Syncfusion hosted another Girl Develop It event yesterday evening and I was grateful to be able to participate as well. Girl Develop It is a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the professional skills of women interested in web and software development. I attended last night’s Girl Develop It workshop, Improv(e) Your Presentation Skills, led by Jen Brown, the founder and artistic director of The Engaging Educator. She has reached thousands of people–all non-actors–through her pedagogical approach to improv as continuing education. She works out of New York City, Los Angeles, and Winston-Salem, NC.
Jen led the group from being quiet and shy to feeling comfortable and connected. She has a warm presence about her and felt very accessible. She mixed a few improvisational exercises in with the lessons, which gave a nice cadence to the class. There was some movement and experiential learning, and then seated times to reflect, share how we felt, and discuss the lesson learned.
The Girl Develop It attendees represented a range of technical and tech-adjacent professionals as well as women aspiring to technical careers. There were Java developers, UX/UI designers, database administrators, systems analysts, technical consultants, digital marketing managers, and business development managers. All attendees were women, except for Jen’s husband, Alex Brown, who was there to take photos of the workshop.