On May 9, 2020, the WiBD Dusseldoft chapter welcomed roughly 60 participants from different industries and with diverse background who are interested in Data and learning more about technology and the impact on the organisations in various verticals.

Objectives: Mastering Your Journey into Data

When we look at our life, no two journeys are the same. Where we started off, and where we end, is not linear. Many of our paths take twists and turns in order for us to reach our end goal. When we look back, what did it look like back then, and where are we now – did we take enough risks? Did we take a leap of faith?

We can say the same about a path into the data industry; no two journeys are alike, and they are definitely not linear – but where do we start? What are the possible roles that one can find in data, and do we need to be a mathematician or a statistician to make the move? How can we apply the skills we have today with a career in data to make the move?

Speakers and Topics

Our maiden virtual event kicked off at 18:00 with a warm welcome to our attendees from Juliette Aucamp and some exciting new announcements about the move into the Non-Profit Organisation by Tina Rosario.

We welcomed Anastasia Dobasis as our first speaker.  Her talk “One Year in Data – A Binary Decision?” gave many of our members, who are entering the world of data, an insightful and personal look into her journey. She took us through what she found helpful, who she found supportive, and last but not least, what her recommendations and insights would be for our members.

Our second speaker was Dr. Michael Weichert, who heads up central analytic and business partnering at Vodafone Germany. Michael gave an insightful talk about the crucial roles in data, outside of the Data Scientist view from a mathematician, or a statistician, which are also just as important, in translating business requirements into tangible, technical requirements for a Data Scientist, and translating the code for business, in order to make advanced analytics projects successful in business.

About Our Chapter

Our chapter is renowned for its networking. We welcome quite a few regular members, and many of our new members state how welcome they feel. This is our identity. COVID-19 thrust us into another dimension, in that we had to explore alternative methods of hosting meetups and understanding the impact that this would / could have on our members.  We won’t lie, we were a little apprehensive about this maiden voyage; there are so many things that could go wrong – so we did what we always do, and planned and practiced until we were comfortable. This means we had two dry runs – figuring out what would happen with many IF-THEN scenarios.

Some key points we would share about hosting a virtual event, which may seem to be “common sense” – but you never know…

1. Always have a second host.
2. If there are any technical difficulties with any of the hosts, then there should be a plan in place in how to deal with it. Nothing more frustrating than having a person chat away – and we only hear every 4^th word or so.
3. Have music in the beginning, it stops that “awkward silence” moment when people sign in.
4. Have a waiting room, if the app allows, at least until the time your event is set to start. If early birds sign in while you are still chatting about how to deal with scenarios, it becomes a little…well, awkward.
5. Know who is presenting what. Have backups of slides in case one of your talkers’ connections becomes too problematic. It eases the connection if there is someone else who can take over the presentation mode
6. We do debriefs immediately after the event. Normally this is after our last member has left; however, as we were quite a chatty bunch, I would recommend having a second meeting link where the team can sign into to discuss how things went, what to do at the next event etc.

Dusseldorf chapter Meetup