People of Earth (Specifically Conference Organizers, Publishers, and Speakers):
So, hey, there has been a renewed kerfuffle on teh Internets about who is included in speaker lists and bylines and why. People said things that made other people uncomfortable.
Excellent.
No one should feel comfortable with the current state of things. That state being seeing the same faces —of typically white, typically dudes—again, and again, and again.
Conference organizers and publishers, I do not think you are racist. And I do not think you are woman-haters. I think you are probably very nice people. I think you are good to your friends, your girlfriends, your wives, your children. I think you hire and treat your employees fairly and well.
I think you are lazy and irresponsible.
It is your personal prerogative to hold a conference or publish a book or magazine featuring whomever you choose. It is your professional duty to reach outside your existing circle of friends and colleagues, outside of your snug familiar comfort zone to find new voices and new perspectives.
Are you doing this to shape the industry and the culture, or do you just want to have a beer with your most famous friends and feel validated because you got sponsors for it? If you are only surrounding yourself with people you already know, you are doing yourself a disservice. Reach out, and reach out before someone calls you out. You will win, personally and professionally, if you do.
I am also looking at you, organizers of lady-only conferences. At least the events that end up with an all-male roster aren’t exclusionary by design. A slumber party is no better than a bro-down.
Speakers, if you are already on the circuit, encourage people who aren’t and mentor them. I know a lot of you who do, so thanks for that.
And now, my most urgent plea is to those of you who are present, but not represented. Why aren’t you out there? Why are you giving these folks the excuse to say, “But I don’t know any [insert category here].”
Are you afraid of getting on stage? I have seen A-listers who pack rooms go down in flames. They lived to get top billing again, and they were better the next time.
And I have seen total unknowns wow near-empty houses and make everyone who wasn’t there sorry.
Get a buddy to focus you, to edit you, to give you notes, to hype you. And get the hell out there.
Are we clear here? Great. Now let’s all be awesome out there.
| 
19 comments so far. Add yours below.
Jeremy Fuksa: Creative Generalist says:
Well said. And, ever though I'm a white dude, I'm still inspired to try harder and get out there sooner than later.
But yes, let's diversify.
May 18, 2010 12:42 PM
Rick Mason says:
While I can't speak for everyone, we work very hard at FITC to diversify both our speakers and attendees. There are a number of underlying issues here that go well beyond the ability of conference organizers to achieve diversity.
Based on my own experiences with various schools around Toronto most new media/interactive type programs have roughly a 50/50 gender split in both design programs and closer to 60/40 in development. Yet somehow when you go into many of the studios and agencies around the city it's more like 90% male and 10% female. Somewhere between college and work many women are either moving in different directions or not being given entry level jobs. And of the ones who are out there working, their companies often opt to send the people holding more senior positions, who are typically male.
For the past few years we've run a very successful (and sometimes criticized) initiative that gives away tickets to women who might not otherwise be able to attend. See http://www.fitc.ca/women/ for details. This year we held a few meetups for these women to discuss the reasons they felt they needed these free tickets in order to attend our event. Hopefully we'll be able to share some of this info soon.
As for speakers, the few women who do speak at our events are fantastic, but the one thing they've all made quite clear is you can't invite someone simply because they are female or a minority. They have to be the best at what they do, that's the only criteria. To that I'd echo your closing point, "those of you who are present, but not represented. Why aren’t you out there?" We're looking for you, don't hesitate to send an email to say, "Hey, I want to speak about xyz because I'm really good at it."
We're very conscious of this issue and spend a lot of time thinking about and acting on ideas about how to resolve it. Unfortunately I think much of this problem is much deeper rooted than simply laziness on the behalf of conference organizers.
May 18, 2010 1:11 PM
Micki Krimmel says:
Personally, I do think a slumber party is way better than a bro-down. But seriously. I have to agree with your sentiment that most conference organizers are lazy. This is why we get the same shit over an over again. I'm sick of hearing the same damn people say the damn shit. Featuring more diverse speakers not only makes a positive impact on our industry and culture in general - it also makes more better conferences!
May 18, 2010 2:12 PM
Alexandra says:
I am 98% with you -- the industry really needs to start addressing its diversity problems, like yesterday. It's a huge issue that, as a minority in several ways, I feel the reality of every day.
The one bit where I disagree is your comparison of an all-female conference to an all-male one -- that's a false equivalence given the male dominance of the game industry and its group functions. Exclusive spaces (such as for women) offer many positives for the minority / marginalized groups they serve, and these should not be thrown away in some knee-jerk impulse toward "equality." Reality is more complex than that, so sometimes a "slumber party" is just what's called for.
