{"id":470,"date":"2008-02-27T08:02:29","date_gmt":"2008-02-27T08:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/27\/girl-geek-dinners-italia-italy\/"},"modified":"2008-08-19T11:38:27","modified_gmt":"2008-08-19T11:38:27","slug":"girl-geek-dinners-italia-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/27\/girl-geek-dinners-italia-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"Girl Geek Dinners Italia &#8211; Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.girlgeekdinnersitalia.com\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Girl Geek Dinners Italia Logo\" align=\"right\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/images\/logo_ggd.png?ssl=1\" \/><\/a> I&#8217;ve been a little quiet this week, and as part of my &#8220;non-food life,&#8221; I&#8217;ve been organizing the next <a href=\"http:\/\/www.girlgeekdinnersitalia.com\"><strong>Girl Geek Dinner in Italy<\/strong><\/a>, this Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The whole Girl Geek movement started in London by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sarahblow.com\/\">Sarah Blow<\/a> when Sarah was at a technology event that was 90% men. That might sound familiar to anyone who read my comments about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/04\/02\/girl-geek-dinner-italia-recap\/\">last year&#8217;s Girl Geek Dinner<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/28\/femcamp-a-mortadella-party\/\">FemCamp<\/a>. I remember truly feeling outnumbered in my Cisco CCNA classes (one woman out of 40 students) and later networking in Silicon Valley in the first dot-com bust where boxers were being practically thrown at women as the ratio of was so low. Numbers have improved, but not that much. The first Girl Geek Dinner in the Bay Area drew almost 600 people. Our own dinner, while a bit smaller at 120 people, has its own waiting list of 70+ women, so obviously there is an interest here, too.<\/p>\n<p>In the past month I&#8217;ve lost two of my Girl Geeks in Italy to other countries, where they found opportunity easier and readily available. It&#8217;s not easy to stay in Italy, a country where the technology industry is still not as important as fashion or food, but it is making progress. I would love for Italy to become a magnet for technology and stop their brain drain when their <em>paesani<\/em> leave for other opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Our theme for the Girl Geek Dinner is <strong>Network. Share. Empower<\/strong>. which was thought up by my brilliant friend and organizer, Lisa Morris. It embodies a divine purpose for any group, be they women, men, or mixed. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Network<\/strong>: Meet others. Connect others. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Share<\/strong>: Find a common ground. Share your experiences. Share information.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Empower<\/strong>: Not only yourself. Empower others with information, ways to improve, mentoring, contacts and resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>During this period, I&#8217;ve had Italian journalists ask me <em><strong>&#8220;Why have a group for Women?&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> &#8211; while I was living in the States, I wouldn&#8217;t have even thought twice. But here, I have asked myself and various friends and colleagues this same question. <\/p>\n<p>My immediate, personal answer may be different from an Italian woman&#8217;s opinion, because I have come from another reality. In fact, I still have one foot firmly planted there. But I want to make my life here in Italy. I want to stop seeing my foreign girlfriends moving away for job reasons, for opportunities. I need to have great examples of successful women in technology in Italy, to give myself more opportunities to network (both online and offline) and to help the next generation of Italian women become technical geniuses, entrepreneurs and bloggers. Until then, it will also be easier for me to look outside the country for opportunities. I would love to use the foot I have outside of Italy as a way to help others come here, not the other way around. <\/p>\n<p>As much as I enjoy being online, I realize there is a huge percentage of women in Italy that don&#8217;t have a blog, maybe never even read blogs and are not interested in becoming involved in events organized using online tools like Facebook and Wikis, and are still very successful. Sometimes an event like this is the only way to bring the two halves together, for them to tap into our world and vice-versa. It becomes a mix of learning and teaching.<\/p>\n<p>Now that I&#8217;ve come above the fold a bit and can see some opportunities, ways to connect and be involved, I feel that I have to turn around and reach that 1 in 40 girl, that high school freshman, that woman examining her options and finding no opportunity. Some of the most rewarding parts of being in the Women in Business at Santa Clara University was when we went to schools and taught kids (boys and girls) about business, but sometimes it&#8217;s just satisfaction in connecting one person in search of something with another. <\/p>\n<p>While I&#8217;m still answering this question, and I will continue to change my response over time, I look at something very interesting. Last year, because of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beginningwithi.com\">female friend<\/a>, I came to the first GGD, where I met other women, who then encouraged me to come to FemCamp and other events where there were both men and women. And now I&#8217;m planning an event with these women that, before the first GGD, for the large part had never met one another, and simply sat at a table together (and were later accosted by me making the rounds). <\/p>\n<p>Maybe this Friday, a table of other women will make that same connection, for whatever reasons, and start their own endeavor, in whatever area.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I&#8217;m curious to hear your viewpoints, too.<\/strong> Obviously I know it will be a little biased as my blog has ads from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogher.com\">BlogHer<\/a> and I know my audience is largely women. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you think we need women-focused groups? In what kind of environment can you envision the elimination of such groups? Do they hurt or help?