You know you’ve had a great weekend when you’ve got entirely too much going on in your head to write about it.
I spent Friday and Saturday attending She’s Geeky – Twin Cities at the Science Museum of Minnesota (one of my happy places in the Twin Cities which helps with the whole being an introvert at a conference thing). I’ve been to a fair share of conferences – regimented, maybe you learn something, but mostly you don’t. I’d never been to an unconference. She’s Geeky felt more interactive, comfortable, and relevant. It felt like a much needed personal development weekend.
I spent two days surrounded by an amazingly diverse group of wonderfully geeky women. On Friday, I admit, I left exhausted and having some pangs of inadequacy. Here were all these great, smart, successful geeks and did I really measure up? I left wondering if I actually knew enough and had the right skills to call myself a real geek.
As I headed to She’s Geeky on Saturday morning, I made my usual drive-to-work morning phone call to my Mom. I talked to her about the conference and admitted that I was feeling unsettled. Within a few minutes, she reminded me that I have an amazing geek for a mother and that degrees and programming skills aren’t all that makes a geek.
I hit the conference with a motherly-induced spark of self-confidence and spent an amazing day with a wondrous group of geeky women – learning, commiserating, being inspired, and benefiting from their knowledge and experience (and fashion sense). I was reminded of exactly why I love being a geek and that geeky women are fabulous company. They also gave me quite a few good ideas (including a few that are already in process).
Thank you, She’s Geeky, and all the amazing women that I met this weekend. I can’t wait to get to know my new geeky pals better and I’m already excited for the 2011 She’s Geeky – Twin Cities!
