[youtube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx1uSYSHUTs>]
Chicas Poderosas Miami 2014 – Bringing Creativity and Community to the Table
Chicas Poderosas-Miami was by far the most ambitious event Chicas ever launched. This time for the 9th event, about 100 Chicas Poderosas came from 11 countries to share their knowledge. They created 11 interactive stories with great impact on the community.

Chicas Poderosas is made of what its members and supporters bring to the table. Since the initiative was launched last year, we’ve witnessed increasing engagement – from the speakers, who donate their time and energy to help us improve the quality and impact of online journalism, and from the Chicas Poderosas who, thanks to everyone’s whole-hearted participation, have become loyal members and evangelizers of our mission.

Chicas Poderosas-Miami was made possible with the help of a handful of people and companies who believe in this project and share the same goals. To begin with, ICFJ kept up a constant stream of social-media reports, sharing what the journalists and other Chicas Miami participants thought and said, on top of providing logistical support from Day 1. Having the deep trust and support of the Knight Foundation allowed us to bring more than 50 people from Latin America to attend this first Chicas event in the USA. Univision offered its headquarters for two days of talks and workshops. We were grateful for the amazing venue, which included technical support, and also for the kindness of the entire management team that was so involved and engaged with our cause. Rebekah Monson from the University of Miami also gave us a wonderful venue and food for all of the attendees. More than that, she contributed her deep understanding of the Miami community and the issues worth working on that could really engage and deeply connect with locals. And Miranda Mulligan from the Knight Lab brought her super-effective and skilful team to run the hackathon with Joe Germuska. This was definitely a game changer because the Knight Lab approach to hackathons sculpted the projects we came up with through experimentation, definition, development and presentation. This meant that the results were the best ever for a Chicas event.

Having the chance to work face to face with mentors such as Alberto Cairo, Alastair Dant, Miguel Paz, Roberto Rodriguez, Giannina Segnini, Roberto Hernandez, Chris Cross, Chrys Wu, the Knight Lab team and many others at one event is the main goal for Chicas Poderosas. This event gave us a special opportunity to put so many amazing people together to co-work and share their knowledge with journalists and professors from Latin America. It was made even more special by the creativity and teamwork that only comes from bringing together so many people with similar interests.

We believe that each person who joins this large family of Chicas Poderosas has valuable knowledge that can be contributed to the community of knowledge and experience. To allow others to experience the dynamics of the Chicas Miami event, we invited our attendees to present their own visions, dreams and projects through a series of Pechakuchas, small talks of five minutes. Also, all of the groups uploaded their Chicas Poderosas-Miami ideas on HackDash – http://cpmiami.hackdash.org/. You can track how these ideas and projects were developed and finally presented at the event. And you will be able to see how they develop in the future.

More talks and all of the projects will be showcased in posts on Chicas Poderosas’ Facebook page.
Chicas is about building a community based on sharing knowledge, skills and one other key ingredient: friendship. All of the Chicas Miami attendees stayed in a hostel which helped create many more bonds of friendship. The hostel was located on Ocean Drive, one of the most important streets of Miami and one of the most touristy areas. Thanks to this, our participants alternated the time they spent at the conference and in hackathons with walks on the beach and visits to other leisure venues. In addition to re-charging them, this helped to reinforce their commitment to each other, the event and to Chicas Poderosas.

Seeing the Chicas Poderosas community growing bigger and happier after each event tells us we are on the right path to improve journalism in Latin America. By training and mentoring journalists, designers and developers and encouraging them to share their skills, we definitely are bringing more women with tech knowledge and experience into newsrooms – our ultimate goal.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Chicas Poderosas Team
[youtube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx1uSYSHUTs>]
Chicas Poderosas Miami 2014 – Bringing Creativity and Community to the Table
Chicas Poderosas-Miami was by far the most ambitious event Chicas ever launched. This time for the 9th event, about 100 Chicas Poderosas came from 11 countries to share their knowledge. They created 11 interactive stories with great impact on the community.

Chicas Poderosas is made of what its members and supporters bring to the table. Since the initiative was launched last year, we’ve witnessed increasing engagement – from the speakers, who donate their time and energy to help us improve the quality and impact of online journalism, and from the Chicas Poderosas who, thanks to everyone’s whole-hearted participation, have become loyal members and evangelizers of our mission.

Chicas Poderosas-Miami was made possible with the help of a handful of people and companies who believe in this project and share the same goals. To begin with, ICFJ kept up a constant stream of social-media reports, sharing what the journalists and other Chicas Miami participants thought and said, on top of providing logistical support from Day 1. Having the deep trust and support of the Knight Foundation allowed us to bring more than 50 people from Latin America to attend this first Chicas event in the USA. Univision offered its headquarters for two days of talks and workshops. We were grateful for the amazing venue, which included technical support, and also for the kindness of the entire management team that was so involved and engaged with our cause. Rebekah Monson from the University of Miami also gave us a wonderful venue and food for all of the attendees. More than that, she contributed her deep understanding of the Miami community and the issues worth working on that could really engage and deeply connect with locals. And Miranda Mulligan from the Knight Lab brought her super-effective and skilful team to run the hackathon with Joe Germuska. This was definitely a game changer because the Knight Lab approach to hackathons sculpted the projects we came up with through experimentation, definition, development and presentation. This meant that the results were the best ever for a Chicas event.

Having the chance to work face to face with mentors such as Alberto Cairo, Alastair Dant, Miguel Paz, Roberto Rodriguez, Giannina Segnini, Roberto Hernandez, Chris Cross, Chrys Wu, the Knight Lab team and many others at one event is the main goal for Chicas Poderosas. This event gave us a special opportunity to put so many amazing people together to co-work and share their knowledge with journalists and professors from Latin America. It was made even more special by the creativity and teamwork that only comes from bringing together so many people with similar interests.

We believe that each person who joins this large family of Chicas Poderosas has valuable knowledge that can be contributed to the community of knowledge and experience. To allow others to experience the dynamics of the Chicas Miami event, we invited our attendees to present their own visions, dreams and projects through a series of Pechakuchas, small talks of five minutes. Also, all of the groups uploaded their Chicas Poderosas-Miami ideas on HackDash – http://cpmiami.hackdash.org/. You can track how these ideas and projects were developed and finally presented at the event. And you will be able to see how they develop in the future.

More talks and all of the projects will be showcased in posts on Chicas Poderosas’ Facebook page.
Chicas is about building a community based on sharing knowledge, skills and one other key ingredient: friendship. All of the Chicas Miami attendees stayed in a hostel which helped create many more bonds of friendship. The hostel was located on Ocean Drive, one of the most important streets of Miami and one of the most touristy areas. Thanks to this, our participants alternated the time they spent at the conference and in hackathons with walks on the beach and visits to other leisure venues. In addition to re-charging them, this helped to reinforce their commitment to each other, the event and to Chicas Poderosas.

Seeing the Chicas Poderosas community growing bigger and happier after each event tells us we are on the right path to improve journalism in Latin America. By training and mentoring journalists, designers and developers and encouraging them to share their skills, we definitely are bringing more women with tech knowledge and experience into newsrooms – our ultimate goal.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Chicas Poderosas Team