Promoting an Inclusive & Safe Experience for All

Code of Conduct

A conference should have a clear Code of Conduct emphasizing Inclusion & Safety for all attendees, with specific policies combined with convenient and specific escalation steps, as well as remediation procedures.

The Dutch PHP Conference has an extensive Code of Conduct, which they are gracefully sharing under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

Accessibility of the Venue

Hotels
Restaurants (speaker dinners)
Venue itself

The above locations should be accessible to all, regardless of physical abilities. This includes wheelchair accessibility, in particular ensuring that access ramps are available to the stage for speakers.

Accessibility of the Conference Web Site

Most conference web sites pay very little attention to accessibility considerations, and are difficult to browse for folks with limited eyesight and motor functions. Many tools are available to assist in auditing web site accessibility, including:

In addition to the above, many companies offer accessibility consulting.

Diversity-Signaling on Conference Web Site

When featuring pictures of people on their web site, conferences should strive to show diversity. This can be a challenge for newer conferences, or conferences which have in the past not been so diverse. But this is where “stock photos” can help. Just about all stock photo marketplaces feature categories showcasing diverse groups of folks.

Examples:

This will help conferences attract attendees from a wider range of demographics.

Live Captioning

Live-captioning not only helps folks with limited hearing capabilities, but can also bridge the gap between speakers and their audience with language differences.

Companies such as Twilio have partnered with captioning companies such as White Coat Captioning, to sponsor captioning at conferences.

Scholarships

Many conferences provide Diversity & Inclusion scholarships to attract attendees from under-represented demographics.

Here again, conferences have partnered with sponsors such as Twilio to subsidize these scholarships.

Gender-Agnostic Facilities

Conference attendees and speakers often identify as genders other than “male” or “female”, also known as non-binary genders. Bathrooms without specific gender identities promote an inclusive environment for all.

You can learn more about this from Perry Eising’s article linked below in the More Reading section.

Pronoun Declarations

Declaring pronoun choices on speaker and attendee profiles helps normalize the fact that, regardless of appearances, attendees and speakers may have various gender identities. Here are some examples:

She / Her / Hers
He / Him / His
They / Them / Theirs

Some conferences have elected to distribute pins to all attendees to declare their gender identity, such that everyone may be appropriately referenced in conversation.

Other conferences allow attendees to select their pronouns at registration and showcase them on their badges.

You can learn more about this from Perry Eising’s article linked below in the More Reading section.

Dietary Preferences & Restrictions

Most conferences allow attendees to specify dietary preferences and restrictions at the time of registration, such that they might provide adequate food choices at the venue.

Child Care

With different life circumstances and child care duties, it can be difficult for folks to speak at, or attend a conference, especially outside of regular business hours and when travel is required.

Some conferences have managed to provide Child Care for speakers and attendees, thereby promoting a more inclusive experience.

Here again, such amenity could provide another sponsorship opportunity.

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