-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 18/07/14 11:07, Tom Dunham wrote:
Hi Nicholas, I don't suppose there's an initiative like "pyladies for pycon" for pycon UK? I ask because my employer thinks that our engineering teams would benefit from being more diverse (fwiw I agree), and if there was something like this I might be able to shake some money loose.
I'll ask about general sponsorship too.
Cheers, Tom
Hi Tom, Here's what's happening regarding diversity at PyconUK. 1) We have (and have had for a number of years) a statement on diversity and conduct: http://pyconuk.net/CodeOfConduct 2) For our kids day in the education track we specifically targeted groups that would encourage girls to turn up. All 70 tickets have sold out and I'm pleased to say that we have a 3:2 ratio of girls over boys attending as a result. 3) I believe (although Peter Inglesby will be able to confirm this) that the London "chapter" of PyLadies will be attending PyconUK. 4) One of our keynote speakers is Jessica McKellar - a PSF director and well known founding member of PyLadies. Her keynote will be on the subject of diversity. 5) We already have more female delegates than ever before attending PyconUK (although we still don't have anywhere near as many as we'd like). 6) Diversity doesn't just refer to gender: with the education track we're introducing a diversity of age and background (we have 70 kids turning up on the Saturday and 40+ teachers turning up for the conference too). Of course, there's probably more that we could do but this is an entirely volunteer led affair and there's only so much time in the day. This is why having sponsorship is so important: being able to pay for someone to do things rather than having to do stuff ourselves. Sponsorship also keeps the price of the tickets down and allows us to offer reduced rates or free tickets to attendees who would otherwise not be able to afford to attend. If this commitment to diversity from PyconUK impresses your employer and they'd like to make a contribution then please do get in touch. Also, if you're hiring, you won't find a more diverse group of Pythonistas than those who attend PyconUK. Sponsorship is a great way to make a good impression (see my original email). http://pyconuk.net/SponsorShip Please feel free to quote any or all of the above to whoever holds the purse strings. As always, more than happy to answer questions. Best wishes, Nicholas. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJTyPm4AAoJEP0qBPaYQbb6E8AH/2O/d4P2FpEyH2GnDvj7uCAc iHX7TQPslsssIjLL8B90PP90V7lZo5SJaX5F2MUvDBnylghy8Ax8GkRhArw1APIs z9/rhGjjiNfh7oN/7HAo0nwRUSDJls8mUemDMvk/3Liv6GNJWwVXNfqABnIr76Mu P0bFVUeZv6g9Y7PCtb+Ozfql63md0WXDepQMsy5rxi3LW4OwyLT9EjEnPg9AWWwP wzNMT9zOMMST2OKFCbOgeSqY5Iw16Y2v7S7mM/fr7JSCicNVE49yn34FOlZLN1ON tgaCXtsXjlxojd5K2hQAYu+H2HSqDHV0EbTopOvaJ14ywZgo+ewJtZJvrOUC/zo= =ke82 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----