At &yet we strongly believe that a better world not only starts at an individual level but also requires the effort from all of us. As we share not only our work but also process in the open we’d also like to do so with the diversity strategy we’ve prepared for &yetConf.
Code of Conduct and harassment prevention
Apart from focusing on designing an unforgettable experience our first and foremost responsibility towards everyone is enforcing a safe, entirely harassment-free, inclusive environment.
The presence of a Code of Conduct is fortunately (albeit slowly) becoming a standard for the event industry. At &yetConf all attendees, speakers and staff are required to familiarize themselves with the Code and follow its rules—that includes the main event as well as fringe happenings and social get-togethers. The contents of the Code of Conduct can be found both at &yetConf and Geek Feminism sites.
Aware of copy-paste culture surrounding CoCs the staff will be sufficiently prepared to investigate and act upon possible incidents.
Gearing up on inclusivity
Now more than ever &yetConf aims to attract the most diverse crowd (speaker and attendee wise) not only in terms of gender, skin color, sexual orientation but also spanning across industries way beyond technology, including artists, educators, writers, and individuals representing a range of backgrounds. We want to challenge the status quo and invite whoever shares the values we believe in to join us. We believe doing so is the only way our values can even be achieved.
That effort cannot ever be one-sided. Despite voicing our invitation we are actively encouraging participation from underrepresented groups as well as working on implementing several inclusion strategies such as: having gender neutral restroom options, supplying them with toiletries, providing colour-coded lanyards symbolising photography consent or lack thereof, and deemphasising alcohol presence amongst others.
We want you there.
Ensuring accessibility
We’re committed to providing an equal opportunity of a full conference experience for those suffering from mobility, hearing or visual impairments. Venues will be wheelchair accessible and preferred seating will be reserved. We’re intending on arranging speech-to-text transcription on all the talks as well. (We’d love to get a sponsor for this—contact us if you’re interested!)
Furthermore we aim to cater for all dietary requirements of attendees, additionally offering pay-what-you-want chef-prepared meals for those with more severe digestive issues.
Families are more than welcome at &yetConf—apart from a significant others track, we have a family and kids track, and we’ll be making childcare available whenever necessary throughout the event.
Diversity scholarship and sponsorships
Similarly to our friends at JSConf.eu, we’ve set up a scholarship program allowing financial contributions towards the diversity ticket pool, offering a wide range of percentage-based backing options (25%, 50% and 100% of the ticket price) as well as full-fledged sponsorships (we will be announcing further details in just a few days).
(If your organization would be interested in supporting this effort, please do feel free to reach out to us now!)
These are only a few of the strategies we’ve established in pursuit of running the most inclusive, welcoming and unforgettable event we possibly could. There’s still a lot of work ahead of us. We know we will make mistakes but we are pouring our hearts ($16.38 value) into this and more than that—welcoming honest feedback as well.