Girl Geek Dinner 5 – A Success

Thursday 30 April we held our 5th Girl Geek Dinner in Brisbane.  This event was a bit different to the previous ones as we all converged upon the Microsoft office in Brisbane to have a night of Game playing.

Tracy Whitelaw was our guest speaker for the night and I’m sure all will agree she did a great job.  She shared a bit about herself and talked about women in gaming.  40% of gamers are women!

Catherine Eibner was up from Sydney and brought some great prizes with her.  The Marcus Fenix figurine and signed Gears of War poster would be a prized possession for many games.

We had a range of consoles/games set up for the ladies to play:

 

XBox 360 with Rockband

XBox 360 with tennis

PS2 with the original Guitar Hero

Wii with Dancemat and Wii Play

The night wouldn’t have happened without the help from some key people. Many thanks to Jorke and Catherine for the use of the office, helping on the night and supplying the prizes, Tracy for her great talk, Carolyn for cooking and helping me prepare the food, Jenine for the use of her PS2 and Wii, John for helping with the GGD support vehicle, food and manning Rockband all night, and Tim for taking some photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/alborath/sets/72157617437592785/.

 

Technorati Tags: Girl Geek Dinners,Brisbane,WIT,Microsoft,Catherine Eibner,Jorke Odolphi,Tracy Whitelaw.

Tracy Whitelaw speaking at Girl Geek Dinner 5

For Girl Geek Dinner 5 in Brisbane we’re fortunate to have Tracy Whitelaw as our guest speaker who will talk about women in gaming which is very appropriate for our Girl Geek Guitar Hero night!  If you haven’t signed up for the event you can register here: http://girlgeekdinnersbrisbane05.eventbrite.com/

Tracy Whitelaw is a self-confessed geek and gadget girl who creates robot brains in her position as the Chief Knowledge Engineer at artificial intelligence company 'MyCyberTwin'. Based on the Gold Coast, Tracy works in an environment that delivers fully customised personalities and characters to a number of companies and businesses including NASA, AMP, NAB, PBL Media and others.

Holding a BSc(Hons) degree in Behavioural Science, Tracy has long had an interest in the social construction of identity in popular media forms. She specializes in studying trends in society, how individuals act within a social milieu, and in helping MyCyberTwin technology be rich in response to these patterns. She has been involved in online technology for a number of years.

Her particular areas of specialisation are online worlds, gaming, character creation and formation of identity in popular culture.  With a passion for emerging technology and how it is used, Tracy enjoys the challenges of creating engaging characters who keep users entertained and informed. She combines this with her interest in video-games and gaming culture, working voluntarily as the PA for a number of female based gaming websites. She writes freelance for a number of online and print sources, primarily about her passions for gaming, culture and geekiness.

 

Technorati Tags: Girl Geek Dinners,Brisbane,Tracy Whitelaw

Girl Geek Dinners Brisbane – Dinner 5 announced

It’s only 4 weeks till out next Girl Geek Dinner!

Girl Geek Guitar Hero Gaming Night

This month, Microsoft have kindly lent us their office so we're going to something a little different: a night of games! There will be a few games and consoles to choose from. 

 

Why not:

• Sharpen up your guitar, drum and singing skills and have a go at Rock Band and or Guitar Hero on Xbox 360
• Play some tennis or do some yoga on the Nintendo Wii
• Or bring along your favourite game to share with others.

Who is invited?

If you are a geek and a girl or know of one who is willing to escort you then you are welcome and encouraged to come along. There is a technical focus with the intention of having fun and connecting with other women in IT.

Who pays for dinner?

This month is not sponsored so you will have to pay for your own dinner

Where + When

Date: Thursday 30th April, 2009

Time: 5:30 pm

Where: Microsoft Office, Level 9, 1 Waterfront Place, Brisbane

 

 

Technorati Tags: Girl Geek Dinners,Brisbane,WIT,Microsoft,Guitar Hero,Wii

Brisbane Girl Geek Dinner 4 a success!

Last night a bunch of new and returning faces turned up to the Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro at West End to watch Jessica Coates present at our 4th Brisbane Girl Geek Dinner.  Jessica suggested the venue for this month’s event and it certainly was a great pick! The venue had a private room with our own TV and sound system to hook up Jessica’s laptop to and watch a few Creative Commons videos. This allowed us to have a presenter when we wanted and not disturb any of the other customers in the restaurant.  The staff were absolutely fantastic so would highly recommend them for any future events.

Jessica did two mini talks, one on her view of Women in IT just before dinner and then some information on Creative Commons. It’s great to see familiar faces from previous dinners as well as new faces at each event.

 

I’ll be posting details soon for our April event. We’re going to try something a bit different to continue the variety in the Dinners and hopefully add a new crowd to our group.

 

Technorati Tags: Girl Geek Dinners,Brisbane,Jessica Coates

Girl Geek Dinners Brisbane – Dinner 4

Girl Geek Dinners Brisbane Dinner 4 is set! This month we’re fortunate  to have Jessica Coates as our guest speaker.

Being a Copyright Geek
Jessica will talk about being a geek who doesn't know anything about programming, and the importance of support industries, like copyright, to the geek world.

Jessica Coates is the Project Manager of Creative Commons Australia and the Creative Commons Clinic, a program of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Innovation at Queensland University of Technology. The Clinic aims to further the implementation of the international open content licensing movement, Creative Commons, through the promotion of Creative Commons research and usage in Australia.

Where + When

Date: Tuesday 24th February, 2009

Time: 7:00 pm

Where: Lock 'n' Load Bistro, 142 Boundary Street, West End

Menu: http://www.locknloadbistro.com.au/menus.php

 

Technorati Tags: Girl Geek Dinners,Brisbane,WIT,Jessica Coates

Girl Geek Dinners Brisbane – Dinner 3

This month we're going to mix it up a bit and have a "Coffee and Chic Flick" night.  We'll meet at the Cafe next to the Southbank Cinemas for a coffee and chat and follow it up with a movie.

Thanks to Lisa for suggesting Australia - AUSTRALIA is an epic and romantic action adventure, set in that country on the explosive brink of World War II. In it, an English aristocrat (NICOLE KIDMAN) travels to the faraway continent where she meets a rough-hewn local (HUGH JACKMAN) and reluctantly agrees to join forces with him to save the land she inherited.

Register for the event here: http://girlgeekdinnersbrisbane03.eventbrite.com/

Dinner #2 a success

23rd of October marked our 2nd Brisbane Girl Geek Dinner. The dinner was a huge success with us once again selling out out spots in a couple of weeks.

We were fortunate to have Susannah Raub (on the right in the picture) from Google in Sydney join us and share her work journey with all of us. The group huddled down the back corner of the restaurant where the live bands usually play to listen to her story, told with the aide of a printouts of Google Maps.

Thanks to Tim for taking a few snaps of the night and Kitty for her great write up of the event.

We’re in the process of organising our next dinner. So anyone interested in speaking, sponsorship or location/event suggestions please let us know.

Technorati Tags: Girl Geek Dinners,Susannah Raub,Google,Brisbane