4 ms·

This article is kinda insulting. Panels and conferences suck when they're homogenous. They're banal and uninspiring because the perspectives are all too similar

This article is kinda insulting. Panels and conferences suck when they're homogenous. They're banal and uninspiring because the perspectives are all too similar. The reality is that they didn't work hard enough to find good quality presenters that represent the actual world we live and work in - one where people approach problem solving in myriad different ways that stem from their own history and experience. tl;dr - if you can't find women, POC for your conference, you didn't look hard enough.

okasaki 11y ago
I would be interested in hearing some examples of problem solving that are based on gender or the color of one's skin.
tyenl 11y ago
Does diversity of gender/race equate directly to diversity of content? Painting a conference as uninspiring solely based on what percentage of the panel are $demographic seems wrong. Are you suggesting that white males somehow all produce the same content?
- calibraxis 11y ago
  Bias favoring white males creates a culture of entitlement. Ever went to these mediocre conferences with mediocre talks? What unimaginative blokes organize them? Then take one considered magically good, like Strange Loop. Their excellence translations into excellent diversity work too: (http://bridgetconsulting.com/?p=131 http://bridgetconsulting.com/?p=131)
Alex3917 11y ago
> if you can't find women, POC for your conference, you didn't look hard enough. Part of the problem with finding more women and/or POC is that most conference organizers aren't looking for people at all; rather, they're looking for interesting projects/products/businesses. And what happens is they get a representative of that organization on the phone who agrees to send someone to present, but often they don't even know who will actually be getting on stage until much later. This obviously isn't true if you're getting a keynote speaker to talk about their career, but you only get one of those per event.

okasaki 11y ago

I would be interested in hearing some examples of problem solving that are based on gender or the color of one's skin.

tyenl 11y ago

Does diversity of gender/race equate directly to diversity of content? Painting a conference as uninspiring solely based on what percentage of the panel are $demographic seems wrong. Are you suggesting that white males somehow all produce the same content?

calibraxis 11y ago
Bias favoring white males creates a culture of entitlement. Ever went to these mediocre conferences with mediocre talks? What unimaginative blokes organize them? Then take one considered magically good, like Strange Loop. Their excellence translations into excellent diversity work too: (http://bridgetconsulting.com/?p=131 http://bridgetconsulting.com/?p=131)

Alex3917 11y ago

> if you can't find women, POC for your conference, you didn't look hard enough. Part of the problem with finding more women and/or POC is that most conference organizers aren't looking for people at all; rather, they're looking for interesting projects/products/businesses. And what happens is they get a representative of that organization on the phone who agrees to send someone to present, but often they don't even know who will actually be getting on stage until much later. This obviously isn't true if you're getting a keynote speaker to talk about their career, but you only get one of those per event.