Do emerging technologies such as crypto and AI have a place in international development? How do we balance the risks of untested tools with their potential rewards, and impact?
Throughout my time working in ICT4D, I’ve tended to be a skeptic when it comes to the promise that frontier technology can improve development outcomes and, most importantly, people’s lives. Rather than fixate on the newest technology on the scene, I’ve tended to focus on basic tools deployed in ethical and effective ways. At the intersection of technology and development, there are no “magic bullets,” but new tools can unlock exciting ways for people to connect and collaborate with one another.
TechChange believes deeply in that power. To put our values into action, we convened the first-ever hybrid Frontiers of Digital Development Forum (FDDF) to bring technologists, development practitioners, and thought leaders from all over the world together for exciting, tough, and necessary conversations about the role of emerging technology within development.
We used our innovative approach to hybrid events to ensure that these debates, conversations and demonstrations were accessible, inclusive, and dynamic. Compared to a traditional DC event, the hybrid nature of the Frontiers of Digital Development Forum allowed for critical voices from outside of Washington D.C. to be heard. Overall, over 600 people across 55 countries participated in the forum either in-person, virtually, or both.
FDDF Day 1
For Day 1 of the conference, 190 people representing more than 60 organizations convened in DC’s historic Capitol Turnaround hall to discuss topics such as the role of technology in humanitarian response, digital transaction of carbon credits, and how crypto can democratize development.
As a new TechChange employee, I was thrilled that FDDF did not shy away from polarizing topics, and I was struck by how fresh and inclusive this event felt compared to many conferences I’ve participated in the past. In addition to select virtual-only sessions, all of the in-person sessions were live-streamed to virtual participants, who could also engage with discussion boards, Pop-up Studio interviews, and virtual networking experiences.
Our amazing FDDF ambassadors led local watch parties and conversations in Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Jordan. It was exciting to be a part of a new model for convening in this globalized, digital age, and engage with ICT4D practitioners all over the world.
TechChange CEO Nick Martin engages with Nairobi watch party organized by FDDF Ambassador Peter Omondi
Watch party in Dar es Salaam
FDDF Day 2
Day 2 of the conference utilized the TechChange platform for an entirely virtual experience. As one virtual participant from Kenya said, “FDDF2022 was one of the greatest events I have attended. The quality of discussion, unique topics, great panelists exchanging ideas, insightful audience– this was an eye opener.”
One of the most-watched sessions featured Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation
The user-friendly features of our platform provided not only unfettered access to content but multiple ways to engage with speakers and other attendees. The platform recorded over 32 hours of content featuring 97 speakers, and participants were buzzing with energy– over 1,000 in-session chat messages were sent throughout the forum.
That’s our favorite thing about hybrid conferences- there’s something for everyone. And when gathering together to discuss emerging technology, isn’t it appropriate that we should use an innovative approach that leverages the best of conference tech to ensure a diverse collection of voices are at the table?
At TechChange, virtual participation isn’t just an afterthought, it’s an integral part of how we make connections and build community. We’re looking forward to applying the lessons we’ve learned to our hybrid events in the future to make them even more engaging and inclusive. This is emerging technology I can get behind.
Q: So, tell us more about yourself.
I studied a number of foreign languages in college. Eventually, my love of spoken language led to an interest in computer languages, and a career shift into tech swiftly followed. At the core of what drives me, though, is a deep-seated belief that education is a primary solution to many of the social, economic, and ideological challenges that plague our world today. I also believe that, with the right tools and guidance, all people are capable of making small but effective choices that can ultimately reduce suffering in the world and make our communities safer and more equitable places to be.
Q: How did you first hear about TechChange?
When I first started applying for software engineering jobs, I knew I either wanted to work in edtech or for a company in the social change/impact sector. I never dreamed I would be lucky enough to get both! So when I heard back from TechChange and kept getting advanced through the interview process, I almost didn’t believe it was real. I am so glad that TechChange welcomed me into the work they are doing, and it feels like a true privilege to be a part of the team here.
Q: What are some of your favorite parts of working at TechChange so far?
