a tale of two challenges at tech conferences
Tech conferences have been plagued with the problem of lacking diversity. Some conference organizers have worked to address this in various ways. Some steps are to include more women on panels or set up segments that are "women only." This week I had the honor of being named one of 2010 Top Women to Watch in Tech. I flew out to San Fransisco to be recognized and to hang out with some of the women on the list. Some of my experience, as I engaged with those at the conference, soon reminded me of why diversity is still such a challenge.
I don't agree with having a special panel or section for women but I do admit there is a need for it. It should be that every panel has some level of diversity on the topic. For those that will get all freaked out and think I mean quotas, that's a discussion for another day. My experience has been that the intentions of having diversity can easily be changed by simple human glitches. The intentionality of the whole team about how important diversity is can fall short on a few, and only the leaders, organizers, or those that understand or care deeply about the issue, can see how these glitches impact the outcomes.
I was asked to go back stage to be recognized and then to be on the panel. I was glad to be asked and even happier to do it. I was very much interesting in sharing the experiences of women of color entrepreneurs. The panel that had been selected included six women, but none of minority status. ELizabeth Tinkham, Accenture and Lisa Stone, BlogHer were excited about the idea. The staff in the back seemed confused about how this should be executed since the first step was to announce the 2010 Top 25 to watch... all of us were on the list.
After the announcement came the panel discussion on Women and Entrepreneurship. In the end, after all the confusion, mic switches, and musical chairs of panelists, it ended up that I was not on the panel. Liz and Lisa were both surprised at what happened and Lisa continued to mention my name because she felt I should have been on that panel. She was willing to give up her seat to have the diversity. Of course everyone doesn't feel that way or understand the need to present diverse perspectives.
I was ok with the "glitch" until the last panel "The Open Media Revolution Is Over: Are we Better Off? with Michael Arrington, Tech Crunch, Robert Scoble, Scobleizer, Quentin Hardy, Forbes, Josh Tyrangiel, Bloomberg Businessweek and Chamillionaire, rapper moderated by AlwaysOn's own Tony Perkins. Chamillionaire, known to some as Cham, was a savvy and entertaining, however his contributions included the idea that he had to come hang out with the geeks to understand tech.
The stereotype that the only way to get diversity is through entertainment or sports is an ongoing saga in the view of Blacks in Tech. Had I made it to the panel there would have been a balance of smart black techies in addition to those that are entertainers using tech.
When I mentioned my frustration to Erika Alexander she made a good point that you can be a techie entertainer. She is correct but when the tech industry tends to have a gap in the areas of Black and Latin women in tech the few that make it on those panels set the tone for expectations.
Chamillioinaire was a great sport and even did a video for me on the spot to talk briefly about it.
And Cham I can point to you to some cool, knowledgeable, smart techies that can help you with your scalability... and they look like me. Thanks for doing the vid!
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