October Girl Geek Dinner recap: Brana Malobabic-Giancristofaro from Mon Roi

Our October Montreal Girl Geek Dinner was held at Capriccio Restaurant in Old Montreal where we were graciously hosted by Stephen Walsh and Chef Rich Tajiouti.

This evening featured an in-depth presentation by Brana Malobabic-Giancristofaro who covered all the bases of how to create a start up and in particular, how her company, Mon Roi came to be. It was a passionate, organized and very well-organized presentation which referenced many top business thinkers, philosophers and psychologists.

First off, Brana showed the group a video spoke to the global interest that there is for this game and how Mon Roi helps to deliver a powerful solution for managing the data behind chess.

Brana provided us with the history of Mon Roi and detailed her idea on how to transition the cumbersome paper-based system for tracking chess moves to that of using a PDA to do so and to make this information electronic. She developed a secure prototype of a PDA and was told by many “Good Luck” as she had to gain the approval of the World Chess Federation as well as 10 committees. Brana took their response of “No” to be “Not yet” and continued to persist.  Demonstrating a strong analogy between business and chess, Brana spoke of the strategy behind asking why you want something and then creating the tactical moves to achieve your goal.

Brana provided our group with 15 tips for entrepreneurs and in short a few noteworthy ones include:
- Find meaning
- Believe and act
- Dare - Get rid of your fears
- Be adaptable
- Build trust
- Network
- Trust your intuition
- Keep it simple
- Embrace your values

For more information about MonRoi™ Inc, please visit http://monroi.com/

Here are the slides from Brana's presentation if you're interested in reading more. There

are many valuable links in this presentation and she recommends many great books to check out.

GGD Start Up Business Strategies

View more presentations from MonRoi.

Recap : September Event with Rachel Dhawan (Brazen Design) & Aleece Germano (The S.W.A.P Team)

At long last I have some time to write up a few of the recent Montreal Girl Geek Dinner events. I have to say thank you and the participants for their patience in waiting for me to get this together.

Here's the first of three to get us all up to date.

Back in September, we had a great time visiting The S.W.A.P Team's "Take Off Your Clothes" clothing swap at Piknic Electronik- Parc Jean Drapeau and lending our support for such a super cause. Rachel Dhawan, of Brazen Design was on hand to give fashion consultations and help folks out in putting together some fab outfits. If you missed out on attending this event, then please don't miss out on next year's. Trust me. There was much swag to be traded and for those of us who made it out, we were blown away with the selection available. All of the remaining 4000 pieces were donated to the Salvation Army and 1945 items were swapped. Wow!

A few weeks after the swap, we hosted our September talk at 'the' local co-working space Station C. Aleece gave us a recap of the "Take Off Your Clothes" events in Montreal and Toronto and covered how the organization and idea came to be, how the events work, the successes and benefits realized through the creation of this organization and its future plans for growth. With chapters springing up throughout North America and hearing the stories of effective change and connection that is coming from The S.W.A.P Team, we're certain that this is only the beginning for this group.

Rachel Dhawan, bling-mistress and founder of Brazen Design spoke to our group about on "How to Look Good and Buy Local". It was clear to see that this is one of her passions and that she is the human google of the Montreal local fashion set as she fielded some great questions from the crowd on where to find the most sought after and difficult to fit pieces (ie: jeans, boots). Rachel spoke about numerous local fashion designers, what each was known for and gave mention to the local stores that stock their products. I was so pleased to see her encourage our support of these local shops and designers in keeping business local for numerous economic and environmental reasons. Rachel also gave mention to many of the local fairs that happen here in Montreal where these designers are known to sell their wares as well as several online Canadian retailers.

Rachel also be gave us a rundown of her top ten must haves and described the best fit for each and what to pair these items with. It was an information-packed evening but really demonstrated that this girl is geeky about fashion and loves to share this with the local community.

For those who missed Rachel's talk, here's her slides for you to check out.

Buy Local in Montreal

View more documents from BrazenDesign.

Survey time - Questions in anticipation of the November WordPress event

Thinking of attending WordPress for Montreal Girl Geeks on Nov. 24? We'd really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes and answer some questions we have for you in this survey http://bit.ly/oQXan

Thanks so much!

November Girl Geek Event- WordPress for Girl Geeks with Shannon Smith & Kathryn Presner

This November, our event will focus on the joys of WordPress and provide participants with a great overview of this blogging platform. 



This workshop is aimed at both beginning and established bloggers who want to kick their WordPress-driven site up a notch. Whether you're itching to better understand how themes work, need help wrangling widgets, or would like plug-in advice, this hands-on presentation is for you. We'll go spelunking in the WordPress admin panel, offer tips for better blogging, look at how to enhance interaction with your readers, and provide some valuable WordPress resources for further exploration. There will be time for Q&A, so come bearing your thorniest WordPress questions - and don't worry, no query is too basic!


Our presenters for the evening: 

Shannon Smith is the founder of Café Noir Design Inc. a small boutique web design company in the Montreal area specializing in bilingual web design. She supports web standards, semantic markup, microformats, open source products, and sustainable business practices. Shannon works with a number of PHP/MySQL content management systems to create clean, minimalist designs, that adhere to W3C standards. She also holds graduate degrees in journalism and psychology. Also a foodie and mother of two.


