AF Expo is your inside look at Facebook innovations and technology issues jointly impacting marketers and social developers.Join the world’s most sought-after community of social media leaders for two days of immersive learning and fresh insight into Facebook marketing and development. Packed with case studies and real-world perspectives, AF Expo offers attendees a sneak peek at the latest Facebook data, demographics and design issues.

Building and scaling for profit in a social age

Javascript issues? Frustrated with constant changes to the platform? At AF Expo, you’ll learn how to create a social experience with Facebook’s powerful API and gain techniques for engaging your audience and driving business growth while navigating core modifications. Industry leaders will share proven methods for developing agile, feature-rich applications.

Reaching the 500 million+ active user market

Creating a Facebook ad is simple, but what targeting and creative combinations are delivering real revenue-generating results? How do you build a loyal fanbase on your Facebook Page and turn it into real dollars, and what metrics are most accurate for measurement? How do you attract new fans, and keep them engaged and sharing to expand your network? Our industry insiders will deliver the guidance you need to make it happen — and prove results.

With Speakers including:

                                                                                                          See full speaker list, Here.

Make AF Expo your own

Offering four core themes, AF Expo provides attendees with content and social activities tailored to suit the roles of both marketers and developers. Choose the tracks most appropriate to you or your company’s marketing activities and objectives:

• Pages and Places
• Applications and Credits
• Advertising
• Commerce and Monetization

At AF Expo, cutting-edge developers intersect with marketers seeking the latest campaign tools and monetization techniques.  Don’t miss your chance to meet and learn from industry innovators and interact with editors and resident experts at AllFacebook including founder Nick O’Neill.

>> Register by clicking here!  **Use Girls in Tech 15% off discount code: AFEGIT

When: June 28th-29th

Where: San Francisco, Mission Bay Conference Center

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Our organization has been asked to nominate individual women for the Palo Alto Chamber’s 2011 Athena International Award!

The Athena International Awards http://www.athenainternational.org/ have been awarded annually for almost twenty-five years by the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce www.paloaltochamber.com . The former Athena winners comprise the annual selection committee. By publicizing the Athena Award to professional women’s groups we hope to increase
nominations of lawyers, technologists, scientists, engineers, educators, investment bankers, brokers, and reach the many professional women who work in Palo Alto.  Nominations are free and open to all.

The requirements for the Athena winner specify a woman of professional excellence who is both a mentor and volunteer, and must work at a business in Palo Alto.  So, if you have any women in your network who you think fit this description, we encourage you to nominate them! — As their tagline goes, I believe in the Athena International motto of:

“Supporting, developing, and honoring  women leaders.  Inspiring women to achieve their full potential. Creating balance in leadership worldwide!”

The nomination forms are due to the Palo Alto Chamber office by October 1st.

If you are interested in nominating someone and/or receiving additional information, please see their website at: http://www.paloaltochamber.com

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In March, the State Department took a Women’s Technology Delegation to Liberia and Sierra Leone to explore how technology can increase opportunities for women and girls.  Eight leading women innovators and entrepreneurs were chosen to attend, among them Trina DasGupta, who currently works as the mWomen Program Director for the GSM Association, which represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry.

I was able to interview her about her experience on the delegation and what insights she brought back with her.

KB: What was the purpose of the delegation and how does it fit into the goals of GSMA mWomen?

TD: Liberia & Sierra Leone face great socio-economic challenges from a lack of basic infrastructure to complex issues with health, education and economic growth. However, the U.S. State Department believes both countries have much potential for positive change, especially with the help of the right enabling technologies. The aims of the week were to bring together influential women from both the public sector and private enterprise to explore these challenges more deeply and to explore ways technology and tech-based tools can play a transformative role in specifically helping women and girls in these countries.

The aims of Women’s Tech Delegation are closely aligned with those of the GSMA mWomen Program. In February 2010, the GSMA, in partnership with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, identified a gender gap in mobile phone ownership in the developing world – 300 million fewer women than men own mobile phones and the potentially life changing tools that they can provide, such as access to health services, banking, employment opportunities and educational tools.

The GSMA mWomen Program that was created in response to this research is an unprecedented global public-private partnership between the worldwide mobile industry and the international development community to address the barriers to women’s mobile phone ownership in low-to-middle income countries and to deliver life-changing services, such as health care and education, at scale via mobile. The program aims to reduce the mobile phone gender gap by 50%, bringing the benefits of mobile phone ownership to 150 million women over three years, by creating an enabling market environment.

KB: What were some of the observances you saw on the ground while in Sierra Leone and Liberia?