My career and life have not always followed a very straightforward trajectory, but I’m grateful for the experiences I’ve had and am so happy with where I have ended up. It’s really resonated with me to see the diverse background of so many of the employees at TechChange and to see the CEO actively encouraging the people in his sphere of influence to reject the stigma associated with taking a little more time to find your path. The leadership here recognizes that those of us who have needed to take a long way or who have a nonlinear work history contribute to the diversity of perspectives that makes the work at TechChange all the more inclusive and effective. Being among such people, in addition to the shared values and goals of social change, really makes me feel like I’m somewhere I belong.
Q: What excites you about this role?
Coming into the position as a brand new software engineer, I was acutely aware that I would have a lot to learn on the job. However, I did not expect that I would get to work in an environment where my relative newness to the field wouldn’t actively devalue me. I am so tremendously grateful that my work ethic, potential, and commitment are recognized and invested in and that learning and growth are built into the role. Being intentionally given the space to ask honest questions, receive meaningful guidance, and prioritize deep learning over frenzied productivity when needed has instilled me with a new level of confidence and motivation. TechChange, a company built around empowering people with education opportunities, has shown me that this value applies not only to their clients but also to their employees.
Q: Anything you look forward to working on or learning at TechChange in the next year?
Working at TechChange opens up a huge opportunity to connect with organizations doing meaningful education and impact work that I otherwise might have never known about. In a world where the news cycle is dominated by the worst events of the week, I’m especially looking forward to being regularly reminded of all the good going on in the world and to connecting myself to the change makers, helpers, revolutionaries, and advocates making a difference every day. I’m excited to get to contribute to their efforts, even in small ways, with my daily work at TechChange.
Q: Lastly, what’s something that not a lot of people know about you?
I’m surprisingly risk averse for someone who’s seemingly done a lot of things to keep my mother up at night. I’ve paraglided in the French Alps and gone spelunking in Mammoth Cave. I’ve lived in foreign countries and have had close encounters with sharks, stingrays, and more. I’ve free solo climbed cliffs and lived with survivors of human trafficking. I’ve had these experiences not because I’m impulsive or fearless but because I’m committed to “doing it scared” if it’s something that really matters or something that will make my life or the lives of others richer and better, to doing important things even when I’m uncomfortable or facing significant obstacles Deep down, though, I’m far from an adrenaline thrill chaser. What I really love is a calm and quiet night in with a good book and a cup of tea and would happily choose that any day I can!
Guest Blog Post By: Amanda Livingstone (she/her/hers)
Facilitator, Communicator, and Campaign Strategist for Reproductive Justice
What TechChange’s Gender Data Online Course is all about and why I signed up
TechChange’sGender Data 101 Edition 2.0 is a 5-week blended online course organized and facilitated by the incredible Natalya Buchwald that featured live events with gender and data experts, online tools and tasks, and provided additional resources that could be used within our professional environments. The course gave participants the skills to:
Define
best practices needed for gender data at all stages of the data life cycle
(collection, processing, analysis, visualization, uptake, and impact)
Identify
the multiple forms of systemic discrimination that affect the overall efficacy
of gender data
Evaluate
the limitations of the gender binary and how it may affect the phases of the
gender data lifecycle
Create
action-oriented strategies and an intersectional approach to combat gender data
inequities and biases
I
was keen to sign up to 1. Improve my skills at effectively implementing the
data life cycle throughout a project I managed that focused on women’s and
girls’ sexual health and rights and 2. Continue to dismantle and unlearn my own
internal biases on gender and race and reconstruct more affirming and
intersectional approaches for improved organizational strategies and impact.
Why everyone should take this course
The
course covers five key topics: fundamentals of gender and data; gender data
collection and processing; gender data analysis; gender data visualization; and
gender uptake and impact. At first, I was pretty hesitant to dive in – full
well knowing my inability to use advanced excel formulas, GIS, and most of the acronym-ed
data analysis tools out there – but the course progressed at an accessible
pace, offered several engaging guest panels, and included how-to videos for
those of us who may have needed a second watch to let a new methodology or tool
fully sink in (cough me cough). The course also delved into how systemic
discrimination based on gender, race, ability, geography, and more negatively
affect the overall efficacy of gender data and how we can work to identify and
combat discriminatory practices from the start. The course ends by asking all
participants to take actionable steps to employ gender data to create and
improve impactful programs within their professional and everyday lives.
