Women 2.0 is like a parallel universe…

I went to the Women 2.0 event last night and it was probably the best event I have been to this year.  I go to a lot of camps and other events around Ottawa and in other cities.  They are usually good events but for the most part people "broadcast present" and there is minimal interaction between presenter and audience beyond the two obvious questions that always get asked:  1) What’s your app written in? or 2)  What’s the business model?  (for which the most frequent answer is that there isn’t one)

In any case, last night’s event was totally different from anything else I have attended in Ottawa.  First of all it was at the new Ramius Corp. offices at 55 Metcalfe which are beautiful and look like a higher end Apple store where everything is all white and glass.  In addition, Hors d’oeuvre were being served along with was wine and mineral water. It was more like an art opening than a tech event.  The crowd was also completely different than what I am used to. Since this was a Women 2.0 event, the attendees were mostly women with a good number of guys as well. 

When the event started Melanie Gallant introduced Maggie Fox of the Social Media Group and they both sat down at the front to begin the talk.  In less then 5 seconds, Maggie was taking questions from the audience and a true dialogue evolved.  I almost fell out of my seat it was so well done.  The whole talk was informative, interesting and the people that were there asked really really good questions (Yeah Shannon!). 

If you ever get a chance to go to a Women 2.0 event in Ottawa, you go!  It was great and Melanie Gallant and Monika Surma (pictured above) have done a great job putting this event together and Ramius did a fantastic job hosting it.

By Scott Lake