Deirdre Straughan

Community Architect, Joyent

Workshop: The Changing Role of Technology Marketers

Deirdre Straughan has long acted on her belief that everything that touches the customer is marketing, including UI design, customer service, social media - and more. Working for tech companies large and small worldwide, she uses the latest tools to create new ways to interact with customers, online and offline. She has particularly focused on innovative uses of media, in recent years producing hundreds of technical videos for Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and Joyent, including live video streams. She currently lives in the Bay Area and works for Joyent as Community Architect for the SmartOS and illumos open source communities. Plays well with geeks (is one), and has taken an active role in supporting women in technology through Girl Geek Dinners, Women@Sun, and conference talks. A TCK, she went to boarding school in India, then got a BA in South Asian Studies and Languages from the University of Texas, and an MBA from the Open University. You can learn more on her blog beginningwithi.com, and she's @deirdres on Twitter.