[EuroPython] Lack of diversity within selected talks

[Hynek Schlawack]

On 15 Apr 2014, at 8:37, Nicholas H.Tollervey wrote:

> Yes!
>
> On 15/04/14 10:28, Lynn Root wrote:
>> - limit speakers to only give one talk.
>
> +100000000
>
> Perhaps too late for this year, but I wish this were the case for
> every conference.

First of all I’m glad that after the troubling discussion style in the 
not so far past this sensitive topic is approached appropriately.  The 
consequences of having a diverse speaker roster go much farther than 
that it looks good on paper.

I think that blind reviews are problematic if you have an unleveled play 
field and are trying to do something about that.  The solution is to 
accept one has certain biases and fight them instead of trying to avoid 
them because that apparently took away a tool you could have used.

***

That said, I don’t think it's too late.  The conference is in July and 
there’s a few things you can do:

- Get a keynote speaker who is not a white dude.
- Having speakers have 3 slots is ridiculous, 2 should be a very rare 
exception.  So ask them which talk is more important and there you have 
some free slots.
- Reach out to outreach groups.  The most obvious one are our PyLadies 
but there are more: http://www.callbackwomen.com/reach-out.html  Tell 
them our blind audition resulted in a roster you’re unhappy with and 
we’re trying to fix it.  Let some special committee review those 
proposals.  Keep a few slots free for them and just mark them TBD if you 
need to get it out to print.
- And finally walking the walk: my talk is still in the queue and I will 
happily retract my proposal if it helps to have a more diverse 
conference.  I have no interest to be part of an all-male schedule 
anyway.

Cheers and good luck,
Hynek