My Web Summit Chapter 1: Women in tech
Earlier this year, I wrote an article about my relationship with technology, and my intention to further educate myself about major technology trends like Artificial Intelligence, AR/VR, Blockchain etc. Motivated, I took action and acquired a few must reads like this best seller, that recommendation from the Tim Ferriss show, or other titles ‘liked by people like me’. However it seems like Netflix, my 3 years-old and my sleep debt have been conspiring to make sure i don’t get past the introductions…luckily, I was soon to stumble upon a post on the ‘Berlin Geekettes’ Facebook group about the ‘Web Summit Women in Tech’ initiative.
If you’re not familiar with ‘Web Summit’, it’s one of the largest conferences in the world about digital and technology, where big and small names from the startup world, media and thinkers gather for 3 days and try to draw a picture of the future. (One of the ‘stars’ this year was the founder of this very platform — Medium — Ev Williams).
Oh…and did i mention it’s in Lisbon, Portugal?
So when they released a number of ridiculously cheap tickets for women, I rallied my troops (my 2 best friends/bridesmaids/coaches/mentors /partners-in-tap-dance-and-laughing-too-loud) and we decided to make it a ‘retreat’ from work and children (sorry children, we like you, but we need to recharge without you sometimes) and to get our ‘tech shot’ organised.
And here we were on November 6th in the Lisbon ‘ Altice Arena’ running around like chickens in high heels (well, that was for me, the other two were smart enough to wear trainers) among about 70 000 other attendees to catch the ‘Data stories:Using data to power a customer centric model’ talk at 15:35 in ‘Pandaconf’ whilst hoping to make it on time for the ‘Space for everyone : an inside look at Virgin Galactic’ at 16:05 in ‘Auto/Tech and Talk Robot’*, with a notebook in one hand**, and a ‘Pastéis’ in the other.
In short, i had an amazing week and came back inspired, full of new insights and i need to salute this ‘Women in Tech’ program. Without it i would most likely never have thought about attending such an event.
I will elaborate further on what i learned in the other ‘chapters’, but i wanted to start this Web Summit 2018 ‘mini-series’ with a list of awesome women i discovered last week in Lisbon.
My top 5 Inspiring Women at Web Summit
1. Karen Dolva, from Noisolation
One perk of being part of ‘Women in Tech’ was that they offered mentor meetings for us. My assigned mentor was Karen Dolva, and i consider myself very lucky to have spent 20 minutes chatting with her. Karen won the EU Commission price for Rising Innovator for her invention : a telepresence robot that acts as a child’s ears and voice in the classroom for children unable to attend school due to sickness for example. I felt very humbled by such an impressive achievement at such a young age (she is 26 years old) and her very grounded, accessible and curious personality. Having read about ‘reverse-mentoring’ lately, where ‘experienced’ leaders and managers pair with younger people/millennials to keep up with current trends, i can say i’d be honoured to count Karen as one of my ‘reverse-mentors’!
2. Helen Chiang from Minecraft
The Studio Head of Minecraft delivered a really energetic talk about the Minecraft phenomenon (second-best selling game in history, just behind Tetris) and how its growing community of passionate players is constantly pushing the boundaries of the game, taking it offline and using it for educational purpose. I didn’t know her before, but from the research i’ve done since then, I understand i’ve been missing out and am quite blown away by this woman, who also happens to be a mum of 2 and awesome leader striving for gender equality in all aspects of her business, from encouraging the hire of returning mums in her teams to making sure ‘Minecraft’ doesn’t belong in the Boy’s aisle only at Toys”R”Us. #Kudos!
3. Holly Liu from Kabam
Again i had no idea who she was (i probably need to read my TechCrunch updates more carefully) but i found her questions and feedback as a member of the Jury of the ‘Startup Pitch’ competition so smart and spot-on, and she gave a brilliant point of view in a panel about ‘how blockchain technology could revolutionise the creative industry’. Now i know that she’s the co-founder of leading mobile game publisher ‘Kabam’ and was named ‘Fortune — “10 Most Powerful Women in Gaming’, makes total sense…
4. Lucie Beudet from Konbini
French. Passionate. Charismatic. She arrived on stage hands in the pockets of an oversized sweater with big heart prints and started a heartfelt narrative with ‘where she was’ the day of 13th November Paris attacks and ended with how she is trying to re-conciliate young citizens with politics with her media Konbini. I’m sure you know them from their snappy ‘videos’ (Like this one featuring Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, another one of my all time favorite ‘Inspiring women’). The thing with good advertising people, is that they are so good at telling great stories that can be hard to know what is ‘genuine’ and what is not. That’s what i find intriguing about Lucie Beudet’s character and makes me curious to see what she’s up to in the future.
5. Nancy Bennet from Two bit Circus
Although ‘Two bit Circus’ sounds to me like a Black Mirror episode title, i was very impressed by the concept of this ‘future of amusement park’ that recently opened its first branch in Los Angeles and by its founder, Nancy Bennet, a ‘veteran’ who seems to have been at the forefront of digital and entertainment her all life, with the type of drive and optimism that makes you want to freeze yourself and come back in 100 years.
Hope you enjoyed meeting those badasses!
My Web Summit ‘Chapter 2’ will touch to the topic of creativity and how technology is impacting how we get inspired, create and share with the world.
Were you also at Web Summit and would like to share your experience, or just give a shout-out to an amazing ‘woman in tech’ around you? I would love to hear from you here in the comments!
(* That was the first day, spent in a constant state of FOMO — i mean, you need to look at this conference schedule — we were much more relaxed and strategic in day 2 and 3 — basically pick a sit at one of the stages in the morning, and just stay there the all day — you will learn something new and interesting anyways.)
(** I did not see anyone else with an actual pen and notebook.)