TD: Women’s life circumstances are incredibly challenging in both countries.  Though it’s been ten years since the civil war, the war’s effects are still quite pervasive. In Sierra Leone, 1 out of 8 women die during childbirth; in Liberia 85% of the population is unemployed; in both countries literacy rates are low and access to electricity is rare.

Basic infrastructure is the greatest need – roads, electricity, healthcare facilities, schools.  So our challenge on the Women’s Technology Delegation was to think through how technology can be useful when basic needs are most critical.

KB: Were there any differences between the two countries in terms of technology usage, access of the status of women?

TD: According to our analysis at the GSMA mWomen Program, a woman in Liberia is 43% less likely than a man to own a mobile phone.  In Sierra Leone a woman is 44% less likely.

With regards to the Internet, access is incredibly limited for everyone, not only women.  According to the World Bank, as of 2009 there were 20,000 internet users in Liberia and 14,900 in Sierra Leone; their populations are approximately 3.5 million and 6.5 million respectively, meaning less than one percent of either country is able to access the internet.

KB: What were some action-items or solutions that came out of the trip?

TD: In Liberia, the Women’s Tech Del has committed to explore piloting a center that will train and connect youth, specifically girls, to micro-work via the internet.  For female micro-entrepreneurs, we are working with the mobile phone industry to try to expand the number of female retailers of cell phone products, such as pre-paid airtime.

In Sierra Leone, the delegation met with a dynamic group of female entrepreneurs who own small-to-medium enterprises.  We are working with this group to explore starting a business incubation center that will help them connect to each other for networking, support and sharing best business practices to help drive economic opportunities for women.  Training on using technology as a key business tool will be a part of the center design.

In both countries, we are exploring SMS and voice-based information services for health and civic engagement, as well as sharing best practices on how mobile phones can be used to help incentivize increased literacy.  We are also trying to help develop an enabling regulatory and market environment to expand access to the internet and mobile phones for the people of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

KB: There seemed to be a lot of discussion about access to technology and education.  What are the major hurdles to more widespread use of technology and opportunities for education? Likewise, were there any specific solutions that you saw being implemented or that the delegation was able to come up with?

TD: One of our main takeaways from the trip was that technology is not a silver bullet to solve the development challenges we witnessed in Liberia and Sierra Leone, but it can enable change.  In the realm of education, technology-based solutions are challenging, as literacy rates are low.  SMS and most internet tools require some level of literacy for impactful engagement.  The alternative is voice-based models, and currently there are few proven models on how to teach someone to read simply using voice messages without some sort of teacher or guide to support the learner.

Where we ended up in the discussion was to share with the various government ministries and other education stakeholders a successful example from Senegal.  The Jokko Initiative leveraged women’s desire to send SMSes as a way to increase demand for literacy and numeracy.  In this way, the mobile phone was used as a tool to incentivize literacy programs.

KB: How do women and girls fit into the equation in these two developing countries?

TD: In both countries, we met with women from all walks of life – entrepreneurs, weavers, teachers, nurses, students, government officials – and we were genuinely moved by their perseverance, strength and dedication after years of war tore apart the region.   Our meetings with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Her Excellency First Lady of Sierra Leone Mrs. Sia Koroma demonstrated the inspirational leadership at the top of both countries, and women from the diaspora returning back to their home countries from the U.S. showed us endless courage and love for the betterment of their people.

These women and others showed us that although there are many challenges in Liberia and Sierra Leone, women are the driving force for positive change.  Women helped achieve peace in Liberia and are leading the re-building in both countries, along with the men who actively support women’s leadership roles.  Women are managing their families, making up the large percentage of micro-entrepreneurs, running for political office and they are determined to be the positive change they want to see in their world.

KB: On a looser note, what was the best thing you ate? The most memorable moment? Favorite local art?

TD: One of the most powerful parts of our trip was a visit to the Annie Walsh Memorial Girls School.  The girls at the school are the future of Liberia and West Africa, and each girl we spoke to was passionate and determined about their future.  The choir treated us to the most incredible performance that nearly brought me to tears; it truly was unbelievably beautiful and moving.  Here’s a short video from the performance taken by Maria Thomas, who was also part of the Women’s Technology Delegation:

Tags: GSMA, liberia, mobile technology, mwomen, sierra leone, trina dasgupta, women's delegation
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We thought this was such an important article, we asked if could re-post it for our readers.  If you would like, please comment below, as we are very eager to hear what you women out there are thinking and/or how you can relate to Ms. Mitchell’s words. We want to hear your experiences on this topic!

