Women Edubloggers SPEAK UP
Jan 11th, 2008 by Cathy Nelson
Okay so I’m reveling in being mentioned in a blog today as a woman who has a voice in the blogosphere. And to see the excellent company I have there, many of whom already fill my reader daily. I hadn’t thought, though, about one comment Janet Clarey (Brandon-Hall Research Blog) made– that of there not being a bevy of female keynoters. I certainly don’t feel qualified, though I do love sharing knowledge through workshops and presentations. I have heard Joyce Valenza as a keynote address, and I’ve seen to many women speakers who were spotlight sessions at NECC and other conferences. Many may even have their travel and lodging paid for, and receive a stipend of some kind too. (I can say that from my experience presenting at the state level here in South Carolina, anyway.) Some may get all the perks I listed, but many simply opt for the ability to participate in the conference as an attendee as well. I’m not complaining, though, I’m celebrating as I have very much enjoyed hearing the likes of Joyce Valenza, Kathy Schrock, and Leslie Fisher, which at the moment is all I can think of.
Let’s not forget the ones who had INTERNATIONAL voice in the K12Online Conference too, as women were maybe half the presenters there, and one of the MAIN organizers, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, is really quite established too. I do beleive she could carry a keynote as well.
So what do you think? Who else? What other women do you know could draw a crowd for a keynote?
Attribution:
Image: ‘Balboa Theater‘
www.flickr.com/photos/27109792@N00/304021434
Great point, Cathy–it struck me as well, and I thought it well worth blogging about.
I think this question is critical, given that the majority of teachers are women! Why aren’t we providing more leadership in our own field?
Lots to ponder here! And congratulations for making her list!!
Hi Cathy!
Thanks for the shout out and vote of confidence.
Sheryl
Thanks @Carolyn, and you are VERY welcome @Sheryl!!
Cathy,
Thanks for the nice mention in your blog!
Kathy
Ah Kathy, you certainly deserve it.
Women do need to be heard. We all need to be champions for technology in our schools, whether it be blogging, podcasting, what have you…
I don’t feel as though I am new to blogging…I have been reading blogs for the last couple of years. I attended NECC in Atlanta and like a light bulb exploding in my brain I realized that I could keep connected to all of these inspiring people if I just kept up with their blogs. I have resolved in 2008, as I begin an adjunct teaching position at our local university, (in addition to my high school special education position and resident tech geek) to blog more, to put my thoughts out there. Just write.
One of my favorite blogs to follow? Lucy Gray’s A Teacher’s Life.
http://elemenous.typepad.com/weblog/
I get so many helpful links, tips and ideas from reading her blog. That’s one of my favorite things about blogging–the continual useful feeds of knowledge. Like Will Richardson said, constantly grazing on knowledge. Exciting times–for sure!
Wow, Sara! Thanks for the plug! I love the design of your blog; I must try WordPress.
I’m going to have to think about who I’d add to the women edublogger list, but I have to agree that there are not many women keynoters out there. I’ve talked about this before and I think it goes back to the fact that many women do not like to listen to themselves talk. I also think women are not as much into the self-promotion it takes to survive in the edtech speaking circuit world. Maybe we just have different priorities … I don’t know.
Anyway, great food for thought, Cathy!
Yikes! I keynote often. After reading Lucy’s comment I am wondering how much of what she describes applies to the way I am perceived.
Maybe there are not as many women keynoters in ed tech- but there are in most other fields, both inside and outside education, and I would have to argue that they are sought out because of their subject expertise and they do it for reasons other than wanting to hear themselves talk.
However, there are many intelligent women who understand marketing. Have you ever seen this list of women bloggers?
http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/2007/08/45-things-by-an.html
One of the things I noticed when I attended a conference at Kean University was the large number of men. It’s something that I’ve had in the back of my mind, but hadn’t written about. In my experience, there are far more women teachers and so many more “tech” men.
I had the pleasure of hearing Lucy Gray speak at that conference. She has great style and a wealth of information in both Google and emerging technology.
Sheryl you have QUITE a highly regarded reputation and have nothing to fear. When I think of the experts like Will Richardson, David Warlick, Ewan McIntosh, Alan November, and others, you rank right u there. As a matter of fact, my reader has a folder for “experts” and that is where your feed resides. So fear not–at least those of us from the blogosphere and edtech world know how lowly we are in comparison to the gurus like you. We will clamor to your sessions at conferences where e’er they are.
I had the pleasure f seeing f2f many of the expert women bloggers from the blogosphere in Atlanta at EdubloggerCon. I missed an edubloggercon at FETC the Feb before that, and now see the fallacy of NOT going to it. I wont drop any names, but I know I missed a chance to once again rub elbows with greatness. IN Atlanta i was so starstruck I cld barely talk to anyone. I can remember however Joyce Valenza walking right up to me and saying hi Cathy, you look JUST like your picture on your blog!! So Ann and others, my goal is to SPEAK to everyone i Philly and any other f2f chance meetings we have in the future.
I do not consider anyone in this emergent field “lowly” – shoot, the whole idea of a community of practice is that we all have different skills and talents to bring to the virtual table and share.
