Reflecting on 2019 as we prepare for 2020
We are in full planning mode for 2020 and we cannot wait to share what we have in store. At the same time, we have been reflecting on this past year and oh, what an incredible year it has been. With the help of local partners, we brought Women Talk Design programming to more cities (Chicago, San Diego, Miami, New York, Singapore, and Paris!), piloted a new offering, and expanded our speaker and organizer community.
It’s been two years since Women Talk Design transformed from existing exclusively as a speaker directory to working on a broader mission of elevating the voices of women and nonbinary folks to ultimately see a more diverse group of speakers on stage. We’re continuing to research the needs of our community, test out new initiatives, expand our programming, gather feedback, and improve our offerings and the ways in which we support our community.
Want to support Women Talk Design’s work? Share this one-pager to get your company involved or help fund a Women Talk Design workshop scholarship.
As we work on plans for 2020, here are a few 2019 highlights we are excited to share.
Trained over 400 new speakers
From spending a couple of hours to explore potential talk topics to joining an intensive 12-hour program hot learn how to craft a talk and deliver with confidence, our workshops helped empower folks in our community get one step closer to their public speaking goals. We worked with speakers just getting started and others looking to brush up on their craft. We opened workshops to the community, partnered with local design meetups, hosted workshops at design weeks, and worked with companies to train their teams. Attendees have had some pretty amazing things to share about their experiences and our trainings will continue to be a key component of our work in 2020.
Help us train more speakers in 2020 by contributing to workshop scholarships and encouraging your employer to hire us!
“Women Talk Design’s weekend workshop was the single most helpful resource for getting my speaking career off the ground! It was an action-packed weekend of intense but fun training, in a very positive and supportive environment.”
“This workshop was the most helpful workshop I’ve ever been to in my freakin’ life”
Hosted over 30 community events across 10 US cities, Singapore, & Paris
Our community events are designed to get more people excited about speaking, help them feel more confident once they start, and give speakers opportunities to practice. In 2019, we continued to partner with local community groups including AIGA, IxDA, Ladies that UX, and others to offer free or low-cost events in various cities around the US. Thanks to Women Talk Design speaker and instructor Tomomi Sasaki, we hosted events in Singapore & Paris. We also hosted our first remote Women Talk: Conferences panel. Watch the video and take away lots of great speaking tips!
Would your company be interested in sponsoring our events? Share this one-pager!
“Loved the speaker line up, thought it was super informative, really appreciated the openness of the speakers.”
Provided over 40 women + nonbinary speakers an opportunity to practice a talk in a safe, supportive audience
Our Lightning Talks events are designed to give speakers the opportunity to practice a talk. Speakers are sometimes delivering a talk for the first time. Other times, they are experienced speakers practicing before an upcoming conference or testing out a new talk idea. The audience is there to learn a little something new, meet new people, and most importantly, cheer the speakers on. Speakers leave with written feedback from audience members so they can keep improving. Expanding these events is a big initiative in 2020. Keep an eye out for updates!
We’re looking for a sponsor to help us expand our event series! Get in touch.
“Last night was transformative! I now have the public speaking bug and will be actively pursuing speaking opportunities.”
Piloted Women Talk Design Circles
As we continue to explore ways in which we could help women and nonbinary folks work toward their speaking goals, we piloted our very first Women Talk Design Circle. Our circles provide a safe and supportive space for folks in our community to have accountability and get feedback as they work toward a specific speaking goal. Our first pilot was a success and we look forward to more Circles in 2020!
We just announced our January Circle. Share the application with someone you think might benefit.
“I know I’ve got all the tools I need from the weekend training, but it’s still so, so intimidating — more than I expected even! — to prepare for a big talk, and I really can’t even imagine having done it without this circle.”
Nearly doubled the Women Talk Design Speaker Directory with over 200 speakers
Our Speaker Directory has been part of Women Talk Design since the beginning. Last October, with the help of Wordpress, we redesigned the platform. As part of the redesign, we wanted to encourage more women and nonbinary speakers to add themselves as speakers to the platform. This year, we’ve almost doubled the number of speakers in our directory, helping us highlight more voices!
Is there a speaker you think we should be featuring? Nominate them.
“Thank you so much. Your support on this really makes a difference for me and I feel so included.”
Engaged 100 event organizers through the Women Talk Design platform
Another key feature in our website redesign was to add the ability for event organizers to create a free account on Women Talk Design. With their accounts, organizers can save speaker profiles and talks to view later, share an open call for proposals with our community, and reach out directly to speakers to invite them to their event. Since January, we’ve had 100 organizers join the platform — representing a variety of events, from large conferences, meetups, companies, and schools.
Know an event organizer who dedicated to hosting more inclusive events? Tell them about Women Talk Design.
“THIS! IS! AWESOME! Were passionate about diversity and have a deep appreciation for what you’re doing!”
Thank you to our incredible community — speakers, organizers, instructors, alumni, partners, supporters, and participants — for an incredible year!
Look out, 2020.
We have some exciting things in store. We’ll share more announcements soon (make sure you are subscribed to our email newsletter!), but you can expect more opportunities to practice speaking, more avenues for speakers to connect and support one another, and lots of opportunities to level up your speaking game. Event organizers, more resources and opportunities to engage with our speakers coming your way.
Want to get involved?
If you’re curious about how you can engage with Women Talk Design, we pinned this tweet with a few suggestions.
We started a GoFundMe campaign so you can directly contribute to our Speaking Workshop scholarship fund. Help more women and nonbinary folks get access to our workshops by contributing.
We’re also actively looking for corporate partners who are dedicated to elevating the voices of women and nonbinary folks in design and tech to support our 2020 initiatives. Sponsor an event series, help us host our very first speaker gatherings, and hire us to train your team to become more confident public speakers. Here is a one-pager you can share with the decision-makers at your organization. Are you the person we should be talking to? Reach out directly to danielle@womentalkdesign.com.
Here’s to elevating more women and nonbinary voices and getting a more diverse group of speakers on stage in 2020!
