The last several weeks I’ve been totally immersed in helping organize TEDxBayArea TEDWomen (designed to coincide with the first global TEDWomen event in Wash, DC).  We had about 150 attendees plus an unknown number watching the livestream.  Breaks were filled with energized conversations about all manner of topics.  It was an exciting day.

Like the main event, our program involved a line up of stimulating speakers from a variety of fields talking about how women are shaping our future.  We had 24 speakers in 21 presentations (whew!) including California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Stanford Women’s Basketball winningest coach Tara VanDerveer, Winner of the 2009 TED prize Jill Tarter, Iron Chef winner Dominique Crenn, and Director of Research at Duke’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Research-Vivek Wadhwa.  I’m proud to say we’ve been mentioned on the TED blog. You can find the complete list of speakers and bios on the website.  Unlike the main event (which cost $2200), we were not allowed to charge which made it particularly challenging.  I’m grateful to companies that helped us:  SAP (who hosted us), Google, HP, and EMC.  During the next few days, I plan to share some of the stories and insights from the event.  In the meantime- all the presentations are available online.