My top 3 takeaways
Once
you start identifying discriminatory data collection methods and visualizations,
you can’t – and shouldn’t – unsee them. From filling out a survey that doesn’t include your race but
rather lists “other,” to only offering “male” and “female” gender identity
choices, to the color choices used in mapping visualizations – discrimination
and biases in data collection, analysis, and visualizations are far too
prevalent. I also recognize my privilege and embarrassment that it took a class
for me to be fully aware of these systemic types of oppression and how they are
directly connected to the harmful ways that information is understood and
shared, how choices (like policies and laws) are made, and how resources are
allocated. This also extends into and is a foundation of the decolonization of research in the development field more
broadly. My ask to readers: When you see a collection method or
visualization that – purposefully or not – is exclusive, discriminating, or biased
– write to/call/tag the author/organization/etc. calling out the issue and encouraging
them to make the necessary changes to make their methods more inclusive,
affirming, and respectful.
Everyone can make inclusive adjustments to their gender data collection and visualization methods. Many of the tips shared in TechChange’s class were straightforward, doable, and can be integrated into pretty much any data collection, analysis, or visualization method. Are you about to ask your staff or your organizational members to complete a survey? Make sure to double-check if it could put someone’s privacy or personal information at risk. Ask yourself if it only allows individuals to check “male” or “female” rather than letting folks self-identify. When you’re making a graph visualizing your survey’s results – what colors are you using to represent participants’ responses? Who is asking the questions, and who will see the answers? And how are you portraying the data within your larger contexts? These are just a few questions to ask yourself before, during, and after requesting information from a broad and diverse audience.
TOOLS. I love a good tool – whether it’s a template for a new, integrated workplan or a chart that helps me better decide what type of data visualization tool I should use, I want to see them all. This course offers, dare I say, hundreds of free, easily accessible online tools that can support users in all their gender data needs. I have downloaded many of them and use them daily. Below is a sneak peek of some available tools shared.
All
in all, I highly recommend this course to anyone looking for support on a
specific project or to folks who are interested in broadening their inclusive
data collection, analysis, and visualization skills.
For more information
on the next available course, email: info@techchange.org
Shannon is Director of Virtual & Hybrid Events at TechChange, where she leads the Events department in creating engaging virtual and hybrid conferences for partners and participants across the globe. Prior to joining TechChange, she worked in nonprofits in France, the US, and the UK, and holds an MSc in Globalisation and Development from SOAS University of London.
Q: So, tell us more about yourself. How did you end up working in events?
Previous to working at TechChange, I worked in a few different nonprofits with education and human rights at the core of their missions. In these organizations, I was involved in events — everything from external-facing networking events focused on hiring to internal-facing events revolving around employee wellbeing programs and trainings. While my events experience was primarily in person, I was very interested in pivoting to the digital space when the pandemic hit and organizations turned their focus to convening virtually.
Q: How did you first hear about TechChange?
I heard about TechChange via one of Nick’s LinkedIn posts! A mutual connection reshared something he had posted, which led me to look into the organization and reach out to connect.
Q: What are some of your favorite parts of working at TechChange so far?
My favorite part of working at TechChange is the opportunity to collaborate with a group of innovative, intelligent colleagues and partners. The curiosity and energy that the TechChange team brings to their work creates an inspiring environment to work in. The partners that we work with also bring such passion for the programs and initiatives connected to each of their events, and, having worked in organizations focused on social change throughout my career, I feel lucky to be able to contribute to our partners’ success in areas from human rights to peacekeeping to public health!
Q: What excites you about this role?
One of the most pleasant surprises about this role is the constant exposure to live virtual production approaches. There is nothing more thrilling than being in the virtual greenroom/studio as we go live with a keynote speaker or opening ceremony!
Q: Anything you look forward to working on or learning at TechChange in the next year?
