⇦ Go to ELA Conf 2016
ELA Conf is a conference with a goal to create a safe, supportive, inspiring and comfortable community for adult women (18+) to gain the confidence needed to become leaders, speakers, and teachers in the world of tech.
We held our very first ELA Conf on November 20 and 21, 2015 at Huntsman Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On Friday night, we hosted a meet and greet with scheduled lightning talks and then opened the floor to anyone who wanted to speak.
Saturday's day-long event featured 8 main stage talks and 2 break-out sessions with 3 workshops, panels, or talks each. We concluded Saturday with a networking event.
Overall, we had 97 attendees including 26 speakers, 12 sponsors, and 4 organizers. All profits were donated to Girl Develop It.
nvite, NowSecure, Mapbox, Wharton, devbootcamp, CommunicateHealth, DramaFever, Happy Cog, Digitas Health, Sticker Mule, iStrategyLabs, DEFNA
Photos by Nhu Nguyen. See the full album.
Many of our attendees wrote blog posts about their experience, read about ELA Conf through their eyes:
We distributed a conference evaluation for feedback and the results were overwhelmingly positive.
The sense of community
Interacting with powerful and inspirational women
The quality of the talks was amazing! I loved hearing from people who aren't necessarily the usual big names on the speaker circuit, but had amazing and inspiring things to say. The lineup was awesome.
The inclusive vibe of the event.
I loved all of the personal stories and becoming more informed on the resources available to increase tech knowledge.
The openness of everyone that was there. It felt like an environment where we could be ourselves and share really personal stories.
I loved everything about this conference. The combination of personal experience and content was both education and interesting.
Everything was fabulous - from Saron's keynote to the imposter syndrome panel to the impromptu lightening talks on Friday. ELA Conf was great because of the people and the knowledge-sharing.
What I liked most about the ELA Conf were speakers and the breakout sessions. I learned so much and everyone was extremely supportive. As someone who is new to the industry, I felt welcomed and encouraged. I also loved the opportunity to meet new people and hear their stories.
The supportive atmosphere, the warmth and kindness of fellow attendees, and resources.
All of the speakers were very accessible, and seemed sincerely invested in my learning.
Really amazing work. Congratulations.
Loved it!! I can't wait for next year!
A wonderful, wonderful day. Thank you for putting on such an inspiring day!!
Thank you so much for organizing this. I'm really looking forward to next year's!
Let's do it all again soon, yeah? :)
It ruled and I'm so so so honored to have been a part of it.
It was overall an amazing experience. I wish more women from my area (Central PA) would have been able to attend. Hopefully we can get more on board for the next time, or create a similar experience here.
Please have this conference next year. Great for people new to the Tech world.
The organizers deserve a million cookies, lots of love, and the knowledge that they've changed everyone's life for the better.
So great--PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do it again!
Would love to be more involved next year!
So glad I saw the post on Technically Philly about it. I'm in energy, not tech. But it is a very male-dominated field; I thought all the talks I attended were applicable to my industry, too.
Amazing conference!
THANK YOU for the awesome experience!
Amazing job.
There was a great amount of diversity!
Great job! Looking forward to next year...
Last year our sponsors helped us:
For many of our attendees and speakers, the benefits of attending ELA Conf and joining our Slack channel continued after the event:
Your sponsorship can help make ELA Conf even better in 2016.
Email hello@elaconf.com to become a sponsor.