By volunteer writer Amy Freeman

In her everyday life, Banprit Taluja spends a lot of time focused on the cloud. She’s been working in IT for more than 18 years and has seen the cloud revolution up close: from how it’s changed the way people shop to how they consume media and entertainment.

On July 23, Banprit co-led a virtual Game Design with Flowcharts TechShop with other Capgemini coworkers. It was her first time teaching the topic but not her first time working with flowcharts. She uses them daily at work. She also has a middle-school-aged daughter, so is well-versed in the games that are popular with that age group these days.

Since the workshop was virtual, the girls who attended came from all over. Several were located across the U.S. while a few were in Canada. One girl participated from across the pond, in England. Banprit says her favorite part of the workshop was getting to interact with the girls from all different parts of the world.

While the virtual setting means girls can join in no matter where they are located, it also creates some issues not always found in in-person workshops. Banprit noted that it could be challenging at times to keep the girls focused, even though they were curious and had creative ideas.

She found that it was possible to spark interest by engaging the girls in discussions. Using breakout rooms to divide the participants up into smaller groups was also helpful in creating engagement and grabbing the girls’ attention.

Banprit’s advice for anyone who’s interested in leading the TechShop is simple. She recommends becoming familiar with the topic and relating the topic to yourself when explaining it to the girls.

She also recommends using ice breakers so everyone has a chance to share something about themselves before jumping into the workshop.

Interested in leading this workshop or another TechShop? You can find lesson plans here.