5 things you can do to make your conferences diverse and inclusive
You need to be intentional about it.
Sometimes, I think I should update my LinkedIn job title to “Manel,” which stands for all-male panels preventer. Several times a year, I get requests to participate on a panel of all men at a big conference. It happens in both of my core fields: national security and technology. It happens even when I am not the best person for the job (I know nothing about FinTech, for example, and still get asked to speak on it again and again). Most of the time, I get asked to moderate the panel of male experts (which I usually turn down.)