Thanks to W2.0′er Jen Hunter of the Learning Catalyst for this info about an upcoming women and leadership event taking place April 2, 2008 in Toronto.

Organized by Margaret Wheatley of the Berkana Institute, the Women’s Leadership Revival Tour will gather women together in communities all over North America to participate in a full day of learning and development. The focus of these events is on how women’s leadership in our region and all over the world is vital to our communities, work environments and societies.

Jen Hunter is working with the Canadian organizers bringing the Revival to Toronto. The one-day event is scheduled for April 2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  at The Eglinton Grand, 400 Eglinton Ave. West, Toronto.

Early bird registration is $159 (a steal!). Visit www.berkana.org/women for more info and to register.

To learn more about Margaret Wheatley, visit her website.

A great outcome of our fourth Women 2.0 Ottawa event - held last night at Bridgehead in Westboro - was a brainstorm on a theme for our next series of events (after Pass the Torch with Maggie Fox on Feb 26th). We’ve dubbed the series “technology purse” - aka toolkit - essentials.

What are the essential tools and skills you need to run your small business or startup smartly? Read more »

Below are some of the female bloggers I follow. Who do you follow?

Technology Starlet - Technology Starlet, who describes herself as a “Professional graphic designing and tech training geek”, wrote this post a few days back about successful female bloggers and what makes them tick.

Charlene Li/Groundswell: Winning In a World Transformed by Social Technologies - Vice-president and principal analyst for Forrester Research. Charlene covers the impact of social computing and web 2.0 on business.

Blogher - a community of female bloggers with 13,000 members and 10,000 blogs on their blog list. They have a technology and web section but also offer up a list of blogs covering a wide variety of topics like family, politics, travel, etc.

Tracy Sheridan / The Long Blonde Tail - founder and CEO of Waxxi, a new media company which has pioneered interactive, or participatory, podcasting. Tracy writes about artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and so much more.

Some Canadian favs to catch your interest…

W2.0′er Natasha / EyeSee - Natasha is an Ottawa blogger writing about technology, business, photography and whatever else takes her fancy.

Kristina Mausser - WordUp! - Kristina’s is a web copywriting and communications consultant based in Ottawa. Her blog is about technology, consumer electronics, the Internet and all things geeky.

Maggie Fox / Social Media Group - Maggie is a social media expert and co-founder of Social Media Group. Maggie shares her insights and expertise via the Social Media Group website and blog. Women 2.0 Ottawa is also excited to have as a guest speak at our February 26 Pass the Torch event.

Tara Hunt / HorsePigCow - Tara is an online marketing professional writing about community marketing. She covers a lot of topics about new media and interactive technologies and even wrote an article for O’Reilly Media titled Women Who Risk: Making Women in Technology Visible. (Note our Women2.org sisters also contributed to the O’Reilly Media’s Women in Technology series. Access the Women in Technology articles here.

Goaliegirl - an IT consultant who blogs about hockey, gadgets and geekiness in no particular order.

So who do you follow?

Post your fav female tech bloggers below so we can keep this list growing.

As you may or may not be aware, Women 2.0 was started by our California sisters. They organize an annual pitch event every year where entrepreneurs and startups can pitch their business ideas to VCs, angel investors, and seasoned entrepreneurs. Our Women 2.0 CA sisters are now calling on entrepreneurs and startups to participate in this year’s event.

Pitch 2008 takes place Saturday, May 17, 2008 in Santa Clara, CA. The competition is open to US and Canadian entrepreneurs and startups so if you’ve got a great idea - you should seriously consider getting involved.

The benefit of participating is that you can get feedback about your business idea from VCs, angel investors, and seasoned entrepreneurs. And you have the chance to win some great prizes. Last year’s winners won cash prizes, pitch coaching and one-on-one face time with VCs.

Participation guidelines are as follows:

• - Teams must have at least 50% female ownership
• - Your pitch must be submitted on a 7×7 inch paper napkin
• - The first deadline is April 1, 2008

For complete list of guidelines and FAQs, visit www.women2.org for details.

- Melany Gallant
Women 2.0 Ottawa Co-founder

Event update! (posted January 28, 2008)

Women 2.0 Ottawa is excited to announce further details about our February 26th Pass the Torch event with guest speaker Maggie Fox. Read on to learn about the when and where and how to register…

Event deets…

When: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 from 6:30-8:30 pm (doors open at 6:00 pm).

Where: Ramius Corporation Headquarters,530-55 Metcalfe Street (at Queen); Tel: 613-230-3808 x 242

Cost: $5 at the door (funds will be used to support future Women 2.0 speaker events)

How to register: RSVP on Women2ca Wiki (instructions provided on the wiki)

Additonal notes: Appetizers and refreshments will be served

For this event we are borrowing from the Girl Geek Dinners theme. Which means, if you are male and plan to attend this event, you must bring a female with you or be brought by a female.

Got a question about the event? Contact us at ottawa [at] women2 [dot] ca!

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January 8, 2008 - Mark your calendars for the February 26 Pass the Torch event - Women 2.0 Ottawa’s first formal networking/learning event! Guest speak Maggie Fox of Social Media Group will share her experiences as a woman leader in the social media space and will also discuss her experiences and lessons learned in starting her own company. Read more »

Happy New Year to all our W2.0′ers! After a bit of a holiday hiatus, Women 2.0 Ottawa is back in action and we are excited to share details with you about our January event.

After what I am sure has been a hectic holiday season for many of you, our January event offers just the “something” you need to get back into the swing of things! There’s no structured theme to this event - simply join us on January 24th for a chat over coffee or tea.

Event deets…

When: Thursday, January 24 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Bridgehead Coffee, 1277 Wellington (at Caroline) - free parking at back
What: Super casual networking mixer for women in technology and related fields
Why: To swap energy, ideas, and experiences with each other

Email ottawa@women2.ca to RSVP, and to join our mailing list for upcoming Women 2.0 events in Ottawa.

Questions or comments? Please post them here. We want to hear from you. Thanks!