Hi everyone – Sarah here!

On Friday 1^st April, Microsoft DigiGirlz was held at the Sydney office; hosting 103 keen year 9 and 10 students and teachers from fifteen schools. DigiGirlz is designed to help young women gain a better understanding of a rewarding career in IT by inspiring them to "Be What's Next".  The girls experienced our technology first hand and heard from an all-star line up from across the business, including:

• An introduction from Pip Marlow who shared her experiences in the industry and the future of technology;
• An interactive careers panel including Q&A with Catherine Eibner, Ashley Jenkins and myself;
• Windows Phone 7 App Development Lab where the girls made an app with the help of Dave Glover, Catherine Eibner and Christian Longstaff - some of the girls didn't want to go home until Dave provided them with Market Place developer tokens!
• An inspiring talk from Michael Kordahi and an inside look at the future applications of technology - the girls were so passionate to become Developer Evangelists after his session!
• A fun filled Xbox and Kinect breakout session with Ashley Jenkins and Papu Hassan - even some of the teachers tested their moves with Dance Central!

We were really excited at the overwhelming response for DigiGirlz this year and look forward to a bigger, better DigiGirlz in 2012!

Shout out if you know a school that would like to be involved or let me know if you are keen to be on board next year!

Stay tuned…

Sarah