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An pitch event organizer recognizes the gender imbalance of the application submissions and makes an announcement to the attendees urging the female founders th

An pitch event organizer recognizes the gender imbalance of the application submissions and makes an announcement to the attendees urging the female founders they know to apply. He is publicly chastised for his troubles. Honestly, does the author here not see any possible benefit to what the organizer has done here? Maybe they only go strictly by incoming applications and don't have time for a steady founder outreach efforts beyond basic marketing. Is there a theme that keeps these events running with a certain culture? If so, prompting attendees for people they know to apply is almost certainly a better way to maintain that culture moving forward. No good deed goes unpunished.

matt4077 10y ago
I think the (implied) accusation is that organizer basically lied, or is at least misrepresenting how much he cares. Maybe he was asked about the lack of female speakers or maybe he noticed how lopsided it was once he saw them on stage. The event was certainly publicized somehow, and if you actually care about diversity it should be possible to post the announcement in a few focused groups.
neom 10y ago
Being proactive and affirmative in how you go about building your event is very important if a diverse range of perspectives and a safe space for all is truly important to you. It's easy to stand at the end and say, welp... no women applied to hang out in this room full of men all night, so if you know any that might wanna, hit me up! I don't quite understand your perspective of, it's fine to care about trying to create a more healthy environment but not at the expense of effort or time? It's akin to becoming a teacher because you wanted to educate and inspire the next generation of humans and then deciding you don't want to mark homework in the evenings because you're too busy, well don't do something you can't fully commit to, it's disingenuous and it's lazy.

matt4077 10y ago

I think the (implied) accusation is that organizer basically lied, or is at least misrepresenting how much he cares. Maybe he was asked about the lack of female speakers or maybe he noticed how lopsided it was once he saw them on stage. The event was certainly publicized somehow, and if you actually care about diversity it should be possible to post the announcement in a few focused groups.

neom 10y ago

Being proactive and affirmative in how you go about building your event is very important if a diverse range of perspectives and a safe space for all is truly important to you. It's easy to stand at the end and say, welp... no women applied to hang out in this room full of men all night, so if you know any that might wanna, hit me up! I don't quite understand your perspective of, it's fine to care about trying to create a more healthy environment but not at the expense of effort or time? It's akin to becoming a teacher because you wanted to educate and inspire the next generation of humans and then deciding you don't want to mark homework in the evenings because you're too busy, well don't do something you can't fully commit to, it's disingenuous and it's lazy.