Here is an excerpt of Lesa Mitchell’s post:

Women Entrepreneurs Are Trapped Within Glass Walls, by Lesa Mitchell
HuffPost Business – 5/11/11

“This much is known: The next round of economic recovery and growth in the U.S. will be led by new companies. The statistical evidence on that point is clear. While big, established firms employ the most people, it’s the high-growth startups — the new firms on their way to becoming big — that create the lion’s share of new jobs, and become the anchors for new industries. So it has been through every wave of growth in the country’s history, from the days of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford to the IT boom of the late twentieth century.

Now here is the lesser known fact: If we want a real recovery, the next cohort of high-growth entrepreneurs cannot just be people with names like Thomas and Henry, or Bill and Steve. We need the women to get involved. The American growth engine can no longer afford to run on half of its cylinders.

Yes, women are starting plenty of new businesses. However if you look closely at the picture, as we have done at the Kauffman Foundation, where I work, you find a vast amount of potential left on the table. In our demographic data, the overall rate of entrepreneurial activity among women is less than 2/3 the rate for men.

And, as other sources along with Kauffman have found, womens’ startups under-perform on key measures of growth. Comparatively, few of them even grow to $1 million per year in revenues. Very few build or hire on the kind of scale that can boost a region’s economy, let alone show up on the national radar screen.

Part of the disparity stems from the types of companies many women start, such as local retail shops or professional service firms and consultancies. Serious growth and value creation tend to come from innovative startups in science- and technology-based industries. But this is where the gender gap becomes blindingly apparent.”

…

“In the past, there was a convenient excuse. Female engineers and scientists were scarce to begin with. Today that excuse is wearing thin, as women have made dramatic inroads into these fields. Nearly half of the undergraduates at MIT are women. It is now common to see women holding professorships at universities, or high posts in industry, as well as winning research grants, making discoveries and publishing papers.

So why, then, are we not seeing the next Intels or Genentechs founded by women?  The answers do not appear to be simple. Drawing from what the best minds on the subject have learned so far, here are some clues.”  — Lesa Mitchell … To read their full findings, click here for the remainder of the article, and scroll down to the bullet points.

(credit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lesa-mitchell/)

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We are a supporter of United Nations Women- Gender equality and the empowerment of women. Say No Campaign is one of the efforts to end violence against women.

UN Women has launched an online Quiz that tests your knowledge on violence against women and girls. Available in English, French and Spanish, it addresses questions such as: How widespread is violence against women and girls? What solutions have worked to stop it? How many countries have laws to address common forms, such as domestic violence?

You can use it as an awareness raising tool with your friends and constituencies, in your schools, workshops and meetings. Each time they take the quiz, they can learn more about the issue! Play your part in ending violence against women and girls! Here is how:

• Test your knowledge on violence against women by taking the quiz now and share it with your friends, family and colleagues!
• Upload the Quiz Banner on your website or blog and link it to www.saynotoviolence.org/quiz.
• Share the quiz on social media – tweet about it using #SayNoUNiTEquiz and post a message on Facebook to engage your fans and followers (or simply RT @MsSonicFlare @GITweet @SayNO_UNITE )

Find out in the Say NO – UNiTE Quiz today!

Tags: gender equality, global world, Ivo Lukas, mssonicflare, sayno campaign, saynounite, UN, united nations, women empowerment, women leadership
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Last week, I was invited to attend Blackberry World in Orlando, Florida (which was already getting hot enough for my New York blood).  Along with a good line up of panels on subjects like social networking in the enterprise and consumer-facing mobile apps and a great party at Universal Studios, attendees were each given a Playbook (thanks Blackberry!).

I’ve been checking it out now for about a week, and thought I’d give you all some of my thoughts.  Firstly, a (big) disclaimer: I’m an Apple girl.  That being said, I did as best as I could to make an objective opinion on the Playbook and take the “but it doesn’t do it like the iPad does” out of the equation.  And so, a few notes:

Connectivity

I personally had problems connecting my device up to wireless, but I don’t think it was the device per se.  The main problem was that the Playbook needed an immediate software upgrade, and you couldn’t pass Go without it.  So between a low battery and spotty wireless connectivity, my Playbook took a while to get up and running.  Since I’m not a Blackberry user, I also couldn’t use the tethering option (Blackberry Bridge) that so many others could.

Once I got connected though, I was fine.  And it’s pretty easy to connect to wireless networks in general (auto-search, remembers past networks, etc etc).

