Posit conf 2023 summary

content/news/2023-10-09-positconf-chicago-meetup/index.en.md

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+---
+title: R-Ladies Global and R-Ladies Chicago Reception at Posit Conf
+author: "Global Leadership Team"
+date: '2023-10-09'
+tags: 
+- community
+categories:
+- r-ladies
+editor_options: 
+  markdown: 
+    wrap: 72
+---
+
+![](posit-conf.jpg)
+
+Photo captured at the conclusion of the Question and Answer session of the reception. Alt text: R-Ladies community members gathered in a room of the Hyatt in Chicago, with rows of individuals standing, kneeling, and sitting.
+
+# TL;DR
+
+On Wednesday, September 20, 2023 R-Ladies Global and R-Ladies Chicago
+jointly hosted a reception at Posit Conf in Chicago, Illinois. Here, we
+summarize the question and answer portion of the meet-up.
+
+# Overview
+
+Per tradition, at the conclusion of Posit Conf R-Ladies Global and
+R-Ladies Chicago (the local R-Ladies chapter) jointly hosted a reception
+at the conference hotel in Chicago, Illinois. In attendance were all
+members of the R-Ladies leadership team, several R-Ladies global team members,
+chapter organizers from around the world, regular participants, and first time R-Ladies
+meet-up attendees. The in-person, unrecorded event was open to both
+conference attendees and local chapter members, and adhered to R-Ladies
+Chicago chapter policies and guidelines.
+
+The reception began with announcements from the leadership team followed
+by a question and answer panel discussion with questions submitted via
+slido. The panel included Athanasia Mowinckel, Yanina Bellini Saibene,
+and Riva Quiroga from the leadership team as well as R-Ladies chapter
+organizers María Nanton (R-Ladies Buenos Aires), Stephanie Orellana
+(R-Ladies Santiago) and Angela Li (R-Ladies Chicago). Thank you to all
+of our panelists for sharing their insights and experiences.
+
+The question and answers below are not presented as they were discussed
+chronologically, but more thematically in terms of discussion versus
+operational/procedural questions.
+
+# Discussion questions
+
+## What are the main benefits of R-Ladies?
+
+*Angela:* Improving my data science skills in a community that was
+really supportive, which then quickly cascaded into talking to people in
+different sectors doing different things that I didn't yet know.
+Angela and Ola are stepping down as R-Ladies Chicago organizers, and it
+would be amazing to give those benefits to someone else to make
+connections and build their careers.
+
+*Maria:* A space where you can grow in a supportive environment.
+Professionally, I wouldn't have the job that I have right now without
+R-Ladies. It has been a hugely positive experience, and it has been
+amazing to give back as an organizer.
+
+*Stephanie:* R-Ladies changed my life. I am a super introvert and felt
+comfortable here; I have learned a lot and I made really good friends. I
+also like that it is an international community. I didn't have
+international friends before this and now I am friends with other Spanish
+speaking R-Ladies and they ask me to share my knowledge with them.
+
+
+*Mo:* It is changing individual lives, but it is also changing an entire
+community. We are at tech conference and there are so many women here -
+this of course has to do with the R community that we are in and this R
+community is influenced by R-Ladies is breaking stereotypes and making
+spaces for all of us. That has been a huge success for us,
+as interest for R-Ladies chapters quickly developed  and
+became popular very fast. The organization has made space for all of us
+in data science fields. It benefits us and the entire community. There
+are amazing initiatives going on as well. By establishing the idea of creating more diversity
+in gender representation in our community (here: the larger R-community), other aspects of
+diversity have become more highlighted also. The efforts on translation of content in even R
+itself is one of these.
+R-Ladies in Latin American is making a huge
+impact on a larger scale and all the personal stories are fantastic to
+listen to.
+
+## Will R-Ladies ever re-brand to a name that is more inclusive to R users of marginalized genders?
+
+*Yani:* Yes, it is under consideration. As of now our plan is to open a discussion within the
+R-Ladies community where members can comment anonymously or not, and individuals
+from the community outside the leadership/global team can join the
+discussion. We hope this allows people to feel free to openly share
+their opinion. We have written rules and guidelines to help guide the discussion.
+The results of that discussion will
+help guide the decision of the leadership team, and then it will be
+announced to the broader community. The idea is to have the current and
+future potential members of R-Ladies have a voice heard in this
+decision.
+
+## Any thoughts about age diversity and creating more inclusive accessible meetups?
