Last week, we welcomed 6,000 tech leaders to Women of Silicon Roundabout at ExCeL London. Let's take a look at our pick of highlights from the event.
Thank you for joining us at Women of Silicon Roundabout for two days of inspirational content from the most influential people in the UK's tech sector. You spoke, we listened, and this year's conference was bigger and better than ever before.
Our mission is to encourage you to embrace diversity and inclusion, broaden your professional network and upskill fast, keeping a finger on the pulse of the world's fastest-growing sector. We hope we achieved this and that Women of Silicon Roundabout has been the highlight of your 2019 event calendar.
Keep your eyes peeled for our full collection of photos from the event. They will be available on our Facebook page very soon.
Here are some stand-out moments from the conference that we would like to share with you.
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Baroness Karren Brady of Knightsbridge CBE: Opening Address
We were lucky enough to have Baroness Karren Brady of Knightsbridge CBE, Vice Chairman of West Ham United Football Club and Star of BBC's The Apprentice open this year's conference.
The 'first lady of football' shared with us her top six ingredients for success and how to implement them in your career. From football players expressing sexist comments to women being banned from the directors' boxes, Baroness Karren Brady's impactful speech highlighted the challenges that she faced as a woman in business and why resilience was key to overcoming these barriers.
Below are a handful of social media highlights in response to her address.
Inspirational quotes from tech change agents
Our team scouted the most exciting quotes from the conference. Here are some key takeaways from Women of Silicon Roundabout:
"Start looking forward and managing your career, don't rely on your line manager." – Fiona Hathorn, Managing Director @ Women on Boards UK
"Make culture part of your hiring process. Hire for fit, train for skills." – Riya Grover, Founder and CEO @ Feedr
"Find the opportunity to align your skills and passion in your organisation's CSR initiatives." – Julie Kae, Executive Director @ Qlik.org
"Be proud of yourself – encourage yourself as you would a friend." – Johanna Herbst, Founder @ Delygate.com
"Don't undersell your proposition or compromise on your vision; maintain financial responsibility." – Urchana Moudgil, Co-Founder and COO @ Upgrade Pack
"The perception of difficulty in coding is something we need to challenge." – Jo Hannaford, Head of EMEA Technology and Global Head of Quality Assurance Engineering @ Goldman Sachs
"Focus on bettering yourself rather than bettering your LinkedIn profile." – Vanessa Wachtmeister, B2B Global Launch Manager @ Hotels.com
Read more about Vanessa in our Speaker Spotlight feature article.
"Connect to the narrative of others, that's real leadership" – Dan Leatherdale and Christianne Davies, Chief Executive and Founding Director @ AGL
Track Highlights
This year we presented 7 unique tracks. We gave you a 360 degree view of the UK's thriving technology sector and what's yet to come – from tech's most controversial topics to the changing social expectations of how we work.
The Future of Tech:
The 2019 Tech Pulse:
The Evolution of Work:
Elephant in the Room:
Diversity, Inclusion & You:
Founder Focus – Changing the World through Entrepreneurship:
New Features for 2019
We welcomed a host of exciting new features this year. The response to these has been phenomenal, especially our Wellness Zone and Speakers Corner.
Wellness Zone:
Did you enjoy chilling out in our Wellness Zone? Here's a peek at the area pre-event. During the conference, it came alive with attendees networking, lounging on bean bags, grabbing snacks and chatting to our videographers and yoga consultant.
Send us your photos of the Wellness Zone using #WinTechSeries.
Speakers Corner:
Speakers appear in the Speakers Corner 30 minutes post-session to continue the discussion they began during their talk and spend time interacting with their audience. Below is the queue for Deutsche Bank's Shephali Sillitoe, Chief of Staff for GTB Client Connectivity & Technology, following her speech 'The Pros and Cons of Moving Laterally Than Vertically'.
Our Digital Disruptors
Photos from our Selfie Station were coming in constantly throughout the event. Here's a selection of our top pics tagged with #WinTechSeries.
A handful of you put together articles in response to the conference. We're delighted by your write-ups, keep them coming!
My journey from 15 to 500! by Priya Saxena, Strategic Cloud Engineer @ Google
"This week has been hectic yet rewarding as I presented in front of 500 attendees at the Women of Silicon Roundabout (WoSR) conference..."
Women of Silicon Roundabout 2019 by Suzanne Turner, Accredited Technical Author @ Mercato Solutions
"I was driving home after the two day event had finished, I was overwhelmingly inspired. I feel so grateful to, and humbled by, the many women speakers I was fortunate enough to listen to and interact with."
Empowering Tech Event – Women of Silicon Roundabout, 2019 by Joanne Slevin, Senior Principal HCM Consultant @ Oracle
"Topics at the event were gender diversity and inclusion, career development, and the workforce of the future. I’ve returned to work afterwards feeling motivated and empowered!"
My 5 Key Takeaways from the Women of Silicon Roundabout Conference by Olivia Bell, HCM Applications Consultant @ Oracle
"Find your passion and explore ways to pursue it."
Women of Silicon Roundabout - Day 2 Highlights by Ricki Lawal, Marketing Manager, EMEA @ Cloudreach
"Today I spent the day experiencing #WomenofSiliconRoundabout, connecting with some great people like Natasha Stone and re-connecting with old colleagues like Tanuvi E."
Interactions from our speakers and sponsors
Over 300 of the UK's top people in technology spoke at Women of Silicon Roundabout this year. They were joined by hundreds of global companies who were proud to sponsor the centrepiece of our world series. See below for social media highlights.
Read more from ECS Digital here.
Missed out or want to join us at one of our other women in technology events? There's a host of upcoming conferences for you to attend. See below for our 2019 events.
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