SOLVED

User Group for ITPro Women

Microsoft

Are you interested in helping support women ITPros, and support women moving into community leadership roles in the ITPro community? We're starting a virtual User Group for ITPro Women.

Join us! 

 

There are lots of organizations that want to help women code, but we want to focus more on women who keep the code running, doing work like:

  • day-to-day operation of networks, servers, clients, and devices
  • help desk
  • network architecture design
  • information security management

We also want to include women who work in other aspects of information technology aimed at keeping clients and servers up and running, like

  • program/project/people management related to IT
  • technical training
  • technical marketing
  • technical communications

We'll welcome anyone of any gender who wants to participate in a safe space to talk about the challenges women face in a field with a lack of gender diversity. The goals are to network, support women learning technical and professional skills, and help women find mentors.

 

If you're interested in participating, reply to this post and tell me:

  1. What are the best times of day for you to Skype into a meeting? (please include your time zone)
  2. What should we call this new user group? 

If there's interest, I'll pick a time and post the information here for our first virtual meeting.
(subscribe to this conversation to get email updates)

 

Please spread the word!

87 Replies
Very cool idea - even though responders will be able to remain anonymous, I plan to ask some demographic Qs, and the "altruism / self-interest" divide might be an interesting datapoint to share here. Thanks much!

Hi, @Lori Witzel

I hope this fledgling community will have lots of people using Office 365, but the Terms of Use for the TechCommunity site prohibit using Microsoft "Communication Sites" (like this one) "in connection with surveys." Sorry about that! The way I read the ToS, it would be fine to post questions and see what people say in reply, but I think it wouldn't be OK to post a link to a survey. 

 

The question about motivating people is interesting. I don't know if there's any research on that. I know for me, I'm one of those odd people who really enjoy taking surveys and doing User Research studies, so I don't care if there's a gratuity in any form - I just want my opinion heard! If it's a long or complicated survey, though, I think it can help if there's a specific motivation for completing the survey. I just don't know if a personal or altruistic reward would be more motivating. Probably depends on the person. It would be cool if you could do some A/B testing on it! 


 

I have posted the invite information for the first meeting! 

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/User-Groups/User-Group-for-ITPro-Women-kickoff-meeting-May-18...

Please tweet/blog/share with anyone you know who might be interested. 

 

And if this time/day doesn't work for you, we'll have others. Keep "voting" by including your preferred times and time zones. 

 

Thanks all for your interest! 

This is great! I am available from 10am-4pm Sydney Time. Looking forward to this. :)

Super excited to see how this goes! :)

Me too, @ShonaBang! I figure it's an experiment. We'll probably have to try a few things and a few times before we hit on something that works for most. And maybe we'll spawn other groups for more specialized interests or other time zones. But we'll start here and see what happens! :D 

 

I like to women to be engage in IT career, need mentors to train them and how to pass interviews to land a job in which they’re want to progress.

I love the idea. I'm on the East Coast, Friday afternoons are usually the best time for me but I am pretty flexible.

Hi, @Tony Richards, I hope you can join us for the first one, Friday May 18 - details here!

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/User-Groups/User-Group-for-ITPro-Women-kickoff-meeting-May-18... 

Dear Ms. Moya:

 

I am interested in joining your virtual user group for IT Pros.

 

I am a front-end web developer in-training. I also write about secure coding, cybersecurity and related topics for BugHeist, a software and hardware bug reporting and remediation website.

 

Ideally, I am interested in coordinating virtual meetings from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

 

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

 

Sincerely,

Tara Williams

I can skype after 5 pm mountain time.
5pm mountain time.
Yes! Please include me!

Ms. @Tara Williams, I am pleased to meet you! Our first meeting is scheduled a bit outside your ideal window, but I've added it to the list of responses to consider when we schedule the next one. If you haven't seen it yet, the invite is here

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/User-Groups/User-Group-for-ITPro-Women-kickoff-meeting-May-18...

I'll definitely post notes from the meeting for anyone who can't make it. Keep watching this community page for note and info on next steps. 

Thanks so much for your interest! 

Cathy

 

Hi, @Julie Pedraza, we'd be happy to have you join us! The Skype info for the first meeting is here

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/User-Groups/User-Group-for-ITPro-Women-kickoff-meeting-May-18...

And we'll post news and events in this TechCommunity. 

 
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@Tabatha Kossman, our first meeting is earlier than what you're hoping for. If we can get enough interest from ITPros in the Australia/New Zealand/Asia regions we might do one later in the day for them. 

 

We're getting close! Clear your calendar for this Friday, May 18 for the time below, if you can! Please continue to get the word out. 

 

The goals for the first meeting are:

  1. Meet others working in the ITPro space
  2. Talk about a name for the group
  3. Figure out what kind of content we want to cover – technical? Business skills? Diversity and inclusion issues? All of the above?
  4. Discuss logistics of getting/giving mentoring (tip – check out the Community Mentors Program forum)

Here's where you can get the Skype info and a meeting invite for your calendar

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/User-Groups/User-Group-for-ITPro-Women-kickoff-meeting-May-18...

 

Here are the relative times for everyone who chimed in. I'll post notes for anyone who can't make it! 

 

New York City

3pm/15:00

Paris

9 pm/21:00

New Dehli

Saturday 12:30 am/00:30

London

8 pm/20:00

Chicago

2 pm/14:00

Seattle

Noon/12:00

Brisbane

Saturday, 5 am/05:00

I'm planning to join. :) Looking forward to it.

Add me to the list I just saw a post on Twitter and can't make the Skype meeting today but want to hear about future events
Sounds good! Keep watching here for updates!