2x Speaker for the Grace Hopper Celebration 2023
PANEL SPEAKER AND WORKSHOP HOST | DISNEY REPRESENTATIVE
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR WOMEN AND NON-BINARY TECHNOLOGISTS
introduction
The Grace Hopper Celebration Of Women In Computing is the world's largest gathering of women and non-binary technologists. It is a conference focused on the research, achievements, career interests, and empowerment of women in computing.
Each year, the conference puts out a call for participation to gather speakers to round out the schedule for the week-long convention. Both students and professionals can send in ideas for specific types of sessions- host a workshop or networking session, give a Ted-Talk style presentation, or participating in moderated panels. Speakers have the opportunity to share their knowledge and inspire others by offering valuable perspectives and expertise on a wide rage of topics related to career growth, technical upskilling, leadership, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Thousands of speakers apply each year for the prestigious opportunity to share their story on the GHC stage.
The theme of this years conference was The Way Forward, a rallying cry for the tech industry to come together and create a more inclusive, equitable future. The Walt Disney Company was a platinum sponsor at GHC this year, bringing 300+ representatives from across company segments to connect with attendees. In addition to these representatives, 9 Disney employees were selected by GHC as speakers, including myself as one of the only presenters to appear twice on the schedule.
30k
Attendees
400+
Speakers
350+
Sessions
the opportunity
Speakers use their expertise to empower and inspire the next generation of women and non-binary technologists by showcasing their thought leadership on a global stage and make an impact by fostering dialogue, sharing knowledge, and championing change in the tech industry and beyond.
The following panel and workshop on Design Systems were crafted for a GHC audience to showcase careers and offer skills-building in a specific area of design that has been reshaping product design at big technology companies. Both sessions were designed for any experience level, relevant to attendees currently working on designs systems and also those simply interested in building scalable solutions by utilizing real-world examples in system thinking and designing at scale. Hundreds of technologists attended each session, exposed to new methods of design thinking to inspire them in their future work and career paths.
the panel
Ever thought about the similarities between a basketball tournament and a presidential election? About how a digital comic reader and an image gallery aren’t that different? To show system-thinkers how to turn questions like these into innovative user experiences, the workshop delves into a detailed accounts about building an operational Design System for sharing high-quality user experiences across Disney’s direct-to-consumer digital portfolio. The design system has led to previously unimagined enhancements in user experience for one of the most diverse product portfolios that exists, the details of which were covered during the panel. After spending 3+ years iterating on a platform-first approach with product and engineering partners at ESPN and Disney Entertainment, panelists introduce attendees to design system architecture and implementation through key projects, from launching a chat experience on ESPN Fantasy to re-platforming ABC News iOS and Android apps. Digging into the successes and failures of using a design system to create unified tech stacks on different engineering platforms, the panel details how this shared system approach created unique feature opportunities in sports, news and entertainment.
By the end of the conversation, which included a Q&A session, anyone interested in innovating across diverse product areas understood how to get started by using a well-built technology platform.
the workshop
To teach attendees how to craft a multi-brand design system, it was essential to share experiences scaling high-quality user experiences across a handful of the most iconic digital products at The Walt Disney Company. This allowed everyone to work from a shared understanding, with the added excitement of working with brands they loved. Then it was necessary to create activities that promoted collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills, reinforcing the importance of consistency and standardization within a design system. The agenda for the workshop was:
Introduce participants to the basic concepts of a multi-brand design system, utilizing real-world examples from implementing one at Disney.
Divide participants into groups to earn a series of badges by completing design tasks related to our brands (Marvel, ESPN, ABC, etc.).
Provide each group with an overview of each task and how it relates to design system thinking.
Give the groups a set amount of time (e.g. 5 minutes) to collaborate and complete each design challenge using design features we provided to them in Figma (utilizing the new variables feature released in summer 2023).
After the time is up, have each group present their solution and what they learned. Encourage feedback and discussion from the other groups on how the design elements could be improved or integrated into the overall design system.
End the workshop with a summary of the key takeaways after attendees have earned all their badges!
the impact
In total, the formal presentations lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes and the QA segments lasted 2 hours- professional attendees stayed behind to ask detailed questions on how to launch a design system within a complex corporate structure and students wanted to know more about how design systems fit into the product development cycle and what it’s like to work at Disney.
It was invigorating that design systems could spark new ideas in crowd with such diverse ages, backgrounds, and fields of interest- and the questions went beyond the event in LinkedIn conversations and emails. The conference asks attendees to fill out surveys after each session and responses stated that both those with and without design system experience felt that they learned new methods of design thinking that were not offered to them elsewhere at the event. Both the panel and the workshop were not just about design systems, but breaking down barriers between different fields in technology using system thinking.
