Brussels Girl Geek Dinner » Girl

TEDxFlanders to simulcast TEDWomen on 7 & 8 Dec in Antwerp

Clo Willaerts — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:12:54 +0000

On December 7 and 8, 2010, TEDWomen will gather five hundred global thought leaders, innovators and storytellers in Washington, DC, to watch enlightening speakers and connect with a global community of women and men. The cross-disciplinary, cross-generational program will focus on how women think and work, communicate and collaborate, learn and lead. The program will explore what this means and why it matters to all of us.

TEDxFlanders will host the simulcast for this exciting event! Join us at De Kleine Hedonist, in Antwerp for the livestream.

Tuesday 7 December at 20:30 & Wednesday 8 december at 14:30
De Kleine Hedonist
Sint Jacobsmarkt 34
Antwerp, Belgium

Xpats.com interview about Brussels Girl Geek Dinners

Clo Willaerts — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 10:56:46 +0000

From Xpats.com Portraits – Clo Willaerts:

By establishing the Brussels Girl Geeks, I wanted to highlight other women who are using technology and I also hope to encourage girls to go for careers in IT. Our network goes far and wide beyond Brussels, including French-, Dutch- and English-speakers, and many of our meetings are not exclusively female because our members often bring their men along too.

We have a core of about 150 members, who are very active, and a larger group of about 500 who participate from time to time. They range from students in their twenties to career women in their fifties. Most are professionals working in creative jobs using technology, such as PR, marketing or programming. What we all have in common is our love of discovery and communication.

Perhaps the greatest strength of the group is that it’s never static. We constantly see new faces at our dinners as the word spreads. It’s very rewarding to stand at the entrance and welcome not only old friends, but also newcomers. That’s what keeps us dynamic and fresh.

Greenlight for Girls needs your help! /cc @roningirl

Clo Willaerts — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:42:01 +0000

Greenlight for Girls (@green4girls) is an NGO with a mission to encourage girls of all ages to pursue a future in math, science, engineering and technology.

For their upcoming event on November 20th in Brussels, Greenlight for Girls will be bringing together 300 young girls, including my 11 year old daughter Mayke, to learn from role models and mentors.

This free event, targeted at 11-15 year-old Dutch-, French- and English-speaking girls in Belgium, aims to encourage young women to take up careers in science (math, engineering, technology, etc.), by emphasizing the link between science and fun careers, especially those with a creative “bent.”

The event is designed to progress in workshop form, with each workshop leader conducting a workshop for three groups of ten girls. There will also be a “fun-lab” with activities/entertainment for the girls, including a project display space for event sponsors; and lunch will be served.

You heard the word: sponsors.

Got any ideas or contacts to keep this event free for all participants? Contact fellow girl geek cheryl (at) zendigital (dot) be or @roningirl, as we know her in Twitter.

Thanks!

BetaGroup “Ladies on Stage” is looking for 1 or 2 female web/tech entrepreneurs

Clo Willaerts — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:03:10 +0000

BetaGroup “Ladies on Stage” is looking for 1 or 2 female web/tech entrepreneurs

BetaGroup is a group of 2.100 Web Entrepreneurs in Belgium passionate about Internet, Software, Mobile Technologies and Online Media.

BetaGroup aims to connect Entrepreneurs, Creative Thinkers, Software Developers, Digital Marketers, Web Designers, Web Agencies, Advertisers, Publishers, VC’s and Business Angels to innovate together. It wants to provide a platform to meet each other, present your projects and foster new collaborations.

BetaGroup meetings are free and open to all the Web/Software/Mobile community .

For an upcoming edition themed “Ladies on Stage” Betagroup is still looking for 1 or 2 tech/web startups lead and presented by female entrepreneurs. Four have already applied, but it would be nice to have 5 or 6.

The meeting should attract 400 to 500 people from the Web/Tech sector.
So it is a good opportunity to gain visibility.

The day of the meeting should be March 30 (or April 2 – still to be confirmed) at the VUB in Brussels from 6PM to 11PM. Free entry, free parking and free drinks for everybody.

If you have never attended a BetaGroup before, I recommend to attend the meeting Tuesday next week (http://betagroup16.eventbrite.com/) so you know what to expect.

