Finding Ada

Run your own event

If you'd like to hold your own Women in STEM event, please go for it. Here are a few ideas for how to get started:

Step 0
Recruit co-conspirators to help plan the event so you won’t be doing everything alone.

Step 1
Decide what kind of event you want to have: girl geek dinner, Ignite-style mini presentations, coders’ social, or just a get together with some geek friends down the pub to talk about women who inspire you. There’s no set style of event – choose something that you like and that will be manageable.

Step 2
Scout for venues. Try to get going on this early so you have more options. You don’t have to think big: Pubs are often happy to let you use a room for free if you bring enough people into the venue on a night they are usually quiet.

Step 3
Set a date and time. Announce it via local mailing lists, other organizations’ event calendars, and any local tech bloggers you may know. You might want to use a service like Eventbrite to organise the attendee list. Don’t forget to put it on Upcoming! And, of course, let us know what you’re doing.

Step 4
Tell absolutely everyone you can think of about the event and remind them to RSVP if you’ve set up a page for that. Make sure to send out periodic reminders as the date approaches, too. Two weeks out, one week out, and the start of the week of the event is one option that works well.

Step 5
Make sure you’ve everything you need in place. For example: any catering or drinks that you’re providing; volunteers to help organise and clear up afterwards; wifi if you’re hosting a hackday or other connected event. If you need more than a couple of on-site volunteers, put someone in charge of volunteer wrangling as their sole day-of-event task.

Step 6
Enjoy the event! You might want to get someone to record videos or take photos to share with the rest of the Ada Lovelace Day community.

Step 7
Let us know how it went! We’d be delighted to hear event reports from around the world!