May 18, 2010 3:01 PM
Colin Barrett says:
This is an excellent point, guys.
Although for me, I'm less upset that they are all white dudes (although I'm pretty tired of the industry's assumption that all programmers are college males who TOTALLY WANT A FREE XBOX AT THE OFFICE, BRO) and more about the fact that they're all experienced speakers — where are the first time speakers? Where's the lightning talks about cool shit you've never heard of?
For example, C4 (RIP) was always really, really good about this, especially in its last incarnation with all the wonderful Blitz talks.
May 18, 2010 3:25 PM
charles says:
@Alexandra: Spaces for minority/marginalized groups are great, until they become exclusive. Not all men support the dominant structure and not all women seek to equalize it. Excluding people based on their gender (or ethnicity, religion, etc...) is myopic no matter what side of that structure you are on. Trust me, you want to include as many people as possible.
May 18, 2010 3:31 PM
Jasher Scott says:
I don't know if anyone visited that 100 Things Carsonified link in the post above, but it's not a total sausagefest. They do have a tenth speaker -- Angela Benton. She's a Black woman who runs Black Web 2.0. But do they have her picture up there with the rest of the male speakers? NOPE. Just a silhouette with "Coming Soon" written over it.
In a way, that's a telling metaphor with how a lot of conferences handle any sort of "commitment to diversity" when it comes to people of color or women. It's "coming soon", which is a convenient way of saying "thank you for expressing your opinion about our conference and the speakers; we will thinking about changing a practice which already makes money and earns press for us sometime around the twelfth of never".
And even though there are conventions out there like SXSW and BlogHer and Blogging While Brown which either include diversity as part of their credo or are strictly for women or people of color, it's not enough to address the problem, because it's a trickle down effect. The larger conferences end up reflecting the notion that the design and tech world is largely a White male game, and women and people of color are not invited or included.
It's 2010. At this stage of the game, people need to stop talking and start doing, because paying lipservice to diversity is just as bad as overtly dismissing it.
May 18, 2010 3:59 PM
KJB says:
Yay!!!!
Where do I sign up for the next Mule Organized Conference?
I'm sure it has to be a lot easier that it sounds.
... possibly even an "example" roster? If you build it ... they will come?
May 18, 2010 4:00 PM
Alvin Borromeo says:
As an organizer of an Ignite event in Columbus, OH, we open up speaking opportunities to anyone on any topic. The breakdown of men to women presenting is typically 4:1. Unfortunately, our next event we will have 9 to 10 male speakers and only 1 female speaker. We would love to have an even mix, but sadly that is not the case. Maybe next time.
May 18, 2010 4:26 PM
Rachel Luxemburg says:
Putting up a call for speakers and waiting for new, diverse speaker submissions to roll in is setting yourself up to fail.
It's a lot more time and effort to go out looking for new presenters than it is to wait for them to come to you, but that's what's needed.
May 18, 2010 6:00 PM
Alexandra says:
@Charles
I might trust you on that if my experiences as a societal/game biz minority (female, LGBT) had not shown me how valuable exclusive spaces can be, whether they are professional interest groups, discussion venues, straight-up support groups, etc.
Again (to stick with the gender example), there is a huge disparity between the relative power and influence of men and the relative power and influence of women in both the larger society and in the game industry, so it's not appropriate to compare an exclusive space/event for a privileged group with an exclusive space/event for a marginalized group, as the OP did. Apples and oranges.
It's a little surprising to me that some find the idea of a space where game-biz women can converse amongst themselves controversial. To make an analogy, I am a white person who strives to be a good anti-racist ally but I do not feel entitled to insert myself into meetings meant for people of color, where my presence (and all of the white privilege I unavoidably drag in with me), despite my good intentions, would inevitably change the tone of the proceedings. That'd be their space, not mine. As a supportive ally I would want to respect that.
So I respectfully disagree, and ask that you trust me on this one instead. ;)
May 19, 2010 3:18 AM
Chris Heilmann says:
Again with this topic? I had a few rows with conference organizers about this and I have to say it gets stale and sanctimonious.
I inspired a friend to organize some events that actually fight the root of the issue - fear of speaking http://speakingoutevents.com/about/ which is much more abundant in women than in men it seems.
