Women, along with non-binary people, are woefully underrepresented as speakers at Austin professional events.
While our meetup scene is hot and thriving — among the top 10 by members in the US — the proportion of meetup speakers who are women, 16.3%, is even lower than that below-average proportion of tech jobs filled by women in Austin.
This is a list of women and non-binary people in the Austin area who are interested in speaking at tech and data professional events.
| Name | Specialities | Languages/Software |
|---|
HINT: You should.
Public speaking is a great skill to have. Speaking at a professional event can help:
Giving a talk is also one of the best ways to solidify knowledge. Beyond personal benefits, the very presence of women and non-binary speakers at professional events can help promote diversity, dispel notions of what an “expert” looks like, and encourage others to join the field or take a more visible role.
You don’t need to be an expert to speak on a subject. In fact, sometimes it’s the best way to learn something new! You might not even have found your footing yet.
One recent tech meetup was a fresh-out-of-undergrad giving a talk on finding a job and his way in the industry.
You don’t need to have every column filled to be on this list. Don’t have a twitter account? Don’t have a language or software to add? That’s okay!
There is no baseline for a talk to be “techy” enough. Don’t think your talk or knowledge is “techy” enough? Nonsense! There are many, many backgrounds fit for a good data or tech talk - project management, media, design, and more.
Public speaking isn’t as scary as you think, and you might even like it. I promise!
Practice can prove that. Start where you like, maybe a smaller meetup or roundtable discussion. It definitely won’t be a nightmare; you definitely won’t be naked. You can do it!
Now that you're convinced, add yourself to the list!
