Something has been bugging me all week here at Tech Ed: there is an amazing number of ‘good looking people’ wandering around the conference floor. Now, that normally wouldn’t be a bad thing, if you have good looks, then go ahead and strut your stuff. But you see, most of these people are ‘sales people’ or you may more commonly hear them referred to as ‘booth babes’.

When I attend a large conference, I make it a point to wear comfortable shoes. Why? The volume of walking that I do from session to session is absolutely killer on my feet. I leave these events and always have fresh blisters on my feet from the enormous amount of walking that I do. These ‘booth babes’ do no walking at all…

Hence my theorem: If you are not wearing comfortable shoes at a technical conference, then I don’t really want to speak to you. You don’t have the technical knowledge that I want to exchange ideas with. It’s fine for you to attend, bring attention to your company, and attract a group of people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not intimidated or upset with your presence. I just have better things to do with my time.

For those organizations that hire more than 1 to operate their sales booth on the expo floor, you are communicating to me that you have NO technical content, and NO technical experts that want to talk to your future customers. That’s okay too, you’ve just made my choice in selecting vendors much easier.

I have two daughters that I want to mature and enter a technical industry and be successful. These stereotypes and chauvinistic practices are a bit sad for me, as I don’t want them to think they need to be compared to the ‘booth babe’ There are many strong women in our field, and those are the women that I want my girls to be like. These women are smart, happy, successful, and most of all: wearing comfortable shoes