TEDxWomen

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December 6, 2012

On Saturday, December 1st, I acted as master of ceremonies at a TEDxWomen event. This was my first up-close- and-personal encounter with the mysterious world of TED. TEDxWestVillageWomen (TED abhors spaces between words, although ironically the theme of the day was 'the space between') took place not in the West Village but in a 19th century mansion on the Upper East Side that is now home to the Ukrainian Institute. Thanks to the event's Ukrainian co-organizer Dora Chomiak, we got to swan around in Edith-Wharton-like splendor for an afternoon. We'd never have had access to the beautiful staircase, glittering chandeliers and multitudes of mahogany carvings if we'd been in the Village. 

Photo (L to R): Ashley Welde, Laura Overdeck, Ashley Milne-Tyte, Dora Chomiak, and some of the mahogany we spent the afternoon with

About 50 women climbed that staircase to the third floor for the event (no mean feat in itself), which began with a brief introduction by me, Dora and her co-organizer Ashley Welde. They both explained that they wanted to use the afternoon to allow a group of smart women with different perspectives to get together to discuss ideas about women's lives they don't have the time to get into in everyday life. The idea was that the afternoon act as a tonic but be as concentrated as a cordial. We spent an hour and a half watching the live stream from TEDxWomen in Washington, DC (mandated by TED, who's a strict taskmaster). A highlight for me was Emily May's talk on the success of Hollaback, and their initiative to make the public shaming of sexual harassers on the streets of New York a citywide phenomenon starting early next year. Some of the sessions were a little gloopy for some of the assembly. I must be getting more American by the year because even these excesses didn't bother me too much. After a break, Laura Overdeck of Bedtime Math, our star speaker, talked about the high levels of math anxiety in girls and what we as a society can do to curb this problem. I hope to be able to post video to Laura's talk before too long. It was a great one. This line really stuck out:

"Just being reminded that you're female makes you do worse on a math test."

It's true. When girls are reminded that they're girls by ticking 'F' at the top of a page, their results are worse than if there's no reminder of their gender. Women's poor math skills haunt them throughtout their lives and careers, which is why it's so vital to work on this problem. I am guilty of lifelong math anxiety, and only recently have considered how much this has affected my career prospects and salary potential. The more girls who can grow into math-literate women, the better. We chewed on this and other elements of the day until 5p.m. The only downside, really, was that we needed more discussion time to digest all the brainfood.

Video did not kill the radio star

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December 6, 2012

Or even the radio-reporter-and-podcast-host. It just got her to experiment. 

I'm passionate about audio but I'm edging into the world of video because if you want to get noticed, that's what you have to do. I am in the uncomfortable position of needing to sell myself and my show, so I need to get with the program. We're drawn to all things visual, even if audio is a more intimate medium (sorry video people, it just is). I want more people to know The Broad Experience exists, and if making the occasional video helps with that, I'll do it. I have to say, I have thus far found being on camera less painful than I thought. Now, if I was being filmed in a studio in HD, would I be having as much fun as I do in the informal online chats I've done so far? Probably not. But I may as well start my training in a relaxed environment. Yesterday my friend and cyber-colleague, journalist and on-camera expert Manoush Zomorodi, interviewed me on Spreecast about The Broad Experience, personal branding for journalists (shudder) and how video can help all of us get our messages across. And what a learning experience it's been. Who knew I was an epic head-tosser and eye-roller?

Never enough hours

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November 27, 2012

Sometimes this entrepreneurship business seems like too much. Yes, I said it. There are days when I feel unequal to the whole thing. Today I've been fielding a flurry of email (largely started by me) about what I should be doing for The Broad Experience on social media, the site itself, PR, etc. and it's all piled up to make me feel as if I'm sadly behind where I should be. I would love to be on top of everything, have an amazing site, understand SEO completely, and let the whole world know that my show exists. But I'm human, and I am one human at that. I wish I could clone myself, but that doesn't seem to be an option (though if you're aware of any advances in science, please let me know). As a result, I may for a while be lagging behind all that the marketing gods, and the show, require in the early 21st century. I did do one daring thing today, relatively speaking (thanks for the idea, Sheila Butler!) I wrote to several people I know who listen to the show and asked them to leave me a good review on iTunes as a way to get The Broad Experience a little more notice. 

Changing the subject, and talking of Sheila Butler, here's her penultimate Successful Women Talk interview on developing online influence, with guest Stephanie Sammons. I recommend it for any woman going out on her own. My ears really started perking up around the 10 minute mark. Stephanie has good advice for people on 'drilling down' to what it is you want to say. I like the term 'nuggets of wisdom'. 

Talking of wisdom and nuggets thereof, I'll be presiding over a TEDxWomen event this coming Saturday on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I say presiding, but perhaps jollying people along between talks is a better description. It'll be my induction into the mysterious world of TED and its younger siblings, the TEDx events.