Dear dc-orga team,
I'm just on my way back from linux.conf.au, which was an amazing
conference (as always).
Among the things that left a particular good impression on me was
the way the organisers went out of their way to ensure safety and
comfort of the attendees. And the general feedback was that this was
the most inclusive LCA so far.
Here are a bunch of points that I'd like to share with you in the
hope that we can consider these for our upcoming conference(s).
1. Reference the code of conduct and ways to get help *every*
morning during the conference housekeeping session (we called
it the morning briefing at DC15, but didn't have those sessions
at DC16). See the photo here:
https://twitter.com/developerjack/status/820762277724815360
2. These messages were also plastered all over the conference
venue walls, including the toilets (!).
3. Additional signs were put in place to ensure people felt
comfortable to e.g. use the toilet they felt most comfortable
with.
I've asked the organisers to share these with us and will push them
into Git when I get them under a Free licence.
4. Name badges had free-form text, which allowed people to put
whatever they want on them, including gender pronouns and other
information they wanted to share (like "I'm shy but don't want
to be. Talk to me!"). Again, general feedback was that this
greatly improved the inclusive feel of the conference.
Hope these resonate with you and that we can learn from this for
DC17++.
Best,
--
.''`. martin f. krafft <madduck@debconf.org> @martinkrafft
: :' : DebConf orga team
`. `'`
`- DebConf17 Montreal, CA: https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf17
DebConf18 in your city? https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf18
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