For many years I’ve avoided presenting at conferences because who needs one more ageing white guy sharing their thoughts? I simply had nothing to say that the other umpteen guys just like me weren’t going to say.
Now, however, I’ve started to ease back into the conference speaking world. Tentatively, to be sure, but I intend to step that up.The reason I stopped still exists. Conferences, especially tech ones, are very male dominated and one more white male speaker blocks the way for someone with something genuinely different to say. Of course, it’s possible to look the same and have different perspectives, but that’s only part of the issue. More visible diversity means more real diversity, and that means more chances for more people. There’s no world in which that’s not a good thing.
But now I think the tide has turned. Conferences know they have to present a rich and varied line up of speakers if they want to draw in the attendees.
I’m also aware that change can ebb and flow. If we ease up on the pressure, the spring will bounce back to it’s comfortable position and the “manels” will return. (Manels = All male discussion panels)
So, although I want to speak at conferences, I’m going to limit myself to those where the effort to maintain a diverse line up is genuine and consistent.
This has three big advantages for me. Firstly, it encourages the right behaviour in organisers. Secondly, it means what I have to say might actually be different from all the other talks, and they different from each other. Thirdly, and more selfishly, I’ll get to attend conferences that offer a wider range of perspectives and I’ll learn more that way.
There’s another reason too. Far too often, conference talks focus on the trade, or the business. They address the functional aspects in terms of efficiency, quality, velocity and success.
Somewhere in all of that are the people, and that’s where I find myself heading in my later years. Of course, success is important to businesses, and performance is important to teams, but what’s the point of all of that if it’s a miserable daily experience for the majority of people.
I’ve had the privilege to work in a field I love with talented people who really care. I’ve also encountered less pleasant situations where profit at any cost rules the roost and people are expendable resources.
Many argue that this is the reality of business; that you have to be ruthless to succeed. They’re wrong. That’s just the easier way to do it, but the thoughtful way is always the more fulfilling.
The place I now work, Equal Experts, is proof of that. Over the eight years I’ve been here, it’s grown massively and is a true success story, but it hasn’t done that by being cold or ruthless. Here, it’s the people that matter, whether they be employees, associates or clients.
So, if I turn up at a conference to speak, I’ll be presenting something that I believe won’t just help businesses succeed, but will also help people thrive.
Hopefully I’ll see you there!