Bitter sweet but true, the time has come for this girl geek to make a move. The timing of this announcement is fitting though, it’s been 2 years that I’ve been organizing Montreal Girl Geeks events, and I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished.

As I announced on my blog a couple weeks ago, in June I’ll be moving to Vancouver in the crazy name of tech startups. As a long devout freelancer, this is also a major move for me from independent to team player, but I couldn’t be more up for the challenge and insanity that only startups can offer.

Montreal Girl Geeks were among the first of the Montreal Tech Community events I attended. Back in 2009, Tanya McGinnity was running the show and mentoring far more women then she probably realized, myself included. When Alex Dao took over in November 2010, the two of us had tons of laughs and our hands full keeping Tanya’s groove rolling… That is of course, until Alex was on the move herself to NYC some months later. That’s when Liesl Barrell and Sandy Sidhu became my partners in #GGbadassery (new hashtag anyone?), and I couldn’t have asked for a better team. As you know, they rock pretty hard and Montreal Girl Geeks will definitely kick ass again in the upcoming season with them at the helm. I’ll be kicking myself from afar as I see all the awesome yet to come.

With too many incredible speakers, events, venues and attendees to count over the time that I’ve been here, I’m not really sure how to say thank you sufficiently. Some serious sponsorship, workshops, tshirts, bank account, new website, and whole lot of continuously free and awesome events later, I’m so proud to have been part of this community with you all. Thank you.

This month’s event marks my final one, so I hope to see you all there and have a drink with you after the event too!

Photo awesomeness: Ian Woo

Infographics and other data visualizations are becoming ubiquitous: in newspapers, journals, blogs, and corporate websites. Visualization is a language just like any other, which is to say that it’s a way of encoding information and ideas for transmission from one human brain to another. Like any language, it’s not a perfect encoding, but by following some basic principles you can become a more fluent designer and reader. We’ll take a look at some basic design principles, how they can be used wisely, and how they can be used (accidentally or on purpose) to trick the brain.

If you’ve been interested in creating data visualizations of your own, or if some graphics you’ve seen as a reader have set off your spidey sense and you’re not sure why, this talk will help you understand how visual cues communicate information and why they say what they say. Once you understand these principles, you’ll be much better equipped to send and receive visual messages based on large amounts of data — whether you use your powers for good or evil is up to you.

About Julie

Julie Steele is the Content Editor for Strata at O’Reilly Media. She is co-author of Beautiful Visualization and Designing Data Visualizations. She finds beauty in exploring complex systems, and thinks in metaphors. The best part of her day is finding patterns across verticals and traditional silos, and connecting people who are working on similar problems in seemingly unrelated areas. She is particularly drawn to the visual medium as a way to understand and transmit information.

Julie holds a Master’s degree in Political Science (International Relations) from Rutgers University in Newark. She lives in New York City with her husband and cat, where she cooks, reads, designs, and practices yoga. You can find her blogging occasionally for O’Reilly Radar or on Twitter.

Event Details

When: Tuesday, May 15 at 6:30pm
Where: RPM Montreal, 420 Guy in Montreal – Station George-Vanier (Map)
Price: FREE!

It was a beautiful early evening in March and over 50 eager girl geeks filed into BDO Canada‘s sunny conference room to hear Anna Goodson talk about her journey towards finding entrepreneurial freedom.

The next hour and a half or two were filled with insightful and inspiring anecdotes and lessons from her life. She talked about her enterprising childhood, where she earned money through babysitting and other chores, even by singing Christmas carols (Anna being Jewish this got a hearty laugh from the crowd!) Her relationship with her supportive-but-bootstrappy father, who encouraged her to make her own way in life by signing small loans that she always returned.  Embarking on and eventually leaving a promising career in advertising that was inspired by then hit TV show thirtysomething  now seems more like Mad Men in retrospect.

By the time Anna moved on to the years she spent starting her own company, Anna Goodson Management, her contagious, lifelong passion for business was clear to all of us. There were ~3 years of struggle, best summarized in the slide where she pictured her parents’ support of soup cans and toilet paper, but ultimately Anna triumphed over adversity: building what is now one of the top artist management companies in the world. This was brought home by her re-enactment of a call with Prince (yes, the-artist-formerly-and-once-again-known-as) where she negotiated a princely sum (pun intended) for one of her artist’s to produce work for him. A quick call to the artist in  Argentina and both he and his mother were in tears over the career-breaking opportunity.

