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17th July 2020 | |
As a cis, white, straight, middle class, able-bodied man, I recognise my royal flush of privilege. | |
I'm very lucky. I was born into a loving and supportive family and I've had remarkably few obstacles | |
put in my way. Had I not been born with all those advantages, I probably would not have achieved | |
everything that I have achieved. | |
Representation is important. I understand that for various reasons it is not easy for events to | |
create agendas with speakers that fully reflect their community. I also understand that the community | |
is divided on how best to solve this problem. I don't pretend to have all the answers. I also don't | |
know what the right balance is between sharing my own knowledge and making space for others. | |
However, I do know that there are lots of events that I could support, and that I prefer to support | |
events that make a genuine effort to be inclusive, and I prefer to support events that achieve some | |
level of success. I know that I do not want to contribute to agendas that are overwhelmingly filled | |
with white men like me. That perpetuates ideas and biases that reinforce unconscious, or even | |
conscious, biases that negatively affect many people. | |
I also recognise that I am a fallible human. Sometimes I make mistakes. Sometimes I'm careless. | |
Sometimes I'm selfish. No-one is perfect. | |
I choose to publicly share my Personal Speaker Inclusion Policy in order to be transparent with | |
everyone and accountable for my choices. With this policy I do not attempt to solve all the | |
problems, and I recognise that I have much to learn about how best to use my privilege for good. | |
However, it's better than nothing. | |
This policy is a living document that will be updated as the world evolves and as I learn how to be a | |
better ally. | |
I promise that: | |
1. I will only speak at events that have a Code of Conduct, Anti-Harassment Policy or other similar | |
document that is prominently displayed, covers all participants, and is proactively enforced. | |
2. I will only speak at events where the agenda is not overwhealmingly filled with white men. I | |
choose to define that as follows: | |
2a. Conferences: | |
At least 1 speaker per track/room, per day must be a woman, a person of colour, or a person | |
from some other underrepresented group. | |
2b. Meetups / User groups: | |
At the time that I accept the invitation to speak, at least one of the previous 5 speakers | |
must be a woman, a person of colour, or a person from some other underrepresented group. | |
2c. I recognise that the numbers defined above are still biased heavily toward white men. The | |
intention is not to define good. The intention is to draw a line under which I do not feel | |
comfortable. | |
3. I will only speak at events that offer some form of encouragement or extra support for new | |
speakers. If I am invited to take part in a speaker mentoring program I will accept. | |
4. I will use closed captions whenever I am presenting with a slide deck. | |
5. I will only speak at events that offer free conference tickets to any unpaid speakers on low | |
incomes. | |
If an event does not meet these criteria, I will politely decline the invitation to speak. If anyone | |
reads this and notices that I have not been true to this policy please either email me at | |
alex.yates@dlmconsultants.com or publicly tweet/privately DM me at @_AlexYates_ according to your | |
preference. | |
If I break my own policy, I will publicly apologise on my blog and on Twitter. If there is still a | |
reasonable amount of time before the event for the organisers to find a replacement speaker, I will | |
ask the event to invite a different speaker to take my place. If it's too late to practically find a | |
replacement speaker, I do not know what I will choose to do. However, I promise to reflect on why it | |
happened and to try to respond in a way that supports the community and promotes inclusivity. | |
Alex Yates |
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