When I first joined the ranks of Nerd Nite bosses in 2013, I hit the ground running. One of the first ideas I had was to have an evening where we bring together some brilliant women from around town and celebrate their knowledge, experience and achievements in one evening. 2 years later, I finally was able to make it a reality and I couldn’t be happier with the success of the first “Nerd Nite Ladies Nite.”

-Ricardo Williams
Nerd Nite Orlando

Click here to view many more photographs from Ladies Nite: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.687481361357285.1073741859.350851321686959&type=3

My name is Ricardo Williams and for over the past 2 years, I have been organizing a little event called Nerd Nite here in Orlando, Florida. These days, I am in charge of every single aspect of the program, from all the backend work to hosting duties every month to plenty of specialty programming in-between. I absolutely love it. I tell people all the time that I’m glad to do all of it because “I’m Nerd Nite’s biggest fan”.

Being in the position that I’m in can very easily make Nerd Nite Orlando turn into “the Ricardo Williams Show” and that is exactly what I DON’T want. Nerd Nite was not created to serve the needs and desire of one, but many. So in an effort to create more work for myself, I started a new meetup within the Nerd Nite umbrella called “Town Hall”.

At Town Hall, nerds can hangout and have more of an intimate discussion; as well as present ideas, voice their opinions, and ask questions of the the Nerd Nite team.

I held the pilot event on Monday, June 29th at the Effin Amazing office and I am incredibly proud of the results. At the meetup, I announced upcoming programming from Nerd Nite, discussed other applications and programming via Nerd Nite, held an open discussion on what kind of topics should be presented at future Nerd Nites, and the evening finished off with the group voting on a Nerd Nite talk to watch from a different city. (Everyone in the group also submitted anonymous notecards about what they would like to enjoy at Nerd Nite in the future as well as what they do not like about Nerd Nite.)

The discussion (and debate) was incredibly useful feedback for me as an organizer because my goal is to make the best events possible and thanks to the support of so many of Orlando’s most passionate nerds I can continue to do that.

Nerd Nite will return on Thursday, July 9th at the Geek Easy with an all-female lineup of speakers. RSVP here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/362569213942412/