jillbinder 9:13 pm on November 12, 2020
Tags: WPDiversity ( 237 )

[Input Requested] Re-imagining the work of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity)

Hi WordPress Community!

This year, the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) had to adapt the way we work given the changing landscape.

Prior to 2020, we were teaching 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. how to run our workshop for their communities themselves. In the past two years, we’ve trained over 50 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. organizers to run the workshop, and those that ran it saw a major increase in the diversity of their 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. speaker lineup.

Given the events of 2020, we started delivering portions of the workshop to the community directly ourselves, online. We also ran a handful of meetup training sessions to meetups who reached out to us, and some of those groups ran the workshop. We’ll provide a full report of our results later this year, but so far we have reached 236 participants across 87 meetups around the world!

Now, we are taking a 20,000 foot view to re-imagine the work we are doing again, and invite your input.

Given the world changes this year, and ongoing changes in 2021:

What would be the most impactful way to help organizers get more diversity in WordPress speaker lineups? (not just gender, but also race, class, sexuality, ability, age, etc.)

What new barriers do you see coming out of 2020 that are likely to be factors in 2021?

We are looking for your ideas by December 18th. Please reply to this post with any thoughts.

Thank you @angelasjin and @andreamiddleton for helping with this post.

Laura Byrne-Cristiano 11:05 pm on November 13, 2020

I think there should be some standardization on organizer training even if you are an old timer. Oftentimes it’s not what you’re doing but how you’re doing it. I get that folks are busy and it’s a volunteer gig, but this would help with diversity in every area.

Also getting other members of your team onboard, is the entire organizing team contributing to getting speakers in, evaluating those speeches? That’s not just the work of the speaker team.
jillbinder 2:48 am on November 17, 2020
A few of our own ideas to contribute:
1. We used to teach 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. how to run the workshop themselves. We now have a recording of the workshop up on Learn WordPress. We could make it easier for everyone by encouraging meetups to play the recording (and to get people to do the hands-on exercises along with the recording).
2. Discussion groups: People watch the recordings on Learn WordPress on their own time and gather to discuss what they watched.
3. We have an FAQ about how to find more people from marginalized and underrepresented groups, how to create a more welcoming and inclusive event, how to be a good ally, etc. We could work on promoting that document better or even hold a workshop around it.
- Sallie Goetsch 5:04 am on November 28, 2020
  
  I think offering workshops for 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. organizers on how to find diverse speakers for their 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. would be very helpful. It was one of these that helped me diversify my speakers this year (almost 50% POC speakers). But I’ve now invited all the most obvious people (long-time meetup members who had not previously spoken) and am wondering how to maintain momentum for next year. (Though as I sit here it occurs to me that I might ask this year’s speakers who they’d like to see.)
  
  I believe the other point @jillbinder wanted me to make was that when I did lead this workshop for my meetup, I was pretty intimidated, because what the heck is White Privilege Girl doing leading a diverse speaker training? After this year I’d feel even more self-conscious, even knowing that people found it helpful.
- Courtney P.K. 12:37 am on December 3, 2020
  I agree that these are all good ideas @jillbinder!
  1. I think it’d be great to have a initiative focused on encouraging 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. groups to play the recordings for their group. It’s such a low-effort event to organize, and I think that would sound appealing to organizers.
  2. I think small cohorts are always great to have, not just for accountability, but also to also approach questions and answers about their learnings together. This can happen regardless of it being a synchronous workshop and discussion, or watching videos on Learn and discussing asynchronously.
  3. Since I worked with you on the FAQ and handbook pages, I have a particular interest in promoting that work, as I feel it can get a bit lost.
Courtney Engle Robertson 5:54 pm on November 25, 2020

As training sets its sites on outreach to employers, I would love to see an entire series of lessons beyond speaker diversity. DEIB in the workforce.

So many that work in the WP products and agency space are now global teams. Just as much as the skills of using or developing for WP are important, so are the “soft skills” around DEIB work. Raising awareness in the workforce and honing in on the belonging piece matter.

I see speaking at events to be one step in the process of welcoming all into the community. Ongoing belonging in the WP formal and informal community is valuable for all.

Catchy jingle waiting to happen “DEIB in the WP community”.
Tara King 6:06 pm on November 25, 2020

I know many 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. have been trained but have not offered the workshops yet. What about pairing an experienced trainer with the local trainer for a 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.’s first offering? I know that it helped me to have a more experienced co-presenter the first time I did it, and now that meetups are mostly virtual, it’s easier to pair without having to travel.
- Oneal Rosero 1:03 pm on November 27, 2020
  
  I agree that the best way to learn is to watch someone perform it. its great for the trainer and the trainee to have this option. Plus the workshop where they can ask questions later helps too.
  another thing we can do is to compile the questions that are asked during the workshops so we can use it to improve the later sessions.
Oneal Rosero 7:47 am on November 27, 2020

I’ve been performing in-person training for up to over 400 people at a time for about 10 years now. I average about 1000 people per year. but I have never done online training before. The tips were great!
jillbinder 8:08 pm on November 30, 2020

Edit to the post on November 30th: Extended the deadline to December 18th, 2020.
jillbinder 7:47 pm on December 9, 2020

Further thoughts discussed in our group meeting today:

@tantienhime: My ideas re: 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. were captured by others. Since WordCamps really are not happening as much, the next best outreach (IMHO) is the meetups themselves. Not just advertising to those meetups (which is a good start), but actually making presentations at those meetups, say from one of the mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. on the Diversity team, live, to gain interest and draw people into the workshops themselves. Maybe an “intro” level or an informational session that makes people more aware of the need and lack of diversity. I would call this Outreach.

@cguntur: I agree with the other comments. I think new meetups running the workshop for the first time teaming up with someone who has experience might make it better. Like if they have questions, they will have someone who can answer right away.

@wpfangirl: Just reading over the comments and I want to reiterate what I said: I believe there are other 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. organizers out there doing what I did before I got involved here: waiting for people to volunteer to speak, and being influenced by that unconscious human instinct to hang out with people like me. So we had lots of women but pretty much everyone was white. Once you realize what’s happened, if your meetup has a diverse membership but not a diverse speaker roster, you then realize you have to ASK under-represented people to speak. And you have to figure out HOW to ask them.

@tantienhime And I would say that having one of the diversity team AS a speaker, fills a slot for us meetup organizers too!
- vindhya2020 12:43 pm on December 18, 2020
  
  Its really good. I agree with others . Its a good idea of having 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..