Conferences
Introduction
Conferences are important to many members of #include <C++>
- we attend, speak at, and help to run many of the largest C++ Conferences and Events.
Becoming a Speaker
You can do it
Speaking at local user groups, regional conferences, and even national and international conferences may seem intimidating, but almost everyone can do it if they want to and are willing to put in the effort to develop the skill of speaking. Here are some resources that may help you.
Fred Tingaud, who runs the CPPP conference and is an experienced speaker, has written a comprehensive series of blog posts on technical speaking and becoming a speaker you may find helpful:
- Part 1: We need more speakers!,
- Part 2: What should I talk about?,
- Part 3: How can I have my talk accepted?
One practical hurdle many people face is describing themselves. If you are asked for “a short bio”, here’s a very useful template from Ian Coldwater on Twitter:
[name] is a [title] at [company], where [pronoun] [does thing you do]. In [name or pronoun]’s spare time, [pronoun] enjoys [doing non-work thing] and [food or drink].
Becoming an Inclusive Speaker
Speaker Requirements
Many speakers have a list of requirements and preferences to speak at a conference, such as “the conference should have an enforced code of conduct.” Here are some “speaker kits” we’ve found:
- Kate Gregory’s Speaker Kit
- Chandler Carruth: Conferences, Inclusion, and My Axe!
- GDS and gender diversity at conferences and events: Government Digital Service
- My questions for event organizers — Unstoppable Robot Ninja
Running an Inclusive Conference
Our overall advice is on the Organising Conferences page. Here are some resources you may want to peruse to learn more about this large topic, to avoid your conference being featured on Congrats, you have an all male panel! or scoring badly on 50 percent.
Codes of Conduct
- Conference anti-harassment/Policy - Geek Feminism Wiki - Wikia
- Code of Conduct - LeanAgileScotland
- Code of Conduct - Meeting C++ 2015
- Code of Conduct: cppcon
Motivations for Codes of Conduct
- Timeline of incidents - Geek Feminism Wiki - More than 50 years of examples of why codes of conduct are needed
- Some notes on codes of conduct from a conference organizer’s perspective - Jez Humble
- Things You Think Aren’t Sexist, But Really Are - RuthBurr.comRuthBurr.com
Personal Stories
- Why I cancelled my ReactiveConf talk – Peggy Rayzis – Medium
- On being non-binary in tech
- Talk: Not one of the guys - finding myself in an industry dominated by cis men: AlterConf
- Four Interactions That Could Have Gone Better - Bridget Kromhout
- Coding Like a Girl — Medium
Advice to Organisers
- The commitment: Bringing diverse voices to tech conferences
- how over half the speakers at a ThoughtWorks technical conference were women
- “2020 was not the first year we set a goal for equal representation. It was the first time that we exceeded it.”
- Alex WL Chan’s excellent site for conference organisers.
- After a Year of #MeToo Impacting the Hacker Community, We Still Have Far to Go The Road Less Traveled By
- excellent list of thing to do when preparing to run a conference
- User stories for organising conferences · GitHub
- Considerations for more diverse conferences - Emily Webber
- How to Organize a Conference: 18 Amazingly Useful Tips
- Badge Reviews - how to design conference badges, including for legibility
- How do I get more women to speak at my conference? - Anna Shipman - December 2014
- In Defence of Diversity Measures — The Microchicks — Medium
- You can choose who submits talks to your conference - Julia Evans
- The Woman Speaker Slot « Accidentally in Code
- How to get more women presenters for conferences, and, why there are so few. - Agile Testing with Lisa Crispin