The fall of tech orgs for women in Atlanta / Who’s down for a girl-geek dinner?

I first arrived in Atlanta back in 2000 just before the bubble lost the last of its air. Back then, tech organizations were thriving: AIMA, TIMA, the Tribal Chicken Happy Hour, and my personal favorite, Webgrrls Atlanta.

I was a board member of Webgrrls Atlanta for just over a year from late 2000 through 2001. The chapter was plagued by problems:

• Job market turmoil: Members were too busy trying to find new jobs.
• Wrong leadership: Most other board members were not technologists. Developing relevant, meaningful programming was a problem.
• Poor leadership: Webgrrls Atlanta had a history of troubled leadership even before I became a member. But while I was a member of the board, our chapter leader treated the organization like it wasn’t a priority, so the other board members — myself included — stopped making it a priority. Throw in a bit of upheaval within the national organization and the whole thing became a big fat mess.
• Weak membership: Poor leadership breeds poor membership, but Webgrrls is not the only Atlanta organization that has struggled.

By late 2002, the situation had spiraled, and the group effectively was dead in the water. There have been two efforts to resuscitate the group in the interim. Both failed. And the most recent attempt ended miserably, and in flames.

I do, however, miss the organization. I wish I could hang with other web chicks and talk about web things, without having to visit other cities.

I thought about stepping up to the Webgrrls challenge. But the local chapter has been absolutely ruined by round after round of scandal. It’s a shame, really. There is no other organization in Atlanta solely devoted to women on the web. And I know we’re out there, right?

If you’re anything like me, you also want a place where you can network, dish, and learn alongside other women web designers and developers.

Let me propose this then: a dinner for women web designers and developers in Atlanta. I’m going to call it the Estrogeek Dinner (to distinguish it from the geek dinners that Microsoft employees throw on occasion).

Date? I propose Fri, September 30, 2005. Time & place: we’ll figure that out later (though I’m leaning towards The Globe or Inman Park Patio). Interested? Drop a line. For intimacy’s sake, I’m going to cap the list at 12. Please reserve a spot by Fri, September 23. Spread the word.