On 8/21/07, Berislav Lopac <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Well to be honest, I'm against forced diversity as well. :) > > I've organized a conference earlier this year, quite similar to FOWA > in fact, and guess what: we had no single speaker -- and I'd dare say > even a single guest, but I haven't meet everyone in person -- who > wasn't white. We had one female speaker and one female moderator, and > a bunch of female attendees, but overwhelming majority was still male. > Should we have strived for more diversity?
I don't want to get off topic, but my belief is that higher diversity leads to higher quality, so if you don't care about quality you can ignore the importance of encouraging and supporting diversity. I know that community efforts like BarCamp and Coworking are made better, more whole and more applicable because they appeal to a wide and diverse audience and that the more we make these efforts inclusive of all kinds of people, the stronger and better each will become. I furthermore believe (and have experienced) that a little mindfulness and effort will go a long way to relieving the "white boy club" syndrome I've mentioned. Sadly, too many white boy organizers don't make any extra effort to reach outside their sphere of awareness or work to bring in or make accommodations for people who are not like them, thereby perpetuating the cycle. What can I say? Some people like to mate within the family tree, others are more comfortable "branching out". In any case, if you think that you have to "force" diversity, you may already be a lost cause. You shouldn't have to force diversity any more than you "force" people to attend. If you don't make people feel welcome it's highly unlikely they'll want to come, in which case you would, indeed, have to force them. But, as I said, a little common courtesy, respect, open-mindedness and effort can pay rather rich dividends, both in the quality of your attendees and in the quantity of your potential income. Chris -- Chris Messina Citizen Provocateur & Open Source Advocate-at-Large Work: http://citizenagency.com Blog: http://factoryjoe.com/blog Cell: 412 225-1051 Skype: factoryjoe This email is: [ ] bloggable [X] ask first [ ] private --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
