Karen Brady’s Women in Business and Tech

I don’t think I’ve ever felt more nervous before a conference than the way I felt before Karen Brady’s Women in Business and Tech.

Why I hear you say, it will be one of the few places you go where you are with other women just like you? You make a valid point, but here’s the thing…

When you’ve spent the majority of your career as: the only woman in the room, on the team, at the table etc you can end up feeling alien in the most unexpected situations.

I nervously slinked up to the back where I knew Karen was about start her keynote speech. Squeezed in next to a table with hundreds of other women around me, I tried my best to tune my ears in to the conversation.

Alas, it was pointless.

I couldn’t see the stage let alone hear what Karen was saying and I wasn’t the only one. As my eyes met with other women in the crowd also frustrated with the basic tech setup, I sidled away….

Stepping out of the conference I was feeling pretty stressed and anxious. What’s wrong with me I thought, I’m supposed to feel more at home here?

Realising I had left my phone charger in my bag back at the cloak room I wandered up the expanse of the excel centre. On the way I discovered a massive tech conference “DTX Europe” happening on the other side. I stared in doe-eyed wondering If I could just go there instead. It looked safer, the lighting was darker, and I recognised familiar brands.

Phone charger in hand I trudged back to the WIBT conference and took another deep breath as I went in. “Just make the most of the opportunity” I told myself, “You never know who you might meet”.

The “talking to” I gave myself worked.

I listened to Yota Trom talk on personal branding, she encourages us to ask ourselves “how are you showing up”. I even got brave enough to ask her a question about how to stop over thinking posts I put up on Linked In. She gave us some great advice about focusing on the value that your posts give to readers. This helps your mind take the focus off you.

Then I saw Rachel Craddock sharing her journey being neurodiverse in a neurotypical world. Rachel opened up her talk saying, “I’m not Karen Brady, are you in the right place?” which made us all laugh.

This quote from the matrix that sums up her world:

Let me tell you why you’re here.

You’re here because you know something.

What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it.

You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world.

You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.

It is this feeling that has brought you to me.

Do you know what I’m talking about?

Morpheus – The Matrix

I loved Rachel’s energy; I floated past her company’s stall a few times to see if I could have a moment with her. There were always other people there, ‘I’ll follow up another time’ I thought.

Then I saw the amazing Jo Reeves.

This womans energy is so invigorating you can’t help but feel better about life when you are around her. She’s an expert coach and thankfully has time coach me as I navigate my way through life as an entrepreneur.

Jo did a talk on grief, loss and change. She said, “You aren’t your feelings, noticing and acknowledging them is the first step”. I realised in that moment that I hadn’t noticed my journey into entrepreneurship had meant I was coping with loss. The loss of the amazing people I had around me in my Scrum Master role at Lloyds. It’s been hard leaving people I cared about, I never thought I’d miss daily stand ups.

Feeling brave I went along to a speed networking session and practiced my elevator pitch.

I left thinking “this story telling thing does work”. I’d tested two different versions and confirmed people resonate with me most when I tell them why I do what I do, not what I do and how I do it.

The I listed to Ashley Sommerville sharing her wisdom from her career of 30 years in tech in 30 mins. As she reflected on her success, she described herself as a “constant challenger who never gave up”.

The themes around resilience and not giving up were woven into everyone’s story that day.

Later that night, scanning through tweets from the event I found quote from Karen Brady’s keynote shared by Eleanor Dallaway:

“Before success there is temporary defeat or complete failure. It’s what you do at those times that matters. Having the resilience to keep going is vital to success.”

Karen Brady

If you ever feel nervous at a networking event or conference, stick with it. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.