We care about diversity at conferences and events because we want them to be better for everyone.
Sign the diversity charter to show that you care too.
All too often we see conference and event lineups full of the same or similar people, we don’t want that anymore. We want diversity.
Diversity refers to a wide range of visible and non-visible characteristics; it’s about valuing variety, welcoming a range of backgrounds and opinions and embracing the benefits that differences bring. We believe that a diverse set of people on stage and in audiences will improve events and will ultimately change the industries they represent for the better.
We know that it takes more effort to increase diversity at events and we will show our commitment to making that happen by signing this charter.
This charter is for event organisers, speakers, individuals, employers, sponsors and venues. By signing this charter, you are committing to highlighting where there is a lack of diversity at events and doing what you can to make things better.
Event organisers
You can make better events for your participants by working harder to create a more inclusive environment. By signing this charter, you are committing to seeking ways to create better events by increasing the diversity of the people on stage as well as in the audience. You can use these ideas to help you. Once you sign the charter, you’ll get a logo to add your website to show your commitment to diversity.
Event speakers, individuals, employers, sponsors and venues
Influence diversity at conferences by being mindful of who is speaking and what the conference is doing to promote diversity. By signing this charter, you are committing to encouraging event organisers to consider making events diverse, highlighting when they aren’t and helping where you can. (We encourage giving people the benefit of the doubt and working with them rather than calling them out publically)
Speakers
Choose not to speak at events that will not commit to creating diverse events.
Individuals
Choose not to attend and/or fund events that will not commit to creating diverse events.
Employers
Choose to not send employees to as audience members, speakers or panel members to events that will not commit to creating diverse events.
Sponsors
Choose not to fund events that will not commit to creating diverse events. You make sure you have a diverse range of people representing your organisation at events you sponsor.
Venues
Work with event organisers to ensure you are meeting diverse needs. Choose to not host events that will not commit to creating diverse events.
The most recent signatories
Barbara Ondrisek
Women And Code
Alyssa P Wright
Rade Zivanovic
In my experience lack of diversity leds to one-sided, and I would argue also shortsighted views, decisions, culture, products... It might seem that including everyone is costly and takes time, but what is the cost of not doing so?
Simon Collison
Obvious Things Ltd
We run a large event in Nottingham, called New Adventures, returning in 2019 after a five-year hiatus. https://newadventuresconf.com/2019/ / @naconf.
As part of our increased commitment to inclusivity, we hope to reach a more diverse audience with each event. This time, we're encouraging applications for one of our diversity tickets. It is essential that we reach a more diverse audience.
We can and should encourage attendance from practitioners representative of minority groups under-represented in the industry. Offering diversity tickets is one way of demonstrating this commitment. We ourselves are providing thirty tickets, but we're actively seeking to offer more with ticket matching and sponsorship initiatives.
Misa Ogura
Women Driven Development
“To achieve equal representation within tech professionals, we must provide more opportunities for all gender minorities and leaders in tech to connect, to work together and discover talent first-hand.”
WDD brings gender minorities and leaders in tech together, to share knowledge, experiences and to create real connections, promoting sponsorship through hackathons, practical sessions and events.
Michele Playfair
YOW! Conferences
Platitudes are cheap. We’ve all heard services say they’re committed to “diversity” and “tolerance” without ever getting specific, so here’s our stance on it:
We welcome you.
More information on our policies and diversity efforts here: https://yowconference.com.au/policies/
We're not claiming to be perfect and we're making an effort to constantly improve, with the help of initiatives such as the Diversity Charter, and feedback from our community.
Jan-Christoph Borchardt
Open Source Diversity
I try to push representation and inclusion in the communities and conferences I’m involved in. I’m taking part in initiatives pushing diversity & inclusion, especially in the field of free & open source software. Whenever invited for an event or talk, I’m recommending relevant people from underrepresented groups to also be invited.
… see who else has signed the charter so far
We offer programming courses for women* in Vienna. With this initiative we are fostering diversity in IT jobs.