At the DrupalCon Munich DrupalChix BoF we discussed how do we get more women as keynote speakers for DrupalCons. One idea was to create a Wiki of women we would like the Drupal Association to consider inviting to be keynote speakers.
If you know of a woman who you think would make a great keynote at a DrupalCon please list her here, why you'd think she'd make a good speaker, and as much information as you may know about reaching this person.
This is our opportunity to make this difference.
Possible speakers mentioned in the BoF were:
Divya (@divya / http://nimbupani.com/)
Nicole Sullivan (@stubbornella / http://www.stubbornella.org/)
Leah Culver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Culver)
Neelie Kroes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelie_Kroes)
Marissa Mayer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Mayer)
Molly E. Holzschlag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Holzschlag)
Randi Zuckerberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randi_Zuckerberg)
From the comments:
Margot Bloomstein (also a content strategist): http://appropriateinc.com/
Kristen Halvorson (Content Strategist): http://www.braintraffic.com/
Whitney Hess (UX Designer): http://whitneyhess.com/
Dani Nordin :: the zen kitchen: http://tzk-design.com
Lea Verou (Webstandard & CSS specialist) : http://lea.verou.me/
Keynote speakers from FrOSCon 2012 (http://www.froscon.de):
Lydia Pintscher: http://programm.froscon.de/2012/speakers/639.html
Selena Deckelmann: http://programm.froscon.de/2012/speakers/733.html
Comments
Whitney Hess (UX Designer):
Whitney Hess (UX Designer): http://whitneyhess.com/. Saw her speak a few times, and she's terrific.
Kristen Halvorson (Content Strategist): http://www.braintraffic.com/. She's fantastically entertaining, and talks about content strategy, which is a key component of Drupal design.
Margot Bloomstein (also a content strategist): http://appropriateinc.com/. Also a regular speaker, and talks about content strategy.
I've also spoken at most of the Boston Design for Drupal Camps, mostly about UX, project strategy and design issues specific to Drupal. http://tzk-design.com/
Dani Nordin :: the zen kitchen
http://tzk-design.com
http://twitter.com/danigrrl
http://daninordin.com
Lea Verou (Webstandard & CSS
Lea Verou (Webstandard & CSS specialist) : http://lea.verou.me/
I wouldn't mind seeing
I wouldn't mind seeing Webchick present the 'State of Drupal' instead of Dries...
The vision is still Dries'
The vision is still Dries' and for that reason he should at least copresent...
Veronica Belmont?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Belmont
Also
your mom. (I just can't resist.)
enough of mom jokes! >:
enough of mom jokes! >:
you put the negation to the
you put the negation to the wrong end
Robert Douglass ...
... in that dress: http://www.comm-press.de/blog/die-opening-session-der-drupalcon-2012-mue...
Criteria
I can tell you a bit about the criteria for a keynote speaker:
- They should be notable, having had a unique involvement in technology.
- They should have strong opinions, and particular a point of view. General me too != okay.
- They should have some vision of the future they want to spread.
- They should enjoy public speaking.
- And hardest: they should fit the theme of the conference.
Suggestions:
Grace Hopper would have been good.
Wendy Hall.
Sophie Wilson.
The people to talk to are the Portland and Prague organising teams.
Why criteria?
Are you sure these criteria apply to every DrupalCon? I didn't see this list when we were looking for keynotes for DrupalCon Denver and I don't see them now in the DrupalCon handbook on the Association intranet.
I hope these are not official criteria, because criteria like these generally work against the goal of increasing diversity among keynote speakers, despite the best intentions of organizers. I'd suggest it's better to start with a long list, and pick the best options in that list. If a potential speaker is under serious consideration and someone thinks they're not a good choice, then it might be worth talking about what they're lacking.
But starting with criteria before establishing a list introduces a significant risk of limiting consideration to people who are already well-known keynote speakers, since those are the people who most obviously match the criteria. And those people are disproportionately young white men.