p:ear

Registration through Eventbrite [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pdx-women-in-tech-pdxwit-women-tech-holiday-party-tickets-52328766750] is required to gain entry to this event

Join us Friday, December 14th at p:ear for our 5th Annual Women + Tech Holiday Party, co-organized by PDXWIT and Women Who Code Portland and presented by Nike!

2018 has been another big year for the PDXWIT and Women Who Code Portland communities, and we are thrilled to come together, for the FIFTH year, to celebrate the holidays and what we’ve accomplished. The theme of the event will be Transforming Technology: Culture and Community. In honor of our theme, PDXWIT and Women Who Code Portland will be recognizing individuals for their great work over the year transforming the technology industry.

PDXWIT will be honoring two individuals, Best Contributor and Best Speaker. If you or someone you know has been working hard to make PDXWIT a success or spoken at one of our events, please submit your nominations by November 20th. The Best Contributor award will be selected in advance by a panel, and finalists for the Best Speaker Award will perform runoff Lightning Talks at the Holiday Party. The winner will be selected by text-to-vote.

Women Who Code regularly celebrates their members' achievements with the #ApplaudHer hashtag. The #ApplaudHer hashtag highlights victories such as accepting a new position, receiving a promotion, speaking at a conference or meeting a personal goal. The concept is simple: Women Who Code believes that recognition can create change and that rewriting public perceptions can transform tech. During the Women + Tech Holiday Party, Women Who Code will be announcing the Technical Leadership and Rising Tech Star award winners, chosen from the submissions received. Please submit your nominations before the end of day on December 1, 2018.

While the event is primarily intended for networking, we will have a short program to hear from our sponsors and introduce and announce awards.

During the event, we’ll have more to do than free-form networking:

• an activity table where people can get creative. This is a fantastic way to meet others if large groups are not your thing. If you have trouble finding it, look for Meg Aul, our Event Activities Director.

• table topics to help break the ice.

• a section for job seekers and those hiring to ensure people get connected.

• a #GiveGuide table with raffle prizes and other goodies for folks who decide to support PDXWIT that evening.

Music will be provided by Claudia Martinez and DJ Mienne.

Agenda:

4:30 p.m. - Doors open / networking

5:30 p.m. - Introductions and Awards

6:30 p.m. - Additional networking and celebration of our community

7:30 p.m. - Event ends

Event FAQ:

Q: Will there be gender neutral restrooms? A: Yes

Q: Is the space ADA accessible? A: Yes

Q: Will there be food and drink at this event? A: Yes, including vegan and gluten free options.

Q: What is the parking situation? A: Street paid parking.

Q: Is there any special information that might help me find the entrance? A: Entrance is on NW 6th Ave.

Q: Is there secured bike parking? A: No.

Q: Should I consider using public transportation? A: Yes, the event venue is very close to several bus and max lines.

Q: Can I bring my dog? A: No, we ask that you leave your furry friend home.

Purpose:

PDXWIT is a community-based non-profit organization. Our purpose is to strengthen the Portland women in tech community by offering educational programs, partnerships, mentorships, resources and opportunities. We are unifying a supportive environment for current and potential women in tech, all of whom are committed to helping each other. Our goal is to bring together and empower women in tech and to encourage others to pursue tech careers. This is our step towards reducing the gender imbalance in the industry and addressing the current negative effects of that imbalance on women.

Our events are inclusive. ALL people who support our purpose are welcome.

PAGDIG is the Portland chapter of the International Game Developer's Association and a venue to talk about game development, the game business, network and help each other make better games.

This month's meeting will be held at the p:ear space located at 338 NW 6th Avenue. The meeting will start at 7:30 on 10/24. Pizza and beverages will be provided. Stop by and say hi to your local game development community. All are welcome, as always.

This month's discussion theme is overlooked gems. Think of the games you love or appreciate that many people might not know about, be they obscure indie titles, overlooked retro games from the hazy past, or anything else. We will play clips of these games on the screen as we talk about them. Better yet, bring the game for people to play if you have it on a laptop or phone or something.

Also feel free to bring in what you've been working on to share!

Hello all, it's PAGDIG time again. This month's meeting will be held at the p:ear space located at 338 NW 6th Avenue. The meeting will start at 7:45; please do not arrive before 7:30 as there will be another meeting at the space until that time. Pizza and beverages will be provided. Stop on by and say hello to your local game development community. All are welcome.

This month's discussion will be the usual free-form format where everyone is encouraged to talk about what interests them in the video game development world between bites of pizza. Here are some topics I'm sure we will get to though: A Game Made A Billion Dollars, Uh oh! Ouya!, Hiroshi Yamaguchi + Nintendo's fate

Also feel free to bring in what you've been working on to share!

Hello all, hope your spring has been going great! The next meeting will be this Thursday April 25th and will be held at the p:ear space located at 338 NW 6th Avenue. The meeting will start at 7:45; please do not arrive before 7:30 as there will be another meeting at the space until that time. Pizza and beverages will be provided.