But perhaps the two moments of Anna’s presentation that resonated most with the audience were her blue ball of anxiety (so many raised their hands to say they know the feeling!) and her final slide, a picture of her nursing in her home office while on the phone working: enjoying the freedom she set out to create for herself when she started her wild entrepreneurial ride 16 years ago!

Find Anna on Twitter @AnnaGoodsson and @SWOMontreal and on Startup Women of Montreal’s new Facebook Page

Anna’s Slides

Our Generous Host

A huge thank you to BDO Canada for being a generous host, and on such a beautiful day to boot!

Want More?

Check out of our photos in the album on Facebook. Extra thanks to Ziona for the surprise delicious candy popcorn treats!

TELUS Hosting & Domain Winner!

Congratulations to Priscilla Biju Then on winning our Telus Shared Hosting & domain tweetaway! We’ll be in touch to coordinate your prize, and hope it comes in handy for your business

This is the year, we said…

Inspired by the success and awesomeness of Montreal Python’s Intro to Python for Women Workshop, heartened by the rise of Ladies Learning Code over in the t-dot, and excited by our new sponsorship from TELUS Shared Hosting:

This is the year we actively help women learn to code.

There are many reasons to do it: to fix a specific problem, out of curiosity, for empowerment, to understand the discipline and/or become a programmer, or heck, maybe you code all the time and wanna TA & hang out! Whatever the reason, and even if you’ve never thought of coding before, you should come. Because making the building blocks of digital creation accessible to all is vitally important.  So invite your friends to learn a new skill, too!

PHP for Beginners

For all those reasons, we’re happy to officially announce our long anticipated PHP Workshop for beginners with Anna Filina of FooLab! We’ve had plenty of demand surrounding WordCamp Montreal 2011, and we knew it was time for a crash course in PHP.

What is PHP?

Take a gander at what Wikipedia says about PHP, but the most important thing you need to know is that PHP is one of the most widely used web programming languages today. It’s used as the server-side programming language on 75% of all Web servers and in 2007 there were 20 million Internet domains with Web services hosted on servers with PHP. Content management systems like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are written in PHP, and websites like Wikipedia, Facebook and Digg are all based on it too.

What’s in it for you?

Whether you are just starting out in PHP or programming, work with programmers, or would just like a better understanding of how web development works, this workshop is one you’ll want to boot-up for. This is a FREE 3 hour workshop where Anna will walk you through the basics of programming, setting up and actually coding in PHP. It’s designed to be accessible to everyone, no matter your experience level. So bring your laptops and your questions!

About Anna

Anna is a Web software specialist. She is actively involved in the PHP Quebec organization since 2006 and ConFoo since 2010. She organizes an annual conference, monthly PHP users group meetings as well as other social and educational events. She also gives presentations in Montreal and at international conferences.

Anna is currently Vice-president of FooLab, Inc. You can find her on the web @afilina on Twitter and her personal website annnafilina.com

Event Details

When: Thursday, April 26th from 6 to 9pm
Location: Centre St-Pierre, Room 1205, 1212 rue Panet in Montreal (Station Beaudry map)
Requirements: Registration here and bring your fully charged laptop with power cables just in case
Price: FREEEEEE!

Free Workshop = BIG Thank You to Our Sponsors!

We’re able to offer this event to you for free because of amazing sponsors like TELUS Shared Hosting who will help pay for our venue rental and FooLab for lending us our PHP expert Anna and wonderful TA’s who will be there to help you out throughout the workshop.

Caught the start-up bug? Breaking out on your own? Looking for a way to secure your career, freedom and a healthy dose of fun in every work day? Back in the 90′s Anna Goodson felt the same, and realized that the only way to truly achieve all three was to start her own business.

With little money and no collateral, the banks turned her down for a small business loan, even suggesting that she come back with her father to sign for her. Anna refused, determined to set out on her own. With no formal education, she quickly learned the “do’s” and “don’ts” of launching and running a business the old fashion way: by doing it. Years later success brought sweet revenge, as she rubs elbows with the upper echelons of the very banks that turned her down.

