I went to Reboot Britain this Monday, a conference that was investigating how digital activations can address some of the incredibly difficult issues – social and political – that are approaching us and that are already here. One refreshing aspect of the conference which reflects well on the public sector was the mix of  really interesting speakers. It’s something I’ve noted before that there is often a lack of female speakers at high profile conferences. Though women have as much to say and as much experience in digital environments  as men they are often not up on the podium, so having enjoyed a conference which I think offered a good balance and some excellent female speakers I can’t pass up referring to it! If nothing else to bring these brilliant women to the attention of other conference organisers. Perhaps the title of this post gives that away! (But I’m not going to stop there. I also want to list some other women I would like to hear speak at conferences and who I believe have interesting things to say/contribute. )

But before I do I really need to mention a couple of the excellent sessions not by women! The keynote was given by Jeremy Hunt, the shadow Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, who referenced the need in government in general to think more flexibly about the intersection between online and policy making and also talked about the digital divide, the fact that only 1/3  of our population are actually online. I also enjoyed hearing David Price from Debate Graph explaining how this tool works to enable people to understand and participate in discussions about policy. Finally, there was a great talk by Graeme Duncan from Caspian Learning about how video games, game play and virtual environments can provide amazing learning spaces for kids.

Enough already! What about the Digital Divas?

M T Rainey – started in adland, founded Horsesmouth. Articulate with interesting ideas about female and male self-expressions in digital environments
http://www.smarta.com/inspiration/interview-videos/interviews/MT-Rainey–Horsesmouth

Joanne Jacobs – social media consultant, ex-lecturer, iconoclast and straight-talker, not to mention coder.
http://joannejacobs.net/

Debra Szbeko – making a great case for and business from using media models to help people to understand and engage with difficult policy issues which affect them. http://thinkpublic.com/news/

And some others who weren’t at the conference but who I find interesting and think would speak very well about useful stuff:-

Janine Smith – Creative Director at Que Pasa, charming, mobile creative  - http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=6921338&authToken=Sx4q&authType=name&trk=coprofile_in_network

Amelia Torode – blogger, thinker and inspirational planner, Head of Strategy and Innovation at VCCP

Sandrine Plasseraud – Social media native and enthusiast, established blogger http://sandrineplasseraud.com