Seriously, Where Are the Women Keynote Speakers?
Happy Twenty Twelve everyone. What a great year 2012 is shaping up to be. For me the most distinguishing element is the huge amount of positive energy I am feeling from everyone around me, combined with a sense of massive optimism…. Energy is boundless right now.
However, I am still amazed every time I look at an international, national or local technical conference to not find women Keynote speakers or session leads! Why is that? Women are about 50% of the technical workforce, highly educated, awesome at what they do, yet when it comes to standing at the podium, they are passed up. Why? The net-net of today’s technical conferences around the globe is that not only are there few to no leading women speakers, but female active attendance at these events are also low. The latter, trust me, is an issue that organizers are very concerned about.
I can tell you that the organizers of these conferences would love to have women on the stage, but they are not finding the right pool of women. OK, I agree, they are not trying very hard but fact is the choices are not abundant. Do an experiment – look over the websites for some of the top conferences, and look at the speaker roster… count the number of women! Hard to believe we are in 2012!
I would love to hear from you about this topic. Here are a few thoughts I will put out there:
1. Everyone (male/female) should become more vocal about the ridiculousness of having 0 or 1 female speaker at multi-day events. Call up the organizers, send an email. They will respond.
2. Recommend great speakers and if you feel you are one, start putting your name out there.
3. Are you inspired to go to events if it is considered a ‘male-heavy’ event? How would you change it?
4. Do you have great topics to discuss—- submit your abstract.
5. Can you substantially increase the visibility and draw of the event, let the organizers know.
6. Remind the organizers that having the same corporate speakers, saying the same story is not the best approach. Challenge and be positive. How many conferences have you been at the where the same speaker gives the same talk year after year… there is so much more we can do!
7. Ask the organizers how many women have registered. They want more female participation. They will listen.
8. Remember that conferences are amazing places to network, for everyone and not just your marketing folks. So, get out there. Network and meet up with great other individuals.
And finally, if you want to be a speaker and you are female, make your topic super interesting, engaging and be fearless. Know that if you want to be the speaker you are going to be on the podium with hundreds of attendees listening to you , instantly casting their social views of your talk in tweets AND you are on the spot and will be judged. This is perhaps what is hardest for women speakers… causes tons of intimidation.
This is a the core issue. If we want more fantastic women speakers, we need to create this culture of very strong, passionate and engaging women speakers who are willing to take center stage and be visible. Are we ready? Are you ready? The only thing stopping you is YOU!
From my own personal experience, I find that conference organizers are looking for highly engaging, stimulating and passionate speakers who are resident experts in their topics. They are also smart enough to know that more women speakers and keynotes will drive more female registration. We are all on the same team. So, what is stopping us all to make this happen?!
My goal soon is to see the speaker roster be split equally between women and men. Difficult: yes. Impossible: No. I want to know what you think.
Let’s rock and roll friends!
As a keynote speaker for cloud computing, I agree, there are often no other women in the line-up. It is nice to see you sharing the same concerns. I think many women are waiting to be asked to give the presentation or even shy away when asked “who can talk on this point” in fear they will not be the “Most” prepared.
My advice, go for it! It is an excellent career differentiation. Self-teach by reading, attending and then building the material. This is what has worked for me throughout my career and I advise all women to try it.
My tech preso can be found at the bottom on this page: http://www.purposefulwoman.com/?page_id=1127
‘You totally nailed it. Women “WAIT” to be asked which is insane. While women wait, men get on speaking rosters. Yes, the key is to rock and roll.
How can we change the world by waiting????”
I would say that my keynote speakers at my events are usually about a 50/50 split between male and female. However, my breakout sessions are typically 70/30 male/female. It’s interesting that you bring up this topic, because I’ve definitely found that female speakers can be very powerful.
If you’d like to collaborate with a few that I know of, here’s a short list:
Karuana Gatimu – http://www.SharePointStrategist.org
Jane Dickson – Microsoft
Stephanie Lemus – Microsoft
Saskia Schott – QuickStart Intelligence
Justin Slagle
Justin,
thank you for your thoughtful answer. First off delighted to get connected to these great women. Secondly, the difference may be that given the nature of your conferences and unique relationship with Microsoft you seek out the best and Microsoft has great women speakers. However, if you look across the global map from CES to TechCrunch to all conferences the stats are maybe 1-2 women keynote speakers. I applaud your stats but we need to get there at the broader level. delighted to collaborate to make that happen!
Boy do I agree with your sentiment! I do think it’s also reflective of the gender split in IT. At the cloud conference I just keynoted there were less than 10 women. I think we all should do more to mentor women into this business and help them up the ladder. Speaking, for me, is a great way to share my enthusiasm for many tech subjects and build the “brand” of my own expertise. More women need to do this. One other note, in Digital Asset Management there are a ton of women. Its a great space! Love your site by the way!
I don’t know where you’re getting the data that women make up around 50% of the technical workforce. The majority of the data I’ve looked up quotes anywhere between 25-30% of computing occupations being held by women. That said, I think instead of asking where are all the women speakers, we should be asking why aren’t more women pursuing advanced degrees in areas such as computer science. There has been a 79% decline in the number of first year undergraduate women who are interested in majoring in Computer Science between 2000 and 2009.
http://ncwit.org/pdf/BytheNumbers09.pdf
I’m with Stephanie on this one. Instead of asking “where are the women”, maybe we should be asking “what is/are driving women away?” Is it our current society? Our culture? Are there certain expectations that exist stating women can’t be involved in a technological field?
I come from a background of engineering, where, the ratio of graduates were 70-30, if not 80-20 percent towards men. Yet we still had female professors, and female students that were absolutely brilliant. So if capabilities is not the problem, what’s wrong with this picture?
I’m building a new career path that is based on my technology background and incorporates my leadership training. I am using speaking as my primary marketing tool. I just read an interesting comment on another blog that most of the conventions only advertise to their current contact list and that many conventions go completely unnoticed by women because they are simply not a current contact.
You seem to be very plugged in. What suggestions do you have for finding out about the conventions ahead of time? Who are the convention people that you talk with? How can we get to know them and get on their list?
Thanks for any feedback you can provide
I believe there aren’t more women key note speakers at tech conferences simply because the tech industry has more men in it. I’m not saying that there aren’t women in the tech sector doing amazing work. Obviously there are. I’m just saying the ratio of men to women isn’t exactly balanced.
A good question to counter your question is, “Why aren’t there more male key note speakers at nursing conventions? Or fashion conventions?” These are just two of many industries in which there are more women than men, and I bet there are plenty of women key note speakers at these events.
Simply put, I think it is just a numbers reason.
I am a managing partner with an executive visibility firm which secures speaking opportunities for numerous high profile companies. Day in and day out we have conference organizers asking us if we have any female executives we can submit for speaker consideration and when we do they inevitably are placed on the agenda. I love the question, the dialog and great replies; the conversation needs to continue!