Goodbye, 2023!
As you know, we believe in celebrating your wins. So as we close out 2023 and get ready for 2024, here’s what we’re celebrating this year.
32 scholarships granted to the Present Yourself program
In partnership with Figma, we were able to grant scholarships to systemically minoritized and excluded women and nonbinary folks for every one of our Present Yourself cohorts this year. We also had 4 bonus scholarships to distribute to individuals who wouldn’t have been able to attend the program without financial support, thanks to our Kickstarter supporters. These (now) alumni are designers, entrepreneurs, advocates, engineers, and researchers who are using their voices to share their work, tell their stories, and advocate for others.
Over 800 event and workshop attendees
We hosted new workshops to help our community design better slides, give helpful feedback, create bios that attract, and write successful conference proposals. Event attendees listened to speakers share their public speaking journeys and cheered on new and experienced speakers as they practiced lightning talks. Thank you to everyone who showed up for a workshop or event this year!
1000 speakers in the Women Talk Design Speaker Directory
Women Talk Design started as as blog with a handful of speakers back in 2013 and just a few weeks ago, we welcomed our 1,000th speaker to the platform. Explore the directory to learn about the women and nonbinary folks you should learn from and hire to speak at your events.
Over 700 speakers in our virtual community
We launched a new virtual community back in 2021 and this year, we saw it grow to over 700 members. Every day, we’re excited to see speakers from all different backgrounds and experience levels coming together to learn from one another, share, and grow.
10 Cohorts of our 8-Week Present Yourself program
In 2021, we relaunched the Present Yourself program that we had first developed in 2017 as an 8-week hybrid program. And now this year, we wrapped up our 10th cohort of this new format of the program! We love that we’ve been able to welcome folks from all over the world – from Japan, Australia, and London to Nigeria, the United States, and Brazil – to learn and develop together and share their voices.
The launch of our very first downloadable guide
After live teaching the Design Your Talk Topic workshop since 2018, we created our first downloadable guide to allow anyone to do the work of developing their talk topics on their own time. The guide was first created for Kickstarter backers and has since been made available more widely. We can’t wait to hear the topics that folks generate through this process!
Our Kickstarter backers
At the end of 2022, we funded a Kickstarter to write, design, and publish the Present Yourself book! We were blown away when over 420 of you backed the campaign. This year, we focused on delivering rewards including the downloadable guide, social media features, and most importantly, writing…
The Present Yourself book manuscript!
We finished the manuscript!! This 11 chapter book includes essays from 11 contributors and steps to help you put what you learn about presenting into action. It’s currently in the late stages of the editing process, getting ready for your hands and e-readers in 2024! It’s been made possible thanks to so many people and we can’t wait to get it out into the world.
An Inspiration ebook!
While we’re finishing up the Present Yourself book, we launched a companion ebook with quotes from the 13 speakers who contributed to the book. This ebook is FREE, filled with inspiration and advice, and arrived just in time for gifting season. Snag it for yourself and gift it to someone whose voice you want to hear in 2024.
Our first in-person corporate training since 2020
In January 2020, we delivered our last in-person corporate training before we sheltered in place. We were so excited to get back in the classroom this year to bring one of our favorite full-day public speaking workshops to a group of 12 leaders at a pioneering biotech company. Interested in training your team in person or online in 2024? Get in touch!
All of the people who made our work at Women Talk Design a reality.
Most importantly, we’re celebrating the Women Talk Design team. Our CEO, Danielle, went on maternity leave this year and the small but mighty Women Talk Design team–Frances, Jessica, and Liz–continued to support our community in the most important ways–by amplifying our speakers, supporting developing speakers through our programs, and fostering connections between members.
We’re also celebrating the instructors, speakers, students, alumni, and supporters who are part of the Women Talk Design community.
We’re taking time this season to rest, and cannot wait to start another Present Yourself cohort in 2024 and launch the book into the world. Until then –