+
+*Mo:* We provide our organizers a lot of freedom to set up meet-ups in a
+way that make them accessible. When Oslo started, we had good age
+diversity, from students, professionals and retiring professors, and it was nice to see
+everyone connecting. However, it can be hard reaching other people, and
+there are things we can think about to make it more inclusive. Things
+like having your space easily accessible: in Oslo we follow Carpentries rules
+about where the talks are, for example it should be wheelchair
+accessible, and near public transportation, not too late in the evening
+so they are not falling asleep and not too early to account for
+children. Allowing kids is another option chapter organizers can decide
+for their communities, and they have the freedom to decide how and what
+you think is best. If anyone has tips or ideas the group is open to
+suggestions. We have the R-Ladies guide and there are general
+recommendations; please reach out to us with new ideas so we can share
+with the global community.
+
+## What do we think about the idea of having a RLadies conference day? 👀😊
+
+*Mo:* That is the dream! We are not there yet, and the leadership needs
+to be more established, but it is definitely something to consider.
+
+# Operational/procedural questions
+
+## What are chapter organizers finding helpful as we go back in person?
+
+*María:* Online meetings have been helpful to reach other people that we
+haven't previously been able to and in other parts of Latin America; we
+plan to keep running online meet ups in a 50/50 way. I am glad to be
+back in person also to meet people and connect in a different way.
+
+*Stephanie:* I have had similar experience; we have people from all
+different universities and working in different sectors attending our events. Because it
+is very difficult to move around city after work, we had talked about
+virtual even before the pandemic, because we wanted to reach a wider audience.
+Now most of our events are virtual to be more inclusive and make it
+easier for people to attend events.
+
+*Angela:* Online events allow for the possibility of collaborations with
+other chapters that didn't exist before. Additionally, before there were
+a lot of details in terms of having to find space, get pizza, and open
+doors, now with Zoom this is less so the case now and it makes things
+easier on the organizers and those people that are coming to speak.
+
+## What is the process of starting a chapter?
+
+*Riva:* Send an email to `[email protected]`. A member of the Onboarding Team will welcome you
+and explain process. Chapters are permitted for cities, but not for a
+university or company. If you wish to have a thematic meet-up, you could
+approach a chapter like R-Ladies Remote and they can help create
+thematic meet-ups.
+
+## How would I step up and take over an inactive local chapter?
+
+*Riva:* Same process; email
+[chapters\@rladies.org](mailto:[email protected]), and they would be
+happy to begin the process to reactivate your chapter.
+
+## If I don't have a local chapter, is there a way to join a "virtual" chapter? Or are there chapters that regularly meet online?
+
+The R-Ladies Remote chapter serves this purpose. Additionally, many
+chapters continue to have virtual events and many welcome participants
+outside of their geographic location; they are often announced in the
+events channel of the Community Slack channel or on Meet-up.
+
+## Have you considered expanding to include Python?
+
+*Riva:* Stephanie and I are also PyLadies organizers, and we are now planning to host joint R-Ladies and
+PyLadies events together in Valparaíso. Cosima Meyer (Cologne organiser, Germany) also organizes joint events
+in Germany, and it is a great way to expand the way you are reaching
+people.
+
+## Does R-Ladies raise funding for events?
+
+*Yani:* R-Ladies receives money from institutional and individuals
+donors; R Consortium is also a large donor and that mostly goes to
+Meetup fees. For R-Ladies chapters there is a different process -
+chapters can apply for R Consortium grants. If you do not want to manage
+money you can ask for non-monetary donations, like a venue, pizza,
+drinks, etc. More recently some chapters have use Open Collective to
+oranganize their funding.
+
+## Is there a LinkedIn group for R-Ladies Global?
+
+*Mo:* Yes but it is not active. We are establishing a social media team
+and creating a social media strategy to better reach community members.
+
+## Should local chapters create a Mastodon account?
+
+*Mo:* Social media strategy at the chapter level is up to chapter
+organizers; different chapters have different reasons for using
+particular platforms.
+
+## Is the Global team looking for any more volunteers?
+
+*Mo:* We are currently onboarding new members of the team after a recent
+call for volunteers. We plan to put out another call for volunteers in
+the coming year, so keep an eye on our social media and website.
+
+# Questions that we ran out of time to answer
+
+## How have you been successful in getting people to attend meetups?
+
+Here are some ideas on organizing events from our guide:
+<https://guide.rladies.org/organization/events/general/>.
+
+## For the funding from RConsortium for local events, what is a typical grant amount?
+
+It starts with 150 US\$, but it can be increase depending on your
+proposal. More info in our guide:
+<https://guide.rladies.org/organization/intro/finance/#expenses-reimbursed-by-the-global-organization>
+and in the R Consortium page:
+<https://www.r-consortium.org/all-projects/r-user-group-support-program>.
+
+## What do we say to men who want to join an R Ladies chapter?
+
+Please see the guide for the full policy, which provides recommendations
+but also offers flexibility for individual chapters to maintain their
+own policies: <https://guide.rladies.org/about/mission/>. You can also
+refer them to guidance on helping R-Ladies as an ally <https://guide.rladies.org/ally/>.