I’m really looking forward to the ways in which hybrid events will evolve as more of our partners become able to further explore this space. Over the past year and a half, we’ve had so many opportunities to shift our approach to virtual events and further enhance the participant experience, so it will be really interesting to see the ways in which we carry new and existing elements into a hybrid world and continue to improve based on what we learn!
Q: Lastly, what’s something that not a lot of people know about you?
I’m a bit restless and am always looking for a craft or hobby to keep busy! Some of my favorite activities are jogging and hiking, trying out new recipes, and designing jewelry or clothing. I’ve worn a few of my own creations to friends’ weddings and am always seeking new creative activities!
September 2021 marks the 10-year anniversary of our first hybrid event. It’s also the 18-month anniversary of the last time TechChange was able to convene our community in person to learn from one another.
Until 2020, the stodgy in-person event industry has been protected by a scarcity of solutions (only so many conference centers) and a captive audience (you can’t easily attend another event). Online events were often intentionally neglected to drive attendees towards more lucrative, and superior, in-person experiences.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed all that. Not only were in-person events impossible, but expectations for online convening increased drastically as the months went on. By March 2020, it was no longer enough to release a pre-recorded video or hold a massive webinar; participants were expecting online events to recreate in-person participation. By May 2020, participants began demanding organic networking opportunities to unlock the real value of event attendance: driving business and career growth.
In competing for attention, there is no substitute for production value and seamless event execution. But it doesn’t just stop there. At a minimum, be prepared to figure out multiple audio streams for interpretation, live captioning, lower thirds, integrated videos, ASL/ISL, and transitions. But it’s worth it. The plenary events are consistently the highest attended across all events on the TechChange platform over the course of the last two years — and are consistently the most viewed archives of any event.
Screenshot of RightsCon Outcomes Report 2021
2. But Networking Is Still Best When Informal and Organic
Networking doesn’t require a fancy 3D world with location-based audio to recreate the hallway experience of a conference. Although, as we’ve seen for the Greater Giving Summit 2021 and Global Digital Development Forum (pictured in featured image), they can be highly effective and popular. For example, the integrated Social Hour sessions for RightsCon 2021 leveraged small-group tables that enabled informal networking to recreate the hallway experience — and according to the RightsCon Outcomes Report 2021 81% of surveyed participants who attended a Social Hour session rated them as Excellent or Good.
Banner for Pathfinders event
3. Partners are Seizing Opportunities for Accessibility and Inclusivity The loss of a requirement to travel has opened up new opportunities for addressing accessibility and inclusivity in conference organizing — for both participation and convening. Most recently, this has included supporting the USAID-HBCU International Development Conference, the Action to Achieve Equality and Inclusion, and more. The shift to online convening has prompted many online conference partners to think through not just who is in the room, but also who is holding the mic and what is being discussed.
Over the last two years I have fielded a lot of questions about my two main areas of interest, education and user experience design. For many curious onlookers, education studies and UX/UI design studies present as two very different pedagogies, and thus, they require an explanation from me about how I can combine two seemingly unrelated areas of work.
I always appreciate those people who are interested in hearing more about my decision to pursue both interests. The following is a brief explanation of how I plan on leveraging my experience at TechChange to better serve the education community this upcoming year and beyond.
Following my completion of undergrad in June 2020, I moved from New Hampshire to D.C. to pursue a year of service with AmeriCorps. I worked for an AmeriCorps National partner organization called Literacy Lab, which provides one-on-one reading help to students in DC Public Schools.
As you can imagine, moving to a new city and starting a new job amidst the pandemic came with a lot of unexpected challenges. But I don’t think anyone at Lit Lab was really prepared for the level of chaos that would befall DCPS, especially Title I schools, and especially during that first fall of the pandemic. It was admirable to watch how DCPS staff and faculty rose to the challenges posed by online learning, but many of the issues they faced were unfamiliar and unrelenting.
Flash forward to this past summer; I traded in my reading assessments and student data tracking for course evaluation reports and user interviews here at TechChange. Having the opportunity to dive deep into adult online education after spending a year trying to teach kids over Microsoft Teams felt like a wonderful break. For nine weeks, I watched TechChange members put so much of their time and effort into creating engaging and productive experiences for their partners and participants; it was truly a joy to spend my time learning from my new teammates.
