Potty parity, at last!
Just a quickie....
Yesterday I attended a Microsoft Launch Event for IT Pros and IT Executives. It was held in Spokane, so I had to leave at 6:30 AM and didn't get home until 7:15 PM, hence no blogging or commenting, but it was fun. Regardless of what you think of Microsoft or their products, they do know how to do these launches. The event was a promotion of Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange Server 2007, as well as the other updated products like Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server, Microsoft Dynamics & CRM, and a few other products. I have to tell you, the new stuff is pretty cool. In fact, I went from not being too enthused about Vista, to wanting to run out and buy it today. It was a great sales pitch, and I'm a pretty receptive audience (I've been called gullible). I'll go into the products in a subsequent post (I have a meeting in less than an hour), but I thought I'd share this one incident.
The event was directed at 6 different audiences. The largest of those in the morning session was the session for IT Pros. The auditorium held between 500 and 800 people, and it was full. SRO in fact. There was a break midway through the session. I decided to wait until the end of the break to even attempt to use the restroom, deciding I'd rather visit with other IT Pros than wait in a long bathroom line. You women know what I mean. The break was nearly over, so I headed to the restroom. As I neared the restrooms, I felt as if I had entered an alternate universe. There was a HUGE line outside.....the MEN'S room! These men looked like a deer in headlights. They were so confused. The women were walking in and out of the restroom very quickly, while they stood in a line that seemed to not move at all. I went into the ladies' room, where there were several empty stalls. The two or three other women in the restroom were commenting and laughing about the line for the men's room. Justice!
It dawned on me, when I reentered the presentation hall and looked around, that probably less than 10% - maybe even only 5% - of the audience was female. And surprisingly, almost all of the women in attendance were over 40. Where are the young girls? Why aren't women getting into IT? The ratio of men to women was pretty much the same for every session held that day. Sad. Ladies - IT is fun! And you don't have to worry about waiting in line to use the restroom!
