[draft] Recommendations for Organizers

afknapping commented 8 years ago

(RFC / Draft / Work in progress)

The Tech scene as a whole has a very bad reputation on dealing with marginalized people and people who are new to the community in general. Not only are jokes on race, gender, age, looks, choice of language, etc the norm and accepted. It is totally normal for white sausage coder bros to tease-call-out each other directly and personally.

We think that this has to stop. What might be okay to do with good friends in a pub after n beers is not okay in the public setting of work or community events.

We value the right to not get hurt and be safe over the value to say anything at anytime.

We value a great experience for everybody over an individual's freedom to express potentially harmful thoughts.

We strive for inclusive and accessible events, where everybody is welcome at anytime, regardless of looks, sexual orientation, age, race, religion, gender or language.

If you agree with these values, there are things you can do to help push this forward... (If not, continue with the [FAQ]())

Explicit Safety on each event

Safety is the most important thing. If you do not feel like you need that, talk to someone who does. They set the bar for safety, not you.

Among other things, safety means:

to define clear boundaries of inappropriate behaviour
to enforce those boundaries and follow up with consequences
to communicate the importance of the topic and how it is handled by the organizers at each event
Specific things to do
have a slide about the coc at the start of every meetup and allocate 3 minutes on the topic
give a three sentence summary of why it is important
Read it out loud
state explicitly that the organizers are committed to enforce it and that breaking it has consequences
state explicitly that safety of the reporting person is the first and foremost priority
that people who disagree with it and belittle or question it are not welcome
show and tell who and how to contact if you think a breach of the CoC has occured

If your event doesn't have a Code of Conduct yet, read the 101 and consider adopting the berlin code of conduct.

Welcoming First-Timers

Going to an event for the first time is intimidating to say the least – not to mention to go alone.

People have all kinds of doubts if they should go:

Do I know enough to be part of the community?
Do I fit in?
Will people call me out as a n00b?
Will people stare at me for $attribute?

As an organizer, you have a chance to ease those doubts and make your event more welcome and inviting to new people.

Specific things to do

explicitly invite first-timers on your event page. point out safety precautions, ensure them they're welcome and encourage them to show up.
at the beginning of each event, explicitly welcome first-timers and thank them for joining. encourage all attendees to communicate and document that part of the event on twitter, instagram, etc.
offer companionship via the event page so people do not have to go alone. that is, some regulars can be contacted by first-timers to meet up before the event, show up together and get introduced to others.
companionship

Companions should add a /companion page to their site. It features

a friendly photo, some personal infos and three to five sentences of what they do and like
contact possibilites
explicit encouragement to contact them and that they are looking forward to it.

You can then list those /companion links on your event page.

It should go without saying that unless somebody is looking forward to be contacted, they should under no circumstance offer companionship! As organizer, make sure they understand that point and make sure they bring the capabilities to be a good companion.

FAQ

Q: What about free speech? Aren't you condonig censorship?

the right to free speech does not mean you're exempt from consequences. If you feel like your right to say anything at anytime is more important than another person's right to not get hurt, you should read up on what freedom means.
the right to free speech is not the right to platform. A community has the right to make up the values and rules they want. That community does not have to tolerate any criticism or even verletzung of those rules. (That doesn't rule out constructive improvements as long as the goal is kept in sight).

Q: What if I feel I am uncorrectly accused of inappropiate behaviour?

If person feels hurt, harrassed or otherwise offended by your behaviour, there is nothing to argue about. Their feelings are not a matter of opinion, they are a fact.
Your "judgment of appropiateness" of another person's feelings is not welcome.
The intention of your actions is secondary to the actual effect they have on other people.
if you unintentionally hurt somebody, it should be no problem to apologise and commit to avoiding that behaviour in the future.
if the behaviour was intended to hurt, you're not welcome anyway and you must leave immediately!

tbc...

afknapping commented 8 years ago