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh, and if you&#8217;re a Girl Geek in Italy, make sure you follow the <a href=\"http:\/\/girlgeekdinnersitalia.wordpress.com\/\">Girl Geek Dinners Italia blog<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/group.php?gid=9542097929\">join our Facebook group<\/a> to stay informed about future events!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been a little quiet this week, and as part of my &#8220;non-food life,&#8221; I&#8217;ve been organizing the next Girl Geek Dinner in Italy, this Friday. The whole Girl Geek movement started in London by Sarah Blow when Sarah was at a technology event that was 90% men. That might sound familiar to anyone who&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/27\/girl-geek-dinners-italia-italy\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,24,2,22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog-event","7":"category-italian-culture","8":"category-italy","9":"category-tech-talk","10":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4uB1-7A","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":317,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/04\/02\/girl-geek-dinner-italia-recap\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":0},"title":"Girl Geek Dinner Italia Recap","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"April 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Friday night I was lucky enough to have grabbed an invitation to the first Girl Geek Dinner in Italy (thanks for the heads-up Deirdr\ufffd). I wanted to post about this as soon as I got back to the house - unfortunately that night I came down with a stomach virus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/italian-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Amanda \"WebTwitcher\" Lorenzani","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/177\/443239427_39ef11ee01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":336,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/25\/femcamp-moo-notecards-me-in-italian-glamour\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":1},"title":"FemCamp, Moo Notecards, Me in Italian Glamour","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"May 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Tomorrow I'm heading with Michelle down to Bologna for the first FemCamp, a BarCamp for women and technology and new media. Don't know what BarCamp is? It's basically a series of \"unconferences\" - informal get-togethers organized by the participants themselves, using an online wiki that anyone can edit or add\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Event&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Event","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/blog-event\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Moo Pocket and Moo NoteCards","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/208\/513113972_62cde4ac99.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2114,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/11\/my-love-for-technology-an-update-on-whenihavetime-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":2},"title":"My Love for Technology: An update on WhenIHaveTime.com","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"November 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"About six months ago, a lot of you gave me very valuable feedback when I launched When I Have Time.com. The tagline for the blog is Tips, Info and How-Tos to Bridge the Gap between Meek and Geek - and that's the aim - to share information in an accessible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Tech Talk&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Tech Talk","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/tech-talk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"WhenIHaveTime.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/wht2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":625,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/22\/my-latest-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":3},"title":"My Latest News","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"May 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"There aren't any food pictures in this post, but it's chock-full of info about me and what's been going on with me lately! Make sure you comment on my post Better than Nutella? Deanocciola Organic Chocolate Hazelnut Creams to win a free jar! I'm accepting comments through this weekend! Going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Italy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Italy","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/me.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":471,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/04\/spring-frittata-with-peas-leeks-and-zucchini-recipe\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":4},"title":"Spring Frittata with Peas, Leeks and Zucchini Recipe","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"March 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This past weekend (after recovering from the Girl Geek Dinner) we woke up to a sun that was blindingly bright and screamed \"Springtime!\" After another mild winter here in Italy, it's a bit too much to hope that spring is already here, but for the weekend, we all believed it.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entree&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Entree","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/recipe\/entree\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Leeks, Peas and Zucchini ready for a Frittata","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2155\/2308987907_c49b591a2b.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":935,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/19\/2008-year-in-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":5},"title":"2008 Year in Review","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"January 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A yearly tradition, you can check my 2006 and 2007 Years in Review if you are interested. I like to use the Year in Review to reflect not only on activity regarding this blog, but my personal trends and activity as well. Social Networking A new category for this year's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Me","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}