Speaking of tethering, if you noticed at the original Playbook launch a few weeks ago, tethering was a major point of criticism, but it was quickly fixed and many considered the launch a success.

Connectivity = Great

Ease-of-Use

Again, this is where I needed to really take my mind away from iPad land.  In general, the Playbook was easy to use.  The keyboard (due to the size of the tablet) was pretty much perfect for my smaller hands, the commands are pretty straight forward when you get the hang of them, and the home page is well laid out.  I need to get used to the slightly different layout of the keyboard vs the iPad keyboard, but that’s not a fault of Blackberry.

Something that bothered me?  There is no auto-correct when you’re typing (ugh!).  I asked a Blackberry technician about this – and a few other small details – and they did mention to me that there were several features that Blackberry phone users were used to that somehow haven’t made it to the tablet yet, but they will start being implemented over the course of the next few months.

Ease-of-Use = Good

Battery Life

I messed this up when I first started using it (also the cause of some of my connectivity issues). The device has a really great battery life, but if you don’t turn it off correctly, it’ll drain.  “Sleep mode” is not the same as it is on the iPad, and if you leave something like your wireless (really, that’s the only big culprit) on and just put the device to sleep, you’ll be out of batteries in no time.

However, I heard several accounts of full 6 hour plane rides of uninterrupted video streaming and email using – with juice to spare – to consider this a user error on my part.

Battery life = Great

Size

The size of the Playbook is, well, kind of perfect.  It’s larger than a smartphone screen, which is really helpful sometimes, but it’s small enough to be REALLY portable.  My iPad is great, and certainly portable, but frankly I had been looking around for something a little bit smaller for a while.  You can hold it for a very long time and hardly feel it, you can slip into something smaller than your business bag, and it’s on the inconspicuous side.  In fact, I was eating lunch with someone at the conference, and he slipped the Playbook out of his jeans pocket (which he said was great, but looked a lot cooler when he was wearing a blazer and not sitting down…. I can imagine).

Size = Great

Applications

First thing’s first.  Blackberry has been primarily an enterprise solution.  I get that.  But I was initially really bummed about the number of applications that I would be able to use, despite the 70K+ that in are in App World. No Twitter app, no highly recommended RSS reader or news reader, no NetFlix (which would make the HDMI hookup really great!), etc etc.  HOWEVER, one of the big announcements at Blackberry World was that the Playbook will be able to run Android apps soon, which should make a big difference for individual consumers to effectively use the tablet.

Applications = Poor now for the consumer, but should be Good once Android apps can be run on the device

Email

One major downfall for me is that there’s currently no native email app, which means, unless you’re already set up on your Blackberry, you have to access email through a browser… and for someone with almost 10 email accounts, I NEED an email program.  Luckily, Blackberry has said that one is coming within 60 days.  That will make a huge difference in my book. Thanks!

Email = Poor now, but should be Good once a native email app is available

All in all, I think the tablet has a place in the line up and definitely think it has some legs.  I think it’ll be most highly used amongst current Blackberry users (of course) and likely within the enterprise (also of course), but, as soon as some of the issues above are fixed (as is the plan), it’ll also be an even more accessible tablet option for consumers in general.

Tags: blackberry, blackberry playbook, device, tablet, technology review
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Like last year, we wanted to bring you this list of inspiring women…

Recently, The Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) and American Express OPEN named the “Top 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies.” And what an accomplishment this is!  To put it in perspective, consider that:  The Top 50 generated a combined $2.3 billion in gross revenues (in 2009) and averaged 128 employees ( also, 2009).   They came from a variety of industries and job sectors; and span the United States, from California to Connecticut.  Says Marcia Firestone, the president of the WPO, “The Top 50 list exemplifies the vital role women business owners have on boosting the economy and enhancing job growth overall.”  Here’s to these trailblazing women!

You may ask, what does it take to make this coveted top 50 list?  Well, American Express OPEN was interested in just that.  They polled 46 of the 50, and found these key qualities and ideals which contribute to these ladies’ success:

• A commitment to high growth — 71% agreed or strongly agreed in their goal from the very beginning of their leadership of the company as being to build a large company
• Inspiring leaders — 64% believe their “ability to motivate employees” is the most key characteristic for being a successful woman entrepreneur
• Surrounding yourself with a skilled team – 78% say “Hiring the right people”
• Adapting to a changing environment – The strategy most frequently chosen (64% of the time) to meet the challenge of the current economy is to “enter new markets.”  61% revealed that the current economic conditions made them to change their business strategies

On the top, BrightStar, a home healthcare and medical staffing company based in Illinois, was elevated from the number two spot last year to #1 in 2011.  Shelly Sun, its president and chief executive officer who plans to take her business public, saw her nine-year-old company’s revenue quadruple in the last two years!  Shelly attributes BrightStar’s use of social media as a significant factor in her company’s rapid revenue growth.

