Title: Diversity Outreach FAQ Author: Jen Published: July 25, 2014 Last modified: June 22, 2016 --- [ ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) [Jen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) 3:50 pm _on_ July 25, 2014 Tags: [diversity ( 14 )](https://make.wordpress.org/community/tag/diversity/), FAQ    # Diversity Outreach FAQ We’ve been talking about diversity — more diverse organizing teams, more diverse speaker rosters, more diverse contributor groups — and most everyone _wants_ to help us grow in that area. Where we fall down is people not knowing how to get there. To that end, based on the success of the Philly Tech Week Diversity Mixer, I asked [@liljimmi](https://profiles.wordpress.org/liljimmi/) to work on a how-to guide for throwing a diversity mixer, with the thought that local wp meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our [Meetup Organizer Handbook](https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/). could throw similar events. She got together with some of the organizers last weekend and they put together a draft, which she shared with me. The thing that stood out was that it had a lot of how-to on planning a party, but only a couple of lines on how to do the outreach to diverse communities to get people interested. Tracy and I talked about ways to build out that section, and are thinking the best way to answer sensitive questions is to have people ask them. So! If Andrea were to tell you, “There should be a diverse group of people working together to choose speakers,” or, “I really need you to work on the diversity of your speaker roster this year,” what questions would run through your mind? Add as many questions as you can think of in the comments, and that will provide a starting point for building an FAQ, and possibly language/email templates that could be used for cold-call outreach. Don’t try to censor yourself here. Say things as bluntly as you would feel them, so we can create an FAQ that addresses real situations. Post all the questions you would have, even if someone else already did, so that we can also see which questions are the most **frequently asked**. (Ha) I’ll start: * I don’t know anyone who’s [from an underrepresented group]. How do I meet those people? * If I go to a Blogging While Black meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our [Meetup Organizer Handbook](https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/). event to try and meet some people, won’t I (as a white person) be accused of invading their space? * What’s the best way to contact people without inserting myself where I assume I’m not wanted/welcome? * How do I ask someone to get involved in a way that doesn’t tokenize them? * Could you tell me what to say when I’m contacting a person [from an underrepresented group] about getting involved so I don’t say something that’s inadvertently insensitive/ racist/ableist/sexist/etc? * How much of this kind of outreach should be public vs private? * If I reach out to someone and they don’t reply, if I try again or even three times, is that being persistent because we all know that email piles up, or am I harassing someone that isn’t interested? * If someone in my group starts ranting about quotas and affirmative action, do you have language I can use to shut them up allay their concerns and convince them of the importance of diversity outreach? [#diversity](https://make.wordpress.org/community/tag/diversity/), [#faq](https://make.wordpress.org/community/tag/faq/) ### Share this: * [ Threads ](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2014/07/25/diversity-outreach-faq/?share=threads) * [ Mastodon ](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2014/07/25/diversity-outreach-faq/?share=mastodon) * [ Bluesky ](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2014/07/25/diversity-outreach-faq/?share=bluesky) * [ Facebook ](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2014/07/25/diversity-outreach-faq/?share=facebook) * [ X ](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2014/07/25/diversity-outreach-faq/?share=x) * [ LinkedIn ](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2014/07/25/diversity-outreach-faq/?share=linkedin) * [Login to Reply](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmake.wordpress.org%2Fcommunity%2F2014%2F07%2F25%2Fdiversity-outreach-faq%2F%23respond&locale=en_US) 1. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1b874869309e40f0dd709fad609fad0f19c636f10cbf2b0a2935ba74a4cc3a63? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 2. [Mike](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mac2net/) 3:58 pm _on_ July 25, 2014 3. Maybe I am missing something, but I went to WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. and it seemed very diverse to me. Attendees, speakers, people with whom I interacted. Do the stats for WCEU tell a different story? 4. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9c184f96bd47233afcf0623851f129c13009d7886753f40867c9d4b5856ec080? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Jen Mylo](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) 4:00 pm _on_ July 25, 2014 * This isn’t about any one event, so let’s not derail this thread. This thread is just for questions people have when trying to reach out, and things that make them feel nervous in doing so. Thanks! 5. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/776730d4c9623901b3d6e8170da05ea095688bc3857724a18ef767ed2ff35e8f? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 6. [David Laietta](https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidjlaietta/) 4:00 pm _on_ July 25, 2014 7. We’re trying to work on getting the gender of Orlando more equal. We have a fair number of women who attend our events, but it’s still a very male developer/female blogger stereotypical split. As group leaders, we’re having a tough time identifying female presenters/leaders in more of the “hard sciences” part of our events. I am all for donating time and resources to help teach and coach, but I feel that my gender would exacerbate issues. 8. My main concern is really this: I like to be helpful to anyone that I can however I can. I don’t, however, want to be the man giving the women permission to do something. 9. * How can I use the resources that I have to help more women get more involved in the group (and more involved as developers) without feeling like I’m doing it just out of “majority guilt” or that I’m the man “nobly giving to the lesser”?( even typing that question out made me feel bad) 10. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/776730d4c9623901b3d6e8170da05ea095688bc3857724a18ef767ed2ff35e8f? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 11. [David Laietta](https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidjlaietta/) 4:05 pm _on_ July 25, 2014 12. Another question! 