A few weeks ago, I started my second year of AmeriCorps. This year I am a VISTA member (meaning I’m sponsored by the national AmeriCorps organization) and I am working at Garrison Elementary as a community partners liaison. Already I can tell that the work is very different from my work last year in that I spend much more time on capacity building and community building, and my work is largely in-person (which is both terrifying and exciting after working virtually for over a year). As I begin my work at Garrison, I can already see how my past work at TechChange can help me solve for gaps and discover new opportunities to strengthen elementary school processes, and also help me reflect on my past year spent online teaching.
An Empathetic Approach
The difference between adult and student education planning that most immediately caught my attention was the extremely high level of empathy and research that went into planning TechChange’s online experiences. I was impressed by how much care and inquisitiveness went into identifying participants’ needs over the course of their time with TechChange. As a UX/UI designer, I appreciated the methodologies that go into creating a TechChange course. And to TechChange’s credit, they really emphasize human-centered design. Meaning that team members interview potential participants, work closely with their partners, and consider every aspect of a participant’s virtual needs (which vary greatly from their in-person needs). As the TechChange Summer Fellow, I spent almost all of my time analyzing the successes and challenges (which were few) of TechChange’s virtual synchronous courses. Much of the successes stemmed from participants feeling like TechChange facilitators could anticipate participants’ needs and adapt throughout the course to make participants feel heard.
Although I give DCPS a lot of credit for adapting to virtual teaching amidst a pandemic, I must say that more emphasis could have been placed on observing students prior to the start of virtual teaching, or talking to students and gathering their feedback the way people gather feedback from adults. One of my biggest takeaways from online teaching is that elementary students are people too — they deserve the consideration and respect that we give to adult learners. Their learning needs can and should be met. And the onus to be adaptable and engaging shouldn’t rest with classroom teachers; I believe DCPS has a responsibility to create a support system for students and teachers wherein both parties feel comfortable and heard. Too often the focus for classroom teachers is how to maintain a semblance of order in their classrooms (both online and in-person); I can see now that there were opportunities last year for DC educators to intervene and provide teachers with the tools they needed to increase student engagement and passion for learning so that teachers could have focused on teaching.
To put the problem in product development terms: the students should be the users, and their needs should be well-studied and prioritized. While the implementers of the education experience should be familiar with the students’ needs (and the teachers I’ve met definitely are familiar), many other parties have the responsibility to step in with research-backed strategies to accommodate online learning challenges. Education delivery should be a team effort.
Strengthening Ties with Stakeholders
As the new community partner liaison at Garrison, I spend much of my time listening to community stakeholders; our wonderful principal and assistant principal, the school dean, our head of after school programs, teachers and coaches, non-profit directors, the president of the Parent-Teacher Organization, among many others.
Emma’s Summer Findings
The relationship between TechChange and its partners is vastly different from the way I work with Garrison’s community partners, but there’s a lot to be gained from TechChange’s co-creation approach to designing experiences with their stakeholders. The open-ended nature of brainstorming with a new partner prior to course design provides so much opportunity to create an experience with myriad benefits. As I’ve begun introducing myself to Garrison’s partners (both old and new) I have found the most productive and creatively-minded conversations with partners are the ones where we spend time discussing our goals for our potential partnership. Framing the partnership with such intentionality really drives us to enthusiastically dive into new programs, new goals, and new opportunities for the students. And for my position in particular, I’m always cognizant that these partnerships are usually pro-bono for Garrison, and that many of our partners are donating their time to help our school (students and teachers alike).
Big-Picture Planning
One of the wonderful aspects of my Fellowship was the opportunity to synthesize a large amount of qualitative data all together; by analyzing feedback and user interviews regarding TechChange’s synchronous offerings, I had the chance to interpret insights across different courses (which were each tailored to a different audience and contained different learning objectives). Making those cross-course connections was key to my understanding of the strengths and challenges of TechChange course development as well as my familiarization with participants’ needs and constraints. If I were to have stayed on after my fellowship, I think I could have used my research to pursue even deeper understandings of both participants and the course development process.