Fresh off her inspiring talk at Startup Weekend, come hear Anna’s advice on how you can get your business off the ground and flying high!

About Anna

Anna Goodson is the founder and CEO of Anna Goodson Management (founded in 1996) and The MeatMarket (founded in 2010). Prior to founding her own 2 companies, Anna worked 5 years in Advertising. She started at the bottom as a coordinator and quickly moved up the ranks to account executive then on to doing business development.

Anna started her business career at the tender age of 19 while doing her BFA at Concordia University and working part time at her father’s printing agency. Being an entrepreneur is in Anna’s blood; her father and grandfather were both entrepreneurs and her grandmother was in sales way back in 1925. She looks forward to founding and investing in other businesses in the future and encourages other women to do the same at her latest initiative Startup Women of Montreal.

Find Anna on Twitter @AnnaGoodsson and @SWOMontreal and on Startup Women of Montreal’s new Facebook Page

Event Details

When: Tuesday, March 20th at 6:30pm
Location: BDO Canada at 1000 de la Gauchetiere, Suite 200
Tickets: Free

Last month, over 60 Geeks descended on RPM-Mtl, start-up centre and co-working space, to hear incurable entrepeneur Amanda Aitken talk about HTML and CSS and how to create stunning websites

Amanda also addressed why it’s important for women to learn how to code and that you don’t need to be ‘math nerdy’ and memorize all kinds of stuff to build a beautiful website.

She walked us through the various CSS elements and encouraged the crowd that ‘tinkering is the name of the game’ and that often you have to break things before getting it right. She definitely inspired many to go home and dig a little deeper in the WordPress CSS.

Amanda’s Slides

Want More?

You can also sign up for Amanda’s online course where she teaches women to ditch their fear of code and unleash their inner designer.

Our Host

Huge thanks to our host, RPM-MTL who welcomed us with open arms to their awesome space and even had a few t-shirts to giveaway to our members.

TELUS Hosting & Domain Winner!

Congratulations to our Telus Shared Hosting & domain tweetaway: Nina Umar! We’ll be in touch to coordinate your prize, enjoy!

Photos:Eva Blue

Interested in applying your dev skills to help solve healthcare problems? HackingHealth is happening this February 24-25th and is looking to bring together designers and developers to work with healthcare professionals to innovate and revolutionize healthcare.

The event is designed to improve healthcare by pairing technological innovators with healthcare experts to build realistic, human-centric solutions to front-line healthcare problems. Designers and developers will collaborate with doctors, nurses, clinic managers and other health professionals to rapidly prototype solutions that can be put to test in clinics and hospitals.

Hacking Health is based on the “hackathon” model, an event format which has proven very successful in the world of software. By emphasizing hands-on work on small projects which can be tackled in a short period of time, we will quickly test assumptions, build teams, and generate momentum for promising ideas in healthcare.

Who should attend?

Anyone looking to use their experience and skills in a team to create innovative solutions for healthcare.

To sign up or for more information, visit hackinghealth.ca

Do you have a blog or website – but somehow feel it’s not quite “you”? Do you know what it’s like to spend HOURS looking for the perfect theme or template for your web project, only to keep coming up short? Are you tired of feeling restricted and ready to ante up your web skills so you can finally do this design stuff yourself?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, then this is the Montreal Girl Geeks event you’ve been waiting for. When it comes to making your cookie-cutter web presence look exactly how you picture it in your mind’s eye, then you may be aware that HTML and CSS hold the key. No worries if you find the whole “learning to code” thing mildly terrifying – that’s where Amanda comes in. In this juicy session, she’ll show you how you can use HTML and CSS to create the blog or site of your dreams – in a totally accessible way.

About Amanda

Amanda Aitken is an incurable entrepreneur with an addiction to challenging the status quo. Her latest project is The Girl’s Guide to Web Design, a fun and feisty online course that teaches women to DIY a jaw-dropping, totally customized site or blog on the WordPress platform – coding and all.

She’s also the founder and Head Chocoholic at Better Than Chocolate Web Design, home of sinfully gorgeous WordPress websites completed in a single day. When she’s not busy dreaming up new business ideas, you’ll likely find Amanda on a dancefloor somewhere…or glued to her Kindle.

