[FOSDEM] encouraging diversity

[Pieter Hintjens]

In which upper-middle class white males discuss how to create "diversity"...

On Sun, Nov 1, 2015 at 4:55 PM, Daniel Pocock <daniel at pocock.pro> wrote:
>
> It is all very well to talk about the Code of Conduct and negative
> situations, but what about approaching things from the other direction,
> creating positive situations?
>
> Does FOSDEM have any policies, resources or budget to actively encourage
> participation from people who are not white males, for example, to pay
> travel grants for female speakers?
>
> Does anybody keep track of any third-party sources of funding that could
> be helpful for bringing speakers and participants from groups that are
> under-represented?  I've heard that Google offers some funding for
> example[1] and it would be good to encourage women to apply for this.
>
> Some other ideas that come to mind:
> - Offering some sort of public speaking seminar, aimed mainly at people
> from such groups who haven't had a lot of experience, on the Friday
> before FOSDEM.
> - Pairing first time speakers with an experienced mentor some time ahead
> of the event.
> - Offering some kind of reward to the dev-room that does the most to
> encourage diversity (e.g. giving the dev-room a guaranteed place or
> bigger room for 2017 or giving the dev-room managers input on a
> main-track selection in the following year)
>
> Regards,
>
> Daniel
>
>
> 1.
> https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/edu/scholarships/google-travel-and-conference-grants/
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> FOSDEM mailing list
> FOSDEM at lists.fosdem.org
> https://lists.fosdem.org/listinfo/fosdem