Girl Geek Dinners Ottawa

Thanks to everyone who came out to last night’s Open Mic event! Several attendees stepped up to the mic to promote their business, work experience and community projects. It was great to hear about so many exciting opportunities women in Ottawa aren’t just a part of but are actually spearheading themselves.

In the spirit of building community around the Girl Geek Dinner Ottawa (GGD Ottawa) brand, last night also featured a networking game that Veronica, Kelly and I created as a way to ensure all attendees had a chance to mingle and get to know one another.

While my explanation of how the game works lacked some clarity (I’m a new mom so I blame it on sleep deprivation), attendees seemed to get the hang of it and really got into the spirit of seeking one another out. And that’s exactly what we hoped would happen!

The "girl geektini" cocktail

I can’t forget to acknowledge the special treat of the night – the “girl geektini” cocktail – which was delicious, sweet and just a little bit sassy.

Finally, we want to take this opportunity to once again thank our sponsors Well.ca, 3rdLife and the National Arts Centre for providing some great door prizes. As you can see from photos below, the prizes are greatly appreciated!

A full album of photos highlighting the event is available on Flickr and is tagged ggdottawa.

The next GGD Ottawa event will be held in the New Year with details posted to this blog as soon as they’re available. Until then, happy holidays!

Door Prize Winners

Christina Stefanski accepts her Well.ca door prize from Kelly Rusk, featuring Burt's Bees lip balm, Ballbuster hand cream, Cold-FX 1st Day and Gylsomed foot balm

Terri Oda accepts her handmade makeup bag and pin made from vintage and recycled garments, courtesy of 3rdLife.

Caitlin Lafleche accepts her NAC door prize of two tickets to the "Guys and Dolls" performance.

Someone suggested that we post all the Girl Geek’s Twitter addresses on the blog so we can all connect with each other. I had started this list a few weeks ago, but as you’ll notice never got around to finishing it and posting it here…

Well sometimes procrastination pays off because since that happened Twitter has released its ‘Lists’ feature. Mel has put together a GGDOttawa list on Twitter. Here you can find all the women interested in #GGDOttawa.

If you’re not already on the list, leave a comment here, or contact @MelGallant to get included.

Girl Geek Dinner (GGD) Ottawa was featured last night on CTV Ottawa’s Tech Now segment of the Sunday 6 o’clock news. The interview provided us the opportunity to explain why we founded a chapter in Ottawa and to discuss opportunities for women in social media.

Paul Brent of CTV Ottawa's Tech Now discusses the new Girl Geek Dinner chapter in Ottawa

Also featured in the interview is Ian Capstick of MediaStyle who gives his perspective on why he thinks women are more naturally adapt as social media strategists.

To watch the video, visit the CTV Ottawa website. FYI: I can’t find a way to link directly to the video, so once you navigate to the page, click the CTV News Video Player to the right of the page.

You can also read the accompanying article here.

On a final note, we would like to thank the community for supporting our chapter launch event scheduled for tomorrow night with guest speaker Tara Hunt. The event has sold out and is an indication that Ottawa women working and/or interested in high tech want these kind of networking and learning events.