There will be an initial short intro and discussion session followed by a chance for everyone to share what they are personally working on and interested in. We will also have a presentation about possible partnerships for mentoring with organizations like PixelArts, ChickTech, and OGPC.

This month’s discussion topic: What games have been inspiring You? Let's talk about what we've played recently that have inspired, instructed, or intrigued us as game makers (and players).

See you soon!

Please join us for an informational session on youth adult partnerships in technology at PAGDIG (Portland Area Game Developer Interest Group). We will discuss mentoring and volunteering opportunities through three local educational non-profits serving youth: PixelArts, ChickTech, and OGPC.

*The meeting will start at 7:45; please do not arrive before 7:30 as there will be another meeting at the space until that time.

Hello peoples, it’s PAGDIG time again!

The next meeting will be this Thursday February 28th at 7:30pm and will be held at the p:ear space located at 338 NW 6th Avenue. Our old friends free pizza and beverages will be there too.

There will be an initial short discussion session followed by a chance for everyone to share what they are personally working on and interested in.

This month’s discussion topic: The One Murky Console Future

The major consoles and dedicated handhelds were once considered the premier arena to experience video games in, but the landscape has changed significantly in recent months as more information about the near future has come to light. The market has changed, the players have changed, the economics have changed, and there seems to be a coming storm of balkanization on the horizon where the line between pc, console, and mobile devices blur. Steambox, Android-based consoles, Post-Next Gen, and yet-unknown players loom. Let’s all put our heads together and try to make heads or tails of what the future may actually be.

See ya all there!

Hello everyone, it's that time again. Yep, it's the last PAGDIG of the year.

Pizza and beverages will be provided, feel free to bring stuff to eat/drink to share or bring a couple of bucks to offset pizza costs. But all of that is strictly optional.

The roundtable discussion this month:

Managing Time While Staying Productive and Inspired: How Creative Game Developers Get Work Done

Anyone who does game development (art, design, programming, music), whether they be a full-time indie/employee or a part-time dev or student/hobbyist knows there's several fine balances we have to maintain. We split time between finding inspiration and buckling down and getting things done. We split time between the work that we care about and well, Real Life. When does looking for inspiration become detrimental distraction? When does working for hours on end become hazardous and counterproductive?

Let's all talk about how we deal with this in our daily work: how we stay focused, how we stay excited, how we budget our time and attention. I think it would be pretty educational to share and compare notes on how we all as developers of all types actually split our time up and what kind of schedules we maintain.

See you all soon!

Hi all! It’s PAGDIG time again. This time at a brand new location.

While the Lucky Lab has served us well for many a meetup, we’ve been looking for a new venue for a while where we could hold roundtable discussions at a reasonable volume without a lot of bad acoustics, especially now that outdoor seating is not an option with fall weather. Finally that month is here, as Corwin has graciously arranged to get us meeting space at the p:ear Gallery at 338 NW 6th Avenue. It will be Tuesday, 10/30 at 7pm. We were unable to book our usual Thursday this month, but we will endeavor to do that next month.

To celebrate, pizza and beverages will be provided. Feel free to bring your own stuff too, or stuff to share if you are nice like that.

The roundtable discussion subject this month:

Marketing Your Creation and Yourself in the Modern Era, for Profit and Non-Profit

As the gatekeeping for the release of games has become decentralized in recent years, so have the channels in which we get the word out about what we make. Whether it’s for the purpose of marketing a product for profit or getting the word out about smaller indie projects (as in the case for Kickstarters, etc), the landscape for promotion seems paradoxically both more accessible and more puzzling than ever.

How do you market these channels while staying authentic? What about channels like Greenlight that mix marketing and gatekeeping? How important are trailers and videos? Are the old channels like ads and publishers even relevant anymore or is word of mouth king? What about bundles and offer aggregators? Is the “story” of who is developing their game of interest to the consumer?

Let’s put our heads together and come up with some kind of road map, or at least have fun trying.

The fifth annual EsoZone Portland event will be held this weekend at p:ear, Friday evening November 18th and Saturday November 19th (see the website for schedule and location information).

EsoZone is festival celebrating alternative culture and thought. It follows a hybrid unconference/conference model, meaning that in addition to pre-programmed content, participants can propose their own sessions to share their own ideas, projects and skills with the group.

This years presentations include:

• Tom Henderson, author of the forthcoming book Punk Rock Mathemamtics, on illusory nature of self.
• Eric Schiller of Beyond Growth on "digital hipsterism" and the rise of anti-intellectualism in social media.
• Yoga for Slackers lead by Loren mccRory.
• Grant Writing for Artists and Other Alien Beings lead by Amanda Sledz.
• Anarcho-Sewing lead by Jillian Ordes-Finley.

Plus music and performances, and whatever sessions are proposed by this year's participants.