Emma Utilized Dedoose to Synthesize a Large Amount of Qualitative Data for TechChange
But in my current capacity, I already hope to use that same kind of thinking to approach challenges within Garrison. One of the issues I want to address is a lack of organization within the after school program; there is an incredible amount of work that goes into planning after school care for students, and much of that work is completed by teachers, corps members from places like City Year, and team members from non-profits like Kid Power. With so many actors involved, coordination has been tricky, especially after a year of minimal in-person programming. As the community partner liaison, I’m in a unique position to approach this challenge by combining the expertise and suggestions from a variety of parties involved. I am already prepared to approach this problem using a tried-and-true design methodology (loosely speaking: research, brainstorm, design, test, iterate) and I am confident that I will be able to support my school better having had experience in design research.
Although I am no longer working in a design capacity, my work in education design research has truly shaped how I approach my work as a member of the DC education community. And while I am no longer teaching virtually or studying virtual teaching, I have learned so much about education and online engagement that I know will help me as I strive to support Garrison students, educators and partners. At the very least, my summer at TechChange has provided me the opportunity to reflect deeply on our roles as education developers/implementers, and for that I am very grateful.
We are very excited to launch our Events Product Video! In this video, learn more about we leverage our all-in-one virtual events platform to help our partners tackle the world’s toughest problems. Powered by mission-driven humans, our integrated approach quickly maps onto partner needs to successfully deliver results on any topic, to any device, in any language, to anyone.
Take a look:
We’re excited to share that the agenda has been posted for first-ever USAID-HBCU International Development Conference! Co-sponsored by the Harry T. Moore chapter of Blacks in Government, this online event is taking place from 15-16 September 2021. This year’s theme is “Increasing Diversity in International Development” and will include announcements of job opportunities and scholarships for conference participants, as well as networking opportunities throughout both days.
Screenshot of initial agenda on the TechChange platform
Day 1: Learn more about USAID’s work
USAID 101
The Black Humanitarian Experience
Promoting Peace and Reducing Global Conflict
Improving Global Health – Who we are and what we do
Supporting a Resilient and Food Secure World for All
Advancing Inclusive Democracies Abroad
Voices from the field – USAID local field staff provide their perspectives on the impact of USAID’s work
Networking session with USAID employees from the field as well as HQ
Day 2: Learn more about how you can work for USAID
“Demystifying USAID Employment” panel discussion on different opportunities within the Agency
Student and Recent Graduate Employment
Federal resume writing
Veterans Employment Opportunities
Donald M. Payne International Graduate Fellowship Program
Engaging the Next Generation of Agency Researchers
Management Bureau recruitment event – Bring your resume and speak directly with a hiring manager!
Setting yourself up for future success
Navigating USAJOBS.GOV
Please note that while this event is targeting current students and alumni from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), registration is open to all. Please note that space is limited for some of the sessions, so make sure you register soon!
I have had an amazing time spending this summer learning and growing with TechChange and their Education Team as a Summer Fellow. It has been such a blast, and the Education Team really made us fellows feel welcome and a part of their team throughout the entire summer. For example, one of the great things that the Ed Team did for us fellows was to host casual lunches throughout the summer to connect with one another. These were such great opportunities to chat with other members of the Ed Team and make connections beyond the projects we were working on together.
In one of these lunches about halfway through the summer, one of the icebreaker questions that came up in the conversation was, “What career advice would you give to someone who was just starting out?” As a recent grad, I was eager to hear what everyone had to say. As everyone shared their opinions, I realized that all of the advice — including my own — had revolved around one central theme: be adventurous and try as many new things as possible.
Momoka’s summer research questions focused on answering the question of “What is a TechChange blended course?”
Up until this point in my fellowship, I had been devoting most of my time to collecting and analyzing data for my fellowship research project on TechChange’s blended courses. I was fascinated by the insights I was discovering about blended learning, but I definitely was feeling curious about other ongoing course development projects at TechChange. I just didn’t know how I could start becoming more involved in work beyond my research.
