Welcome back to The Hot Seat Podcast, the no-nonsense show for Microsoft Partners.
In this episode, I sat down with Pam Misialek, VP of Communities at Dynamic Communities, to talk about why Women in Tech at Community Summit outgrew the luncheon, and what changes when you build it into the whole week instead.
Pam has been pushing these conversations forward in the channel for as long as I've been going to Summit. Year after year, she and the Dynamic Communities team have made sure women have a space to be seen and heard, and I don't just mean a physical room. She also has a habit I really admire: she tries new things, tests them, and adjusts, even when it would be easier to stick with what's always been done.
Out of the Lunch, Into the Agenda
Pam's starting point was simple. Even with better representation in sessions, women still think differently and still face different challenges, and a lunch doesn't leave enough time to dig in. Her first idea was a paid pre-con. Then some powerful women in the community asked whether it was really such a great idea, and she rethought it.
The problem was the barriers. A pre-con means an extra day and an extra fee, and as Pam put it, "Women don't tend to spend money on themselves." Their company may not pay for it either. So she wove Women in Tech through the entire event instead: a good chunk of time together on day one, sessions all week, and more after Summit.
My take: this is what intentional looks like. Women still make up only 26 percent of the tech sector, and the answer isn't another add-on. It's making these conversations part of the main agenda, where everyone can get to them.
The Community Showed Up
Pam admits she was half surprised and half excited by the response. The Women in Tech track drew 90 strong submissions for 31 speaking spots, adding up to 11 hours of content. People are still emailing her to ask how they can get involved.
And it isn't a women-only zone. When a speaker wondered whether a session on owning your voice really counted as a women's topic, Pam's answer was that everyone faces that challenge, and women just tend to approach it differently. Bring in what your male counterparts have learned too, because "the whole idea is that we integrate together." Plenty of men come to these sessions and learn a lot. They should.
Find Your Tribe
One of my favorite moments was Pam admitting she never thought of what she had as mentorship. She had one person she'd go to for advice on asking for a raise, and another for figuring out how to lead for the first time. In her words, "I just have my little tribe of people."
That's exactly how I found mine: by going to Summit year after year and meeting new people, some of them at the very first Women in Tech luncheon I attended. Those women, plus more than 150 episodes of Women Talk Tech, became my book. If a formal mentorship program feels out of reach, start by finding your people.
She Builds: What Are We Going to Do About It?
She Builds started with Pam's small women's advisory group and an idea for TED-style talks. It became a series of five to seven minute talks: she builds a career, a network, leadership, her table at the company. The rule is that it can't just name the problem. As Pam put it, "It's more of what are we gonna do about it?"
I'd add one more: she builds her future, and a future for everyone around her. That matters, because the workplace was never built for women. We still carry more of the caregiving, whether it's kids, aging parents, or a sick spouse, and we've had to carve out our own way. Pam's dream is a standalone She Builds event someday. I'm in.
See You in Nashville
Community Summit runs October 11 to 15 in Nashville. She Builds kicks things off on Monday, and you'll find the Women in Tech sessions labeled in the app and on the agenda. Come to the lunch too. Pam is also running meetups in the jam session room, Tennessee C, for smaller groups, and the conversation continues after the event in the Women in Tech group on the Learners platform.
I'm speaking as well, on why AI won't fix the gender gap unless we do. Pam's challenge for all of us: don't come back to Summit in 2027 still stuck on the same problems.
