Toronto Uncovered

Posts Tagged ‘Women’

Lately I have been attending more women-focused networking events in Toronto. There are a few that really stand out to me, and that I make a point of attending on a regular basis.

Michal Berman and Nathalie Crosby (Photo by Heather Leson)

Toronto Girl Geek Dinners was the  first one I started to attend  back in October. These dinners bring together women pursuing careers in technology, online start ups, communications, social media, and the World Wide Web.  They are hosted at local downtown restaurants and have featured inspiring and informative speakers such as Candice Faktor from TorStar Digital and Michal Berman from Embarkonit.com.  The presentations are often interactive, encouraging discussion and debate. I always come away from these events with some interesting new ideas and perspectives. Aside from the cost of dinner (which is never more than 20-30 dollars), this is a free event.

A new event series that has just popped up is Under 40ish. This series is hosted, in part, by a downtown women’s networking club called Verity. Its goal is to bring together professional women under the age of 40 (ish) from different industries and positions. The first event was held last Wednesday at Cava Restaurant. About 35 women came out from all walks of life: jewelers, financial advisers, lawyers, fashion reps, designers, personal trainers, recruiters, and so on and so forth. Going forward, events will be held at different venues and price points to attract as many different Toronto women as possible. Under 40ish is purely focused on networking and learning from one another. I found the diversity of women to be the main attraction and am already looking forward to the next event. I am lucky enough to sit on the organizing committee for this particular group – any questions or suggestions for future events are welcomed. Meet-up group coming soon.

At the Under 40ish dinner I met two women who organize a separate  event company called Women of Influence. They spoke so enthusiastically about their events that I decided to check one out the following night. There are two tracks of these events: Women of Influence, typically held over lunch, and Young Women of Influence (which I attended), for the younger, post-work group.  This is the largest womens event I have attended in both size and overall organization. There were approx. two hundred women at the evening event, while some of the luncheons attract over a thousand.  There were also a significant number of sponsors and exhibitors such as Scotiabank, Rogers, Glow, and the National Post.  Both tracks feature themes such as leadership, success, personal triumph,  and innovation, and include presentations from prominent women in business.  In order to ensure networking value at the events, the organizers incorporate contests and games for attendees . I enjoyed this part of the evening because it encouraged everyone to mingle outside of their comfort level. I ended up meeting a ton of great women and making lots of new connections.  It also made me eligible to win prizes at the end – which is always a strong selling point!

The more of these events that I attend, the more I realize how much Toronto has to offer for women in business. While I have nothing against the opposite sex (most of the time), sometimes it’s nice to shed the XY and concentrate on the XX.

What other events are out there? Any great ones you attend regularly?