Kathryn Presner of Zoonini Web Services does a lot more than simply create attractive websites – she delivers custom-designed solutions tailored to her clients' goals. For over a decade, Kathryn has built unique sites that work well, look fabulous, and are easily found in search-engine results, by combining an eye for design with a focus on ease-of-use and intuitive navigation. Her latest project – built with WordPress – is When Bad Websites Happen to Good People, a ten-part series created with frequent collaborator A.C. Riley that aims to help save folks from the common pitfalls of bad websites.



The details:


When: 6 pm on November 24, 2009
Where: Station C, 5369 Saint-Laurent #430
RSVP: in the comments or on Facebook

After the talk we will head over to a nearby restaurant and continue to socialize (location to be determined so if you have a suggestion let us know at the event). Oh and if you're prone to getting snacky, please bring along some munchies. 

Montreal Girl Geek Dinner October: Brana Malobabic-Giancristofaro

Start-up business strategies for Girl Geeks

Brana is coming to Girl Geek Dinners to present a case study of MonRoi Inc launch and operations. She will touch on how to develop ideas into a business, some of the most common start-up mistakes, and some unique ways to grown your business.

Brana Malobabic-Giancristofaro , B.Sc.EE, runs a Technology Company that Webcasts Chess Tournaments Live Around the World. Prompted by a lifelong passion for chess, Brana founded MonRoi, a high technology and Internet company that specializes in patented live chess webcast system and wireless devices for score keeping. An expert in new technology development and marketing, she oversees day-to-day operations of the company, which enables spectators to follow chess tournaments in real-time on the Internet. Brana attributes the success that she enjoyed as an entrepreneur to her drive to innovate, curiosity and open-mindedness. Recognizing the value of chess as a fun way to help children develop planning, analytical thinking and decision-making skills, educators around the world gradually began to introduce the game into their classrooms.

For more information about MonRoi™ Inc, visit http://monroi.com/

Date: Wednesday Oct 28th, 2009
Time: 6pm - 8pm
Place: Capriccio Restaurant - 17 rue Notre-Dame West, Montreal [map]

September Girl Geek Dinner: Part deux

Saturday's fashion consultations by Brazen Design at the S.W.A.P. Team's "Take Off Your Clothes" event were a smashing success! Rachel recapped some of her favorite finds on her blog and the S.W.A.P team did an impressive job documenting the whole event on their Facebook page. Don't forget that there is still one more day to swap clothes, so head down tomorrow to check it out!

To follow up on sustainable fashion theme we're going to have Rachel Dhawan from Brazen Design and Things that go Bling and Aleece Germano from the S.W.A.P Team come talk with us at Station C. Aleece will recap the S.W.A.P Team's "Take Off Your Clothes" event and Rachel will talk about the hows and whys of buying local. Rachel will also be featuring her top ten must haves & feature some of her favorite local designers.

When: 7 pm on September 16th, 2009
Where: Station C, 5369 Saint-Laurent #430 [map]
RSVP: in the comments or on Facebook

After the talk we will head over to a local watering hole and continue to socialize. Location to be determined. If you have a suggestion let us know.

Hope to see you all there!

We're back! September Girl Geek Dinners

It's been a lovely restful summer and now Girl Geek Dinners is back for the Fall season.

There is a chill in the air and the fall fashions are out. This September we wanted to talk about being a conscious consumer and keeping fashion close to home, all while being fabulously fashion forward. To help us out we have invited Rachel Dhawan of Brazen Design and Things That Go Bling to do two events.

The first event on Saturday September 5th will be in conjunction with the S.W.A.P. team 'Take Off Your Clothes' event at Piknic Electronik on Parc Jean Drapeau. Rachel will be on hand from 4-7pm for free on-site consultations - helping people on a first-come first-serve basis to pull together the perfect outfit. We'll also have some picnic blankets ready for some socializing so come down and say hi!

When: Saturday September 5th
Hours: 4-7pm
Where: Place de l’homme at Piknic Electronic on Parc Jean Drapeau [Map]
Price: Entrance to the Piknic Electronik is $10


The second event will be a few weeks later (date and location to be determined) where Rachel will talk about the hows and whys of buying local. She will also be featuring her Top Ten Must Haves & Where to buy them locally & her Top Ten Fashion Faux Pas.



Rachel Rachna Dhawan is the owner of Brazen Design, a line of big bad silver bling. She launched her business as well as her local fashion blog, Things That Go Bling, in June 2007. Things That Go Bling showcases Rachel’s passion for local fashion through features of local boutiques, designers and sales events, as well as fashion tips and street style specials.





The S.W.A.P. Team is a non-profit organization founded by Aleece Germano and Nicole Picard. Through its clothing swap event Take Off Your Clothes, the group endeavours to promote sharing as an antidote to overconsumption while increasing awareness of the human and natural resources involved in the creation, transportation and marketing of mass-produced consumer goods.