Girl geeks ready to plug into network with dinner event

The inaugural Girl Geek Dinner South Yorkshire, to be held at the

Digital Media Centre in County Way next week, is being funded by business support programme Enterprising Barnsley.

Successful "Girl Geek" events are already up and running in Leeds and York and a Sheffield-based group called Geek Girls Allowed has been working with Creative Barnsley and the Barnsley Development Agency (BDA) to plan this latest event, which takes place from 6pm on Thursday, September 2.

Tracey Johnson, creative and digital industries sector specialist at the BDA, said: "We're keen to create an environment for women in creativity and technology in Barnsley and the rest of South Yorkshire to have a voice as it's an area where women are still under-represented. The dinner is a great opportunity to share innovative knowledge and contacts and interest is strong. The aim is to run these main dinner events twice a year. Men are allowed but only if invited by a girl geek."

Among those already signed up is Emily Young, a Barnsley-based web and graphics designer who is studying for a foundation degree in web design.

She said: "I feel that the creative sector in Barnsley is very well looked after and catered for. However, it's hard work being a girl geek and it's even harder keeping up with the latest technology trends.

"To combat both of these we have the Girl Geek Dinners to keep us in the loop. It will be great to get together with other women who won't look at you blankly for mentioning a computer.

"I really like what I have read about other Girl Geek Dinners and what they have achieved has been brilliant. There isn't anything else quite like this and whilst other networking events provide great

opportunities, the Girl Geek Dinner will be more for me."

Next week's dinner will include speeches from Silvia Novak, consumer marketing manager at Faber Books, and BBC producer Rain Ashford. There will also be a preview of the artwork QRChing, by Barnsley artist Jo Pearson.

For further details on the event visit the website at http://girlgeeksoyo1.eventbrite.com