Listening to everyone talk about the importance of putting yourself out there in new situations, though, really reminded me of the mentality that drove me to pursue this fellowship at TechChange in the first place. I came into this fellowship as someone who had experience working in the classroom, but I ended up choosing TechChange because I wanted to explore edtech as a field within education that I had not yet experienced. This entire world was new to me, but I wanted to work directly with the ongoing projects and the Ed Team members, learn all about their online platform, get my hands dirty with my research project, and develop new skills in instructional design. I knew that the only way to see if something is a good fit for me was to try!
I felt reinspired to take the advice that everyone had offered and embrace the mentality that I came into the fellowship with. I started actively reaching out to other members of TechChange to learn more about their projects, and I quickly realized that TechChange was the perfect place to learn with the abundance of opportunities provided. Anytime I reached out to any team member, they were always more than happy to help me explore something new — whether that be letting me sit in on meetings with a client, agreeing to chat with me about their experience on past projects, walking me through their advice on qualitative research methodologies, or allowing me to support ongoing projects.
And all of this effort of putting myself out there definitely paid off. The interviews I conducted with TechChange’s account managers heavily informed my final report and presentation, and my research would not have been as comprehensive if I had not reached out to them. I learned how to use Dedoose, a qualitative data analysis software that I had never used before, allowing my analysis to encompass multiple types of data. I had the opportunity to help brainstorm and develop different ideation workshop activities to inform the development of one project, and I applied what I had learned about instructional design by revising the quality of another project. If there was something I wanted to do at TechChange, there was a way for me to be involved, as long as I was willing to take the first step to explore.
I’m coming out of this fellowship having learned so much about instructional design and course development through my research project on TechChange’s blended courses, but my biggest takeaway has definitely been a newfound confidence to try new things. Even if something seems intimidating at first, like it may not be the best fit, or as if it is drastically different from what I’ve done in the past, I think my experience at TechChange has taught me to embrace that uncertainty and run with it. Overall, I am so grateful to the TechChange team for continuing to support me throughout the entire summer and for all the wonderful connections I made. I’m so excited to take this mentality to dive into my next new thing and continue learning in the future.
Katie is a Senior Program Manager at TechChange where she helps bring virtual conferences to life for partners and attendees around the world. Before TechChange, Katie worked on in-person and virtual events of varying sizes. She is originally from the Richmond, Virginia area and holds a B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.
Q: So, tell us more about yourself. How did you end up working in events?
For as l0ng as I can remember, I’ve been involved in the performing arts in some capacity. This allowed me to consistently be around a group of people working toward a common goal to be shared with the public on a certain date (or series of dates) – essentially, events! As I thought through what I wanted to do in a professional capacity, I knew that I wanted to continue working with lots of people and bringing together groups to present and discuss new ideas. Right out of college I worked on large corporate conferences, but I knew I wanted to do much more mission-driven work. When I saw the posting for TechChange events, it looked like the perfect opportunity to do just that.
Q: How did you first hear about TechChange?
I found TechChange via LinkedIn mid-summer 2020! I was immediately interested in the work the events team was doing because of its mission-driven nature, and was even more excited to learn that we support a myriad of missions depending on the partner for a given project.
Q: What are some of your favorite parts of working at TechChange so far?
Overall, the people of TechChange make it a great place to work. Everyone is smart, passionate, kind, and fun to work with on a daily basis. Specifically in my role, I love when I can sit in on conference sessions. It’s always a great opportunity to hear fascinating conversations and take reflections back into my own life.
Q: What excites you about this role?
This role is so dynamic! Because we work with multiple partners to plan and execute conferences, we get to have multiple partner relationships and learn about the content and communities partners serve. It’s a great way to always learn something new, meet someone new, and gain a new perspective.
Q: Anything you look forward to working on or learning at TechChange in the next year?
I’m very much looking forward to watching the events team continue to grow in the next year and working with the team to evolve our processes as we enter a phase in which folks might start in-person gatherings again.
Q: Lastly, what’s something that not a lot of people know about you?
I really enjoy running half marathons, and have run 4 so far. With races canceled and gyms closed during covid lockdown in DC, I didn’t do much running. However races are starting to pop up again and I am happy to be training for a run in late fall 2021.
