offers women a chance to come together and work collaboratively on civic-minded projects.
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Speaking at Net/Work

me standing in front of my slides pre-talk
Totally trying to act cool and not nervous before my talk. Photo credit: Corinne Warnshuis

This past week I had the opportunity to lead a dev talk at the Technical.ly Philly job fair, Net/Work. I was invited to speak on behalf of Girl Develop It Philly and am so glad I did it. My presentation was a basic intro about web accessibility and making websites that are usable by everyone. I’ll be teaching a longer format, more hands on workshop for GDI at the end of March. In the past I’ve always been pretty scared of public speaking but it’s a fear I’m trying to conquer and something I’m hoping to focus on and do a lot more of in the upcoming year.
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