R-Ladies Chapters
Making Talks Work for Diverse Audiences

Federica Gazzelloni
R4DS Project Club
October 14, 2023

Welcome

Introduction

A bit about me 👋 Federica Gazzelloni

  • GitHub: @fgazzelloni
  • Freelancer Actuary and Statistician
  • Authoring a book titled Health metrics and the spread of infectious diseases, with machine learning applications and spatial model analysis CRC press.
  • IHME Collaborator
  • Mentor R4DS
  • R-Ladies Rome Organizer
  • Data Visualization practitioner

R-Ladies Chapters

R-Ladies Global is an inspiring community, full of empowerment, and diversity in the field of data science. Founded in 2012 by Gabriela de Queiroz, R-Ladies began as a grassroots movement with a simple mission: to promote gender diversity in the R programming community and provide a welcoming space for women and gender minorities to learn, collaborate, and excel in data science.

  • R-Ladies is now a world-wide organization with 219 chapters in 63 countries, more than 4000 events and about 93,000 members globally.

Why It Matters

Diverse audiences have unique needs and expectations. Understanding them is key to a successful presentation.

The Audience

Tailoring Your Message

  • Adapt your content
  • Use relatable examples
  • Engage with your audience

10 Years of Events

R-Ladies chapters began to sprout across continents, with passionate leaders setting up local groups in cities worldwide. Today, there are hundreds of chapters, each contributing to the mission in its unique way.

The highest number of events that occurred between 2019 and 2020 is mostly due to COVID-19 outbreaks around the world.

Case Studies

Let’s explore some real-world examples of effective talk customization for diverse audiences.

Case 1: Data Science Workshop

About 10% of the event titles mention the words: workshop|course|tutorial|introduction|introducción

  • Audience: A mix of beginners and experienced data scientists.
  • Customization: Started with foundational concepts for beginners and delved into advanced techniques for experts.

Case 2: RLadies Meeting

Only less than 1% of the event titles mention the word career, while 2.5% is dedicated to visualization.

  • Audience: Members from various backgrounds.
  • Customization: Varied the topics discussed to cater to the interests of different members.

A closer look at 2023 events

chapter title attendees
rladies-baltimore Visualization and analysis of spatial data 83
rladies-lima Modelos de Machine Learning utilizando Tidymodels 67
rladies-cuernavaca Tidyverse 56
rladies-milagro Taller de Estadística Descriptiva en R 53
rladies-st-louis Save the date! Introduction to Network Analysis in R 43
rladies-st-louis Save the date! Introduction to ChatGPT for R coding 41
chapter title attendees
20 rladies-salvador 5º Meetup Virtual R_Ladies Salvador 6
21 rladies-rome R-Ladies Rome - Meet and Greet, October 21st at 6:00 PM CET 5
22 rladies-sao-paulo Meetup R-Ladies São Paulo - Introdução ao R 5
23 rladies-abuja R-Ladies Abuja and Abuja R user Group Meet and Greet 4
24 rladies-kathmandu 4 days workshop 2
25 rladies-xalapa Introducción a R 0

Conclusion

Incorporating diversity into your presentations can have a profound impact on engagement and learning.

Thank you for joining us today!

Q&A

Any questions or comments?

github.com/Fgazzelloni/RLadies-Chapters-Making-Talks-Work-for-Diverse-Audiences