Apr 18, 2023 ⋅ 2 min read

MiXiT 2023: My First Conference as a Speaker

You can now re-watch the talk “Why is being different actually a good thing? – My Way Into Tech” on vimeo.

Last week, I gave my very first external conference talk at MiXiT conference in Lyon, France! Yay! 🥳

Me on a big stage at MiXiT with a lot of people sitting in the audience. The current slide in the background is reading 'Is IT the right place for me?' — Me talking about my way into IT in front of 500 people.

Besides being quite nervous obviously, I had a great experience on stage! I think... Because I don’t really remember anything except going on stage and leaving the stage again 😅

At the conference, I had some initial hesitance to approach other people, because I’m very introverted and everyone spoke in French and I didn’t want to force anyone to speak English with me. But I met some of the nicest people who saw me standing around by myself and who decided to talk to me and include me in their group 🧡 I did not expect something like this!

In general, I was very impressed with the inclusivity of the event. It was amazing to meet new people outside of my iOS developer bubble and I really enjoyed the events that were organized for the speakers, which helped me a lot to connect with others. Sadly there were only a few other talks in English, the rest were given in French. But from talking to other speakers, I heard that there were a lot of interesting talks about more inclusion in workplaces and about accessibility. Maybe there’s a chance to watch the recordings with English transcripts 🤞

Lyon alone is worth the trip. I really enjoyed walking around and exploring the city. There are some beautiful areas with fascinating views! After the conference, we had the opportunity to join a two-hour city tour to learn more about the history of Lyon.

Thank you to all MiXiT organizers and participants for making this a lovely experience!

Collection of six images. 1. Inside of the chapel we had a conference party in. 2. An old building with a French flag on the roof. 3. Me holding a crepe. 4. An empty avenue with trees on each side. 5. Interesting architecture inside the 'traboules' which are unique to Lyon. 6. A view above Lyon with two rivers and a lot of houses. — Impressions of Lyon and the MiXiT crêpes

Talk Details

I’ve uploaded my slides on Speakerdeck if you want to take a look. My talk was live streamed on twitch (see recording on twitch) and the recording is now also available on vimeo.

Resources

Graphic about Belonging is having that voice be heard by Liz Fosslien
Graphic about We don’t all start in the same places by Liz Fosslien
Book Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Blog post Using Pronouns by carleton.edu
Graphic No feigning surprise by Julia Evans
WomenWhoCode community

Sketchnote of the talk

Sketchnote from talk by Feli Bernutz: My story, I’ve never dreamed to work in IT but wanted to work with art / design. Job as iOS Developer. Am I at the right place? Don’t change to fit in! Inclusion is having a voice. Tips for inclusive environment: 1. Introduce yourself with your pronouns. 2. Make everyone’s voice heard. 3. Don’t act surprised when someone doesn’t know what you say, use it as opportunity. Embrace diversity: give feedback, talk about income, developer job is diverse, fight imposter syndrome, find community — Shout out to Rémi Sarraillon for the awesome sketchnote of my talk!

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