13. * If I am organizing an event, such as a camp or meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our [Meetup Organizer Handbook](https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/)., I will attempt my due diligence of ensuring diversity. Let’s say (for round numbers) that we get 100 speaker submissions and have room for 50 speakers. Seventy of the submissions were from men, 30 from women. * Do I invite about 25 men and 25 women to keep it equally diverse, about 15 women and 35 men to keep it in line with the number of submissions received, or base on some other metric (balance of topics, perceived level of skill, etc)? 14. Currently we have a committee vote on speakers and invite those that receive the most votes. One thought that I have is removing any identifying information from the submissions and present a list of talk titles and descriptions for voting, to try to remove bias. 15. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d0f437b76a4dabd71b382a966c6c7ce0f1d8f6ff261a54844eaefa14a4f5ba19? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * Anonymous User 3:47 am _on_ July 26, 2014 * We did a blind voting system for WCNYC and it worked out pretty well. [@jorbin](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin/) put together an app that let us each rate the presentations based on content, local/not local, and originality. Then we went through the list from highest rated to lowest. - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/776730d4c9623901b3d6e8170da05ea095688bc3857724a18ef767ed2ff35e8f? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [David Laietta](https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidjlaietta/) 7:33 pm _on_ July 31, 2014 - When time comes for us this year (in a month or so), can you share more details? * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d0f437b76a4dabd71b382a966c6c7ce0f1d8f6ff261a54844eaefa14a4f5ba19? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * Anonymous User 11:21 am _on_ August 4, 2014 * sure, pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” me off of here. 16. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/43079e9f63dcc2eb22b375414f6b10d63294db0ed693c46781d287042a293c2c? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 17. [Tracy Levesque](https://profiles.wordpress.org/liljimmi/) 4:33 pm _on_ July 25, 2014 18. Kevin Taylor (one of my PTW co-organizers) and I have been working on expanding on the pre-planning/reaching out phase of our guide. I believe the bottom line is we have to stop operating from a place of fear and just reach out, focusing on the mutual benefit for all parties involved. 19. The key is to plan the event together vs. throwing an event and then trying to invite people that fall into a “diversity” label. That could come off as disrespectful and tokenizing. 20. David, for your event I bet there are women-led groups in your area that are working on encouraging/mentoring more women to present at tech events. You could reach out to those organizers and say we have a conference opportunity coming up would you be interested in helping to recruit speakers. You’d be working together for the benefit of everyone involved. 21. I reached out to folks for our event and I didn’t get one negative reaction. The worst was “this is great, but I am really busy” and to that I said, “I understand– look for an invitation when the date and location are set.” 22. It helps that I come from a group underrepresented in tech (woman/lesbian/bi-racial) and can be like “we are both members of underrepresented groups, let’s make it better.” But even if that doesn’t apply a sincere desire to change the homogeneity problem in tech events will often be appreciated vs. rejected. 23. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/43079e9f63dcc2eb22b375414f6b10d63294db0ed693c46781d287042a293c2c? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 24. [Tracy Levesque](https://profiles.wordpress.org/liljimmi/) 4:34 pm _on_ July 25, 2014 25. But back to FAQ questions…I would add a question about how to reach out to disability communities. 26. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/df6abc91873dcdcf4255d5261829a3e216d8d575b3c3b4d79d72cbc9a784be9c? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 27. [Kct1981](https://profiles.wordpress.org/kct1981/) 10:53 pm _on_ July 25, 2014 28. Hey gang! I am the Kevin Taylor Tracy mentioned. Tracy is right about inviting people to the table. Think of it this way, calling people into the group because you belive they have something to contribute is the key. Reducing people down to a label that can be quantified for some report or some metric to be managed merely “calls out” that you think they are different from the norm and should be treated differently. 29. Inviting people to the table because you want their help is a better way to improve the diversity of your organization or group. Believe me, with a volunteer effort there is more than enough work to share with folks. And honestly, I don’t care what flavor of humanity you are, it’s always a compliment to be told, “You are hard working and smart, we could really use your help and your connections. Come join the party. “ 30. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d0dea7177b2141973609a1adac244ce9843d70430350fff251144cb4d44968b4? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 31. [MacManX (James Huff)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/macmanx/) 11:43 pm _on_ July 25, 2014 32. Let’s not derail too much, this is a passionate topic, and passionate topics have a tendency to distract from the goal at hand. For now, we’re just collecting Frequently Asked Questions. I’m sure we’ll get to the answers eventually. 🙂 33. Two closely related questions I keep encountering in passing conversations with WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. [Learn more](https://central.wordcamp.org/about/). and meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our [Meetup Organizer Handbook](https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/). organizers over the years: 34. * I want to have a more diverse event, but I feel like I live in the least diverse community in the country. How do I avoid having my event dominated by one particular group when that group dominates the area by such an overwhelming majority? * I have exhausted my incredibly large list of diverse contacts within the city and surrounding communities, and the responses that I am getting are largely dominated by one group. I know I can fly in several diverse speakers from another state. Though this is primarily a local event, should I bring in speakers from outside to keep it diverse? ### Leave a Reply 󠀁[Cancel reply](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2014/07/25/diversity-outreach-faq/?output_format=md#respond)󠁿 You must be [logged in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmake.wordpress.org%2Fcommunity%2F2014%2F07%2F25%2Fdiversity-outreach-faq%2F&locale=en_US) to post a comment. # Post navigation [← Languages: No more duplicates](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2014/07/24/languages-no-more-duplicates/) [Heads up I’ll be importing the posts and… →](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2014/07/25/heads-up-ill-be-importing-the-posts-and/)