Interested? Use this form to present your startup.

Celebrate Women’s Day 4 March @ Mirano, Brussels

Clo Willaerts — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:18:27 +0000

JUMP (“Empowering Women, Advancing in the Economy”) offers women practical tools to help them realise their professional aspirations and supports companies and organisations that wish to promote better gender diversity within their management. More at www.blogjump.eu, www.forumjump.eu, www.womansacademy.be, and www.jobdays.eu.

For Women’s day, JUMP is organizing an event on the 4th March, at 18.00 at Mirano, Brussels. It’s an occasion to meet another
audience and other women. Presentations of several women’s networks will be followed by a cocktail and by a styling session.

Entrance fee is 8 euros, but let me know if you’d like me to arrange free entrance for you.

Computer Engineer Barbie won with over half a million votes

Clo Willaerts — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:09:25 +0000

From the press release:

Kicking off a year-long, global brand initiative to inspire girls of all ages, Barbie unveiled her next career today at the 2010 American International Toy Fair. For the first time ever, Barbie called on consumers to help her select her next career. After more than a half million votes were cast, Computer Engineer Barbie topped the popular vote, while girls selected News Anchor as Barbie doll’s next career. Computer Engineer Barbie is set to debut this winter, featuring a binary code patterned T-shirt and all of the latest gadgets including a smart phone, Bluetooth headset and laptop travel bag. Both dolls are available for presale now at www.mattelshop.com.

Some people might suggest that it was an online voting round which was quite easy to … manipulate, especially by geeks, but the interesting part is: these dolls might actually inspire girls to choose for a career in ICT.

UPDATE from 5 Ideas to Make Computer Engineer Barbie More Realistic @ Wired.com:

5. The choice between Mac Computer Engineer Barbie, Windows Computer Engineer Barbie, and Linux Computer Engineer Barbie. Then they could publicize the sales figures daily to encourage geek parents to buy the version they want to win for their kids.

So… how was Top Gear Live? #Dunlop

Clo Willaerts — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:48:07 +0000

What happens if you send a bunch of car loving geek girls to an event like Top Gear Live?

They have get high on fumes, have lots of fun, and even fall in love. More details:

Below: Top Gear Live Flickr set by Gil Plaquet.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Cast your vote for Computer Engineer Barbie

Clo Willaerts — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:52:26 +0000

Found at http://www.barbie.com/vote/:

“Computer engineers have lots of different specialties. They can do anything from building coputers to making video games!”

The next Barbie could be an environmentalist, a surgeon, an architect or a news anchor. But if you help with this vote, Barbie’s next career could be in IT!

Mattel decides on February 12 what Barbie will be next. I can hardly wait.

Vote now for ICT Woman of the Year

Clo Willaerts — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:52:25 +0000

Voting has just started for the election of ICT Woman of the Year 2010. Have a look at this year’s candidates:

Criteria are:

Being Belgian and/or working in Belgium
Cio / Ceo
Personality
Leadership
Visibility
impact on the business/ict sector

Voting round ends on 29 January 2010. Cast your vote and spread the word!

Shadowing a female rolemodel

Clo Willaerts — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:52:43 +0000

Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, thinks it is “unacceptable that Europe lacks qualified ICT staff. If this shortage of computer scientists and engineers is not addressed, it will eventually slow down the European economic growth and Europe runs the risks of falling behind its Asian competitors”.
That’s why two years ago, the European Commission began its pilot exercise with the Shadowing initiative to stimulate the interest of more young women, who are at the point of deciding on their future career. The idea has been to show them what a typical day would be like, by accompanying or “shadowing” a female role model for a day. The experiences during these shadowing days have been filmed and the video was presented in the International Conference Move out of the shadow! Seize the opportunity, which was held in Brussels on 6 March 2008 to celebrate the International Women’s Day.
Given the success of previous years, Commissioner Viviane Reding this year wants to go one step further. Together with industry she will initiate a “European Code of Best Practices for Women in ICT”. This aims to stop the leaky pipeline phenomenon and breakdown some of the stereotypes concerning work in the sector. The industry is expected to agree on the Code by Women’s Day 2009.
Via Pascal Van Hecke.