You are right about the slumber party thing though. I am also very afraid of bad female speakers being chosen to fulfill a quota. My own conference scriptingenabled.org had more female than male speakers. The reason - the human topic.
May 19, 2010 3:35 AM
Alex Grinyayev says:
Nice PR stunt attempt. Let's call everybody lazy and stupid because it doesn't fit your idea of diversity. "Hire Us" link in top navigation becomes obsolete very quickly with this sort of logic.
May 19, 2010 6:50 AM
Jasher Scott says:
@Alexandra: I completely agree with you. Charles' statement of "spaces for minority/marginalized groups are great, until they become exclusive" is steeped in White male privilege. John Smithing your way into minority/marginalized spaces is a quick way to have you set up as a pariah, not a champion. As an LGBT person of color, I share your sentiment.
@Rachel: I refuse to believe it's worth any more time or effort for conference organizers to recruit speakers of color when Twitter is up and running (most of the time, anyways). You would be surprised how quickly a tweet calling for minority and/or female speakers would get picked up. Studies are showing that Twitter not only has high adoption rates by women, but by people of color as well. It's kind of a no-brainer now, y/y?
@Chris: The topic would not attract sanctimony if more conference organizers would actually follow through on their empty promises for more gender and racial diversity. It's a very simple problem to fix; it probably gets stale because it's hard to innovate. I also highly doubt that "fear of speaking" is the root of the issue. Many calls for speakers are not put out through channels that women or people of color might frequent, so it's hard to capitalize on an opportunity when you didn't even know it existed. Step out of the box.
@Alex: I have to say, statements like that are what make it hard for well-meaning people asking the tough questions to demand accountability from their peers. It's almost as if challenging someone on what appears to be an obvious bias is just a self-aggrandizing measure instead of a movement for change. How gauche.
May 19, 2010 7:23 AM
Beth says:
You've just said everything that's been on my mind in regards to this subject, way more politely and eloquently than I ever could. Thanks for this, I hope it reaches the right people. There are so many talented women in design who get overlooked because they are too busy designing to talk themselves up.
Often times organizers for events say they would have more women speakers if there were more women to fill the spots, which I think is a load of crap. It means you aren't looking hard enough. I believe it will be better for the industry as a whole for women to get more (and equal) exposure. I can't tell you how many jobs I've had where clients or stakeholders were surprised to be dealing with a woman, and there's really only one way to put an end to that.
Lastly, I don't think we can count SXSW as an example of diversity. If anything the crowd sourcing has made panels a popularity contest. Look at the ratio of women speakers, it's almost as though women speakers have to be speaking about a topic specifically for women, or have to be associated with a more famous man in the industry be on a panel.
May 19, 2010 3:59 PM
Jasher Scott says:
@Beth: 1/3 of SXSW's panel selection is crowdsourced; you're right about that. But even when panels are chosen, SXSW has a five factor system for having people choose their panelists. The acronym is VOWEL, which stands for variety, opinion, women, ethnicities, and location. With thousands of qualified women and people of color in the new media industry, I think it's great that a conference like SXSW requires that their crowdsourced programming portion have diversity in gender and race. This year, there were definite tracks for people of color, the LGBT community, and women.
I can't speak on the other 2/3 of programming though.
May 19, 2010 4:06 PM
Beth says:
@Jasher I appreciate your insights, I didn't know how much went into the selection process. While I think it's great they have tracks for LGBT community etc, personally I'd rather see more women and LGBT folks included in the regular programming. It's nice that there is a space created, but I'm not a separatist, we want to be represented by women and the LGBT community in other panels too!
May 19, 2010 4:41 PM
Jones says:
You should be faceless/faithless/colourless and sexless. If you are good enough at your chosen field, it should not matter if you are a male/women/moneky
Positive discrimination is the WORST way to 'fix' the issues you seem to have. It is counter intuitive and builds resentment.
In this current age, there is no reason why anyone can not be the best web designer or coder. You can find everything you need online.
For those who say they would like to see more of this and more of that talking at these events.... Stop compartmentalising people in this way. You are not defined by the color of your skin or you sex. Its what you do that matters and how well you do it.
May 20, 2010 12:54 PM
Jasher Scott says:
@Jones: If we truly lived in a faceless/faithless/colorless/sexless society, I would agree with you. But we don't. And it's a bit naive to imagine that sort of utopia instead of dealing with the issue at hand. Oy, this could easily spin into a whole 'nother conversation independent of the OP, so I've said my peace.
May 20, 2010 11:59 PM