Iowa Tech Chicks is a community organization that strives to connect and educate women working in and interested in learning technology. We meet the second Wednesday of each month from 6-8 p.m. in the Pappajohn Business Building. Please join us!
Learning Lunches, weekend workshops and hackathons are held occasionally.
If you have a website, it’s important that your website get found when people are searching online — 75%+ of searchers never scroll past the first page! Ranking high is crucial to the success of your business. In SEO 101 we’ll review some of the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and strategies you can implement today to help get your site found on the Internet.
Sherry Bonelli is a Sr. Product Manager (SEO, SEM, Reputation Marketing & Websites) at Fusionfarm Digital Marketing Agency in Cedar Rapids. Sherry started her first online business in 1999. Her website was selected as one of the top 10 websites by a national consumer magazine and was featured on the TODAY Show, CNN, ABC and other media outlets. Sherry has more than 13 years’ Internet marketing experience specializing in SEO, SEM, content marketing and ecommerce.
Tuesday, June 18, 12-1 p.m.
Iowa City Public Library, Room A
123 South Linn St.
Iowa City, IA
Learn and share with area women in tech.
Shawn Averkamp will provide an overview to GitHub and help get you started. If you’ve been nervous about having your code out there for all the world to see, take advantage of the partnership between the Ada Initiative and GitHub which grants women learning to code private repositories.
Shawn bosses around metadata as Data Services Librarian at the University of Iowa Libraries. Learn more about Shawn in our April newsletter.
A women-only event. Networking time follows each month’s presentation.
Wednesday, June 12, 6-8 p.m.
C320R John Pappajohn Business Building
NW Corner of Jefferson and Clinton
Iowa City
Learn and share with area women in tech. This month Leah Carlson will share tips and tricks for making the most of the web design software, Adobe Creative Suite 6.
Leah Carlson is the Marketing and Communications Specialist for City Carton Recycling, where she designed the company website and promotes the company through a variety of print and digital mediums. In her spare time, she enjoys working on design and web projects, running, cycling and cooking. Look for the launch of her new blog, echoandrow.com, coming soon.
While some of our events are open to all, Wednesday monthly meetings are women-only events.
Wednesday, May 8, 6-8 p.m.
C320R John Pappajohn Business Building
NW Corner of Jefferson and Clinton
Iowa City
Learn and share with area women in tech. This month Laura Christenson and Hayley Yearian will give a presentation on the Drupal open-source content management system.
While some of our events are open to all, Wednesday monthly meetings are women-only events.
Wednesday, April 10, 6-8 p.m.
C320R John Pappajohn Business Building
NW Corner of Jefferson and Clinton
Iowa City
A day to work on web projects for some area nonprofits. Feel free to bring individual projects as well. A women-only event.
Saturday, April 6, 1-5 p.m.
C231 Pappajohn Business Building, University of Iowa
RSVP
Directions to C231 Pappajohn (computer classroom)
From the Jefferson Street entrance, follow the hallway north until you reach the stairs.
Take the stairs to the second floor and turn left.
Follow the main hallway north.
C231 is the computer classroom on the right
A WordPress website is a great way to build your first personal blog or company website. Let Iowa Tech Chicks get you started. In April, we are offering two complementary workshops. You can attend one or both depending upon your needs.
Saturday is for absolute beginners. You will purchase web hosting and start a site. No computer programming experience necessary. You do need to be familiar with web browsing and email.
Sunday is Advanced WordPress, a continuation for Saturday participants or a stand-alone workshop if you already have a WordPress site and want to learn more.
Both days will be held in C231 Pappajohn Business Building at the University of Iowa.
Men may attend the WordPress Workshops as the guest of a woman.
Saturday, April 20, 1-4 pm What to bring:
Some images and text you would like to use on a site
Credit card to purchase a hosting service and domain (if you don’t already have one)
RSVP
Sunday, April 21, 1-4 pm
What to bring:
Passwords to access your site
RSVP
Directions to C231 Pappajohn (computer classroom)
From the Jefferson Street entrance, follow the hallway north until you reach the stairs.
Take the stairs to the second floor and turn left.
Follow the main hallway north.
C231 is the computer classroom on the right
Margie Peskin will discuss the history, statistics and psychology of gender pay differences and then cover ways to negotiate more effectively for promotions in pay and job responsibilities for both internal and external conversations. There will be plenty of time for questions.
Margie Peskin is the owner of Search Forward, a resume writing, job search coaching and career advising business based in Iowa City, IA. In addition to individual client work, she writes a job search blog and is a frequent workshop presenter. She has more than 15 years of experience in the job search industry, working for recruiting firms in Michigan and Iowa as well as the Career Services office for the MBA program at the University of Iowa. In her early career she was a program coordinator for an international nonprofit, and worked for Sara Lee Corporation during their sponsorship of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Margie is originally from the east coast, and has lived in the Middle East, New York City, New Jersey, North Carolina and Michigan before moving to Iowa City in 2002. Margie is active in the community as a Board Member, classroom volunteer and after school math club leader at Longfellow Elementary School, and past volunteer soccer coach for the Kickers for 5 years. She lives in Iowa City with her husband, 2 boys and fluffy mutt.
We hope you can join us! Bring your own lunch. Beverages provided.
Tuesday, April 30, Noon
Bedell Entrepreneurship Learning Laboratory (BELL)
University of Iowa
322 N. Clinton St.
Join us for our Learning Lunch Tuesday, April 2 at the ICAD CoLab featuring Rachael Carlson presenting Intro to Web Hosting. This learning lunch will focus on website hosting, how to pick your hosting company, different features offered and discounts available. This training is for beginners interested in learning how to get a site hosted online.
Rachael Carlson is the operations manager for the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature, responsible for building, managing and creating content for the organization’s many websites.
We hope you can join us! Bring your own lunch. Beverages provided.
Tuesday, April 2, Noon
ICAD CoLab
316 E. Court St.
Iowa City
Learn and share with area women in tech. Tricia Ball, Senior Applications Developer with Research Information Services at the University of Iowa, will present Firebug and other web development tools. Computers provided.
Planning for an April hack day for local nonprofits will continue.
While some of our events are open to all, Wednesday monthly meetings are women-only events.
Wednesday, March 13, 6-8 p.m.
C320 John Pappajohn Business Building
NW Corner of Jefferson and Clinton
Iowa City
A WordPress website is a great way to build your first personal blog or company website. Let Iowa Tech Chicks get you started. This workshop is for absolute beginners. No computer programming experience necessary. You do need to be familiar with web browsing and email.
What to bring:
Some images and text you would like to use on a site
Credit card to purchase a hosting service and domain (if you don’t already have one)
Saturday, February 9, 1-4 pm
C231 Pappajohn Business Building
University of Iowa
Directions to C231 (computer classroom)
From the Jefferson Street entrance, follow the hallway north until you reach the stairs.
Take the stairs to the second floor and turn left.
Follow the main hallway north.
C231 is the computer classroom on the right