Besides- my friend Karen Richardson says that most of the time when someone calls you a guru it simply means that they didn’t know how to spell charlatan!
However, on a serious note, I am touched and honored by your kind words.
Doing a keynote at a conference is earned, and it has no bearing on gender.
Most of the people that are keynoting have been presenting for years, and generally are highly qualified. For me personally, I did my first national presentation in 1995 and it took twelve years before I did my first keynote, with a lot of presentations in January in some middle school on a Wednesday afternoon staff development day. For me, it was a personal goal. How many individuals have that as a goal? If they don’t, well forget about it, because its hard work to get to that point. It’s about presenting, presenting, and more presenting, reading, thinking, watching others, risk-taking, and pursuing that goal.
If self-promotion is part of that, so be it. Every one self-promotes-but that only takes you so far. If you are not a qualified speaker, self-promotion does little, and you won’t be doing presentations for very long, let alone keynotes.
I’ve had the pleasure and good fortune to work with and present at the same conference as Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and you won’t find a more qualified…person. Has Sheryl earned the right to speak at that level-absolutely. Look at her body of work and you’ll know why people want to hear her. Again, nothing gender related-it’s all about capability.
Thanks for the post.
David, I have to admit that I have never let gender keep me from attending any conference, keynote, presentation or workshop, but it is amazing that women are under represented. But you are right in that if anyone finds they have a passion and a voice for it, the key is to present anywhere that voice can be heard. The more I network with the likes of the blogosphere, the more I know who I want to see when I attend the NECC’s and other conferences. Just look at how I was willing to get bread crumbs (even though they were delicious to boot) from this past BLC. I was using skype, twitter, blogs, and by-golly even flickr accounts to enjoy it. I met some wonderful people through that experience, including Carolyn Foote and Barbara Bray. PS- don’t forget I recommended you for Greenville, and currently we (planning committee) are tossing around names for SCEdtech in the Fal, and confession: i have tossed your name in there too. Best, it has been suggested by others, and not just me, which speaks volumes. We have also had some women names too–including Sheryl Nussbaum Beach and Nancy Willard. I’m also going to recommend Lucy Gray.
I did not mean to strike a nerve, just note that JClarey was accurate in her observation–the women keynoters are not as plentiful in the Educational Technology Conference circuits. Isn’t that the reason we have the WOW2.0 Webcast? B/c they noticed women were under-represented?
But it takes forward minded driven women to step up, take charge, and change that perception. Maybe someday when I grow up, I’ll be like the Sheryl’s, Lucy’s, Vicki’s and WOW2 progressive women who I know will probably be keynotes before we know it. And they’ve earned it too, just as the men representing us now.
Thanks for taking time to remind me how the speakers in our network got there–they earned it.
Hi again all -
Sheryl, please don’t take my comments personally; that was not my intention at all. I was not thinking of you specifically when I spoke of ed tech keynoters as I have not had the pleasure of hearing you speak. I was speaking of the dearth of women out there in our field.
And, of course, David, when someone is offered a keynote, it is because they deserved it and have worked hard to become respected in their field. I am not questioning that at all. I just like to see variety personally and be exposed to new ideas and people when I go to conferences. I know that the really sought out presenters are great for the unindoctrinated, but who are the speakers who challenge more veteran ed tech aficionado? Where are the fresh new voices that should be heard, too?
I also help coordinate speakers for our local tech conferences, and I am occasionally contacted by ed tech speakers about the possibility of serving as our spotlight and keynote speakers. They have to self-promote because for many people, it’s their bread and butter. There’s nothing wrong with that, but let’s face it, speaking is a business for many people, not just in our field.
Hope this clarifies my points!
Interesting point Lucy. Where are the fresh new voices? In my opinion, they are all over the blogosphere. But writing blog posts and speaking are two different things, aren’t they? And going back to your idea about promotion, many are indeed getting speaking engagements as a result of name recognition in the blogosphere, and in some ways, not walking the same path as others have in the past. I’m not saying that’s bad, it’s just different, and many have successful added their voice to conferences.
I think events like EdubloggerCons (like the one planned for IL-TCE) can go a long way towards identifying people with the talent and perspective to present and provide new perspectives for conferences.
When will conferences start taking chances on different presenters? Conferences want to attract attendees, so they hire the most visible names-in effect, perhaps promoting the same messages over and over and perhaps contributing to that issue themselves. However, conferences have to be designed for not just the tech savvy, so its often appropriate to hear a message again. I’ve heard David Warlick and Will Richardson numerous times, and I learn something new each time.
I think a really interesting conference model is EduCon 2.0 in Philadelphia in two weeks. Lots of great topics, a mix of some really well known presenters, but also a lot of people who have not presented that much, but are incredibly knowledgeable. There is even a 14 year old presenting! Some presenters will engage their audiences from remote locations. And, the presentations are not presentations, they will be conversations…so there will be a great deal of interaction. Imagine the ability to sit with Gary Stager and have a face to face discussion with him, and challenge him and him challenging you.
The models are out there, I’m wondering when conferences will recognize that they can do different things to promote the very important topic of this post.
Sincerely, David