I am not just booth fluff, I am part of a team

It is interesting being female in a male dominant field and how sometimes people don’t think I know anything about it. I know that it is slowly changing, but it is still something that I run up again time and time again. Over the last few years, I have been part of a team that runs a community booth at a security conference. Of course, the ratio of staff in the booth is 3:1, but that doesn’t bother me because I can handle myself when it comes to working in this booth.

Something that does bother me is when someone comes up and wants to talk to the person that is running the booth and when I say it’s me, they don’t seem to understand that. Yes, when it comes to running this community booth, I am the one that is responsible for staffing the booth and ensuring that it is staffed through the entire time of the conference.

Being part of a community that does have quite a few females that attend the community meeting is nice. There are times when being someone that has been part of this community for over a decade can also be a challenge because I just become part of the group and am not seen as being female. One of the local events, one of the women stood up and said she had talked to all the other women that were there, and she thought it was great seeing so many. Well, after she did that, I walked up to her privately and informed you that she hadn’t talked to me that evening, and I am also female.

When you see someone that is working in a booth at any conference, remember that they are doing a job within the booth. Sure, there can be times that a person is used as a means of getting attention to that booth, but that is becoming less and less popular because that does cost money and how much actual business do you get out of that expense.

Being part of a team is very important, and respecting all team members is also important. It doesn’t matter who you are talking to at a booth, remember that you don’t know their role within the community or organization. Something that I always try and strive to do is make sure that anyone that is doing booth duty receives respect because it is a hard job and no, I am not just booth fluff, I am part of a team.