Diversity & Inclusion Policy

1st of March 2023
Version 1.0

Our policy is based on the industry standard charter set out by DICE, and the 2010 UK Equality Act and 9 Protected Characteristics. We aim to review our policy annually to reflect changes in the industry, learnings from the past year and will possibly refine and update where required.

We aim for a maximum of 50% male speakers at all conferences, the remainder will include women and all non-male gender identities. This is the case for both keynote presentations and panel discussions; where applicable to panels, it does not include the chairperson.

We recruit and promote speakers through our marketing channels in stages on the build-up to each event. Therefore, this policy applies to the final line-up and will reflect what is advertised on our website and in promotional material. We withhold the right to change our line-up as advertised when the need to replace a speaker should arise.

Based on the most recent UK statistics, we aim for all of our full conference line-ups to be a maximum of 70% white to promote diversity and cultural progression actively.

We aim for multi-generational representation at all of our conferences. We are of the belief that age does not reflect knowledge and experience, therefore we seek speakers of any age.

We commit to bringing diverse representation to all panel and group discussions. Panels are intended to provide a balanced view of a subject within the industry, so we aim to represent as many people in the conversation as possible.

We seek to include people who are disabled or neuro-divergent at each of our conferences. We offer a safe, accessible platform for all speakers at all our in-person and online conferences to allow them to deliver their talks as easily as possible.

We aim to work with venues that are fully accessible for all of our conferences. Our online event platform includes accessibility features to ensure everyone can enjoy the experience. Our aim is to improve the accessibility of our company website as often as we can where possible.

We encourage everyone from all classes and educational backgrounds to attend or participate in our conferences.

We allocate a number of tickets per event to be given free of charge to those who are out of work, in education or on low income.

We pay everyone equally who speaks at our conferences. For all events, all participating speakers receive a free ticket with full access to the conference. For all physical events, we cover travel and accommodation expenses for all participating speakers.

We have events that have a speaker budget and events that do not. When we have a budget, it is shared pro-rata with all speakers.

We commit to demonstrating a range of diverse experiences from different communities in all of our conferences. We strive to represent diverse audiences spanning class, age, sexuality, ethnicity, disability and religious belief.

We do not tolerate hate speech or offence to anybody involved in or attending our conferences. All offenders will be barred from our future conferences.

We carefully consider all marketing channels where our agendas, content and speakers are advertised.