Here are the top 5:

1. Shelly Sun – BrightStar Care (IL) – Staffing services
2. Eren Ozmen – Sierra Nevada Corporation (NV) – Electronic Systems Provider
3. Himanshu Bhatia – Rose International, Inc. (MO) – IT Solutions Company
4. Carolyn Doerle – Doerle Food Services, LLC (LA) – Wholesale Foodservice Distribution
5. Theresa Daytner–Daytner Construction Group Inc. (MD) – Construction Management

For the full list and to see their coverage in the Wall Street Journal, click here.

We hope this will inspire our entrepreneurial and business-building readers out there — When will you be starting yours?

credit: www.OPEN.com & womenpresidentsorg.com.

Tags: American Express OPEN, BrightStar, social media, Women Presidents' Organization
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I spent my last weekend at Startup Weekend San Francisco, and I’d love to share a few tips so you also can get the most of my experience.

Networking

There was a pre-party the week before the Startup Weekend, although I don’t know if that’s always the case. If you have the occasion to chat with other participants before the pitch session, I recommend spending time getting to know each other, as you will have less time during the weekend. Talking with some Startup Weekend “veterans” will also help understand the program.

The pitch

Last Friday, 54 people pitched their ideas, and then we ended with 15 or 16 project presentations on Sunday night. It can be challenging to catch the audience’s attention with a 60-second pitch—especially if they’re waiting for their turn to explain their idea. But it’s a good experience to have!

If your idea is not selected, don’t go home. Instead, stay and help another team on its project. Even though it can happen, don’t necessarily expect to find in one night that special someone who was dreaming about working on an idea similar to yours.

Be ready to pivot quickly

Once you form a team, be open to any feedback or question about your original idea: it can change a lot between Friday night and Saturday.  So don’t rush on coding on Friday, but instead let the team be creative with you.

Launching a startup is teamwork

It’s better to come to the event with an open idea rather than bringing an existing product that needs only some “fine tuning” and doesn’t give the developers the impression they are part of a new venture.

If you are a non-technical person and wonder if you can help a team, the answer is: yes! Over the course of the weekend, some people drop the event; further, 54 hours is a very short time span to work on a prototype, conduct basic market research, prepare the launch, work on the Sunday presentation, etc.

You can also count on the volunteers who help organize the event, and I would like to send a special thank you to Ahmed Siddiqui, who won the Startup Weekend Silicon Valley last year with an iPhone app (GoGo Mongo!). Ahmed was there early in the morning and late at night as a volunteer for the event and as a mentor for the teams.

The presentation

You’re not pitching for getting funded, so try to relax and have fun during the presentation. The judges asked good questions, but they are there to help you.

One of the participants was asked to play guitar at the end of his presentation. I love music, so that was my favorite moment. Such a great feeling can come out by surprise in the middle of a techie event!

After the weekend…

A good part of the weekend is the people you meet, whether you continue or not on the project. The group I was part of already plans to have a drink together next week.

The Startup Weekend was an accelerated program to give participants a taste of what it could be like to work for a startup. If you’re curious about the event, you should give it a try. Go there with the spirit of contributing; you will see how much you will get back.

And the most important thing: have fun!

Tags: startup weekend
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Next weekend, the tech community in Santa Cruz will be hosting TechRaising, a first-of-it’s-kind event, where entrepreneurs (big thinkers, developers, designers, business men and women, marketers, etc.) can get together to actually build and execute on the very ideas they have been stewing on for months, years or even just weeks.

This event is about collaboration, execution, accomplishment and showing what you’ve done.

Participants will gather on the evening of May 20 at Cruzio (downtown Santa Cruz) and have 90 seconds to pitch their idea for a product, service, or company to the group.  After pitches have been completed, everyone will have a chance to dialog with each other and form teams to build the the idea over the course of the weekend.

Scott McNealy, an industry icon and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, will be keynoting the event on Saturday morning.

Early bird tickets are $29.00 (if purchased by May 13th) and $49.00 after that and can be purchased at http://techraising.eventbrite.com. For more information please visit TechRaising.com.

So let’s get together and build something. How awesome would it be if this is where your startup was born?

Tags: designers, Developers, entrepreneurs, event, girls in tech, marketers, marketing, santa cruz, Silicon Valley, techraising, women in tech
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