Find her online at betterthanchocolatewebdesign.com, girlsguidetowebdesign.com,  on LinkedIn and Twitter @AmandaAitken.

Event Details

When: Wednesday, February 22nd at 6:30pm
Where: RPM Montreal, 420 Guy in Montreal – Station George-Vanier (Map)
Price: FREE!

We kicked off the New Year with a workshop on Building Websites with Drupal by Suzanne Kennedy of Evolving Web. Over 40 keen members battled the winter ice and rain to come learn how to set-up a website using the Drupal Gardens hosted solution at Station-C.

Suzanne walked us through a series of exercises from setting up a Drupal Gardens site, adding custom elements and different types of content as well as answering questions from the crowd. If you missed this great hands-on event, or if you want to keep going, you can download the exercises here and try them yourself!

Suzanne’s Slides

[slideshare id=11449934&doc=girl-geek-drupal-intro-jan23-2012-120206134855-phpapp02]

We ended the night off with networking and eats at the always awesome Burger de Ville. Check out more photos from the night in the album on Facebook.

Want More?

Suzanne is holding a more in-depth all day Intro to Drupal course on February 17th. 

Details and sign-up information can be found here.

Our Generous Host

Huge thanks to our host, Station-C who not only provided us with snacks and drinks but also gave out day-passes for those interested in trying out the co-working space.

TELUS Hosting & Domain Winner!

Congratulations to our Telus Shared Hosting & domain tweetaway: Sarah Howell ! We’ll be in touch to coordinate your prize, enjoy!

Photos courtesy of Alex Dergachev

You should go

Whatever your profile, if you are creative, ambitious and motivated, if the business of Web and Digital is your passion, if you have have always dreamed of creating your business, Startup Weekend Montreal is for you. Designers, Developers+ of all levels are welcome to participate in what promises to be a very exciting 3 days.

Born in Seattle in 2007, with more than 300 events in more than 100 cities and 30 countries, the entrepreneurs’ favourite event will occur in Quebec for the first time on February 3rd, 4th and 5th, 2012 in, (w00t!) Montreal!

Montreal Girl Geeks wanted

To participate in Startup Weekend, tickets are $75 tickets are only $25 for Montreal Girl Geeks! If you’ve ever attended a MtlGG event or are simply a woman in tech stumbling upon this post, you’re eligible. How’s that for a low barrier to entry?? Uh, yeah pretty good right? Email  georgiana@montrealgirlgeeks.com now (seriously, hurry) to get your discount before the event sells out.

Who’s gonna be there?

Besides you and participants like you, Startup Weekend Montreal will also have:
Opening remarks by BeyondTheRack founder and CEO Yona Stern on Friday at 5pm

Mentors who will be there helping teams during the weekend:

• Olivier Cabanes, co-founder of Bolidea
• Chris Arsenault, managing partner at Inovia Capital
• Claude Ananou, professor at HEC Montreal
• Shawn Kernes, CTO at Beyond the rack
• Vincent Lévesque, Inovae
• Mark Kandalaft, Mark Kandalaft Design
• 2 mentors from Inceptive Solutions
• Legal experts from Fasken

And twice as many more to be announced in the coming days!

Here’s some more info on the event:

Facebook, Twitter, Groupon … Behind every great startup idea are a project leader, surrounded by the best advisors. Many would like to create their startup but few know how to do it or where to start. Where the majority of the entrepreneurs create their own company after months or even years, Startup Weekend gives you the opportunity to create your own startup in only 54 … hours! And with exceptional results!

At a time when entrepreneurship is highlighted, where many would like to start their own business, Startup Weekend gives an answer to these challenges with an entrepreneurial adventure where you will meet and work with (without realizing it) amazing people with multiple skills, sharing your passion for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Springboard for students, professionals and startups, accelerator of projects, social and professional shaker, Startup Weekend is an event almost always sold out!

Whether you are a student or professional, project leader or not, graphic designer, developer, or specialized in business skills (finance, business development, strategy, marketing, legal, …), you can bring your skills to the team and the project that will better catch your interest. Everyone has a place in a Startup Weekend.

Get the full event details at http://montreal.startupweekend.org/en et en français à http://montreal.startupweekend.org

Check out Startup Weekend Montreal’s Flickr album too.