📝 Blog post: Why diversity in tech conferences is important

[JoshuaKGoldberg]

Overview

I had a contentious conversation with a conference organizer recently. I then posted on Bluesky, posted on Mastodon, and posted on Twitter:

Had a contentious email chain with a conference organizer who didn't recognize any issue with their speakers being >80% white dudes. 😬

What are folks' favorite resources for explaining why this is a problem? Especially in support of diverse/representative tech speaker lineups?

...and while there were some interesting discussions & resources, nothing that was exactly what I was looking for. So I'd like to write it from my perspective of why I think having diversity in tech conferences is important.

Surely this won't cause any controversy or attract the attention of internet trolls!