One of the great pleasures I had this week at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference was seeing so many women both attending and taking part – many conferences you attend in this industry are male-dominated geekfests. On top of that, men in the industry can be condescending towards their female counterparts, failing to respect them for the powerful minds they possess. Minds that often bring a unique perspective to the issues we face.
I met or caught up with a bunch of really smart ladies this week that I would be proud to work with any day. I really hope some of them nominate topics and get more high profile speaking slots next year. If they do, what was a really good conference this year has the potential to be truly amazing next year.
Here’s my list of super-smart ladies to keep a watch on in this often boyish industry:
- Laura “Pistachio” Fitton, Pistachio Consulting
- Jen Robinson, SAP (and a damn fine buddy to go to the baseball with!)
- Ami Chitwood, Deloitte
- Gia Lyons, Jive
- Susan “ITSInsider” Scrupski, nGenera
- Lauren Cooney, Microsoft
- Isabelle Lopez, isabellelopez.com
- Rachel Happe, IDC
- Suzanne Minassian, IBM
There’s also the amazing group of smart women I’m proud to call my friends, peers and colleagues back in Australia – Maria Horrigan, Jodie Miners, Kate Carruthers and Laurel Papworth in the management, social networking and Enterprise 2.0 industries and everyone else in other jobs (you know who you are).
We boys are in so much trouble if this group ever teams up!
Of course, I couldn’t let this post go past without acknowledging the premier smart lady in my life, Alli. She doesn’t believe me when I tell her she’s got one of the smartest HR strategy brains I know. Read her blog, you’ll see.
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Trib, I am very very honoured to be on your list and would really love to go to next year’s conference and meet up with all these other women who inspire you.
But I must say, I am in absolute awe of Kate Carruthers and Laurel Papworth and others such as Catherine Eibner, and don’t even feel like I belong in the same sentence as these guys as I’m just a dabbler in this stuff, not making my living out of it.
thanks for this list Steve and thanks for your blogging from E2.0
cheers
Jazz
Hey!
That’s great to be on this list! See you soon!
Pascal Veilleux suggested I take a look at your blog and I was delighted to see your comments on the feminine presence at E 2.0. I just wondered if these names – that I am naturally going to check out – are from all over the world or mainly the US Canada and Oz.
E2.0 is quite a discussion topic in Europe at the moment: Icheck out Enterprise 2.0 (Available on lulu.com : http://www.lulu.com/content/2407470 – OK its in French but a second more international edition is in the pipeline). I guess I’ll just have to spread the word and get a few Europeans over next year !
Caroline, there was a European presence at E2.0, but most of the women I met were from the US or Canada. You definitely need to lead a contingent of the smart European women for next year.
Steve – very flattered by your praise – and appreciate the shout out. I had a lot of fun on the panel with Laura, Chris, Loren, Dennis and was surprised to see how many people stuck around to see the graveyard shift!
@Rachel – a little annoyed that all I got to do was introduce myself and say “Hi”. I would have liked to chat some more. Such is life.
We’ll definitely need to keep talking and get together next year.
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