Before I'll agree to a speaking event, I try to do as much research I can around the event to ensure it aligns with my ethos and only want to be involved with events that are inclusive of folks that have traditionally been underrepresented in technology. I've adapted this from Tatiana Mac and Cassidy Williams's open-source Speaker Riders.
- For full length of conference.
- For international conferences (outside of U.S.A.), I ask for at least one (1) full day of lodging before the conference.
Unless:
- Hosted in my current local city (Washington, D.C.), or
- Video remote!
I ask for a speaker fee because I value my time (and hope you do too), I often have to take time off of work or projects to travel and attend, and because I want to normalize people getting paid for their work (especially underrepresented groups). 💸 If you would like, you may also sponsor me for this and other open source work I do.
For non-profit events, I may choose to waive this based on ticket pricing, scholarship programs, etc.
I'm not putting a number here because it varies depending on the event. Please don't make it awkward and be like "uh, we don't normally pay speakers, but you get exposure," because I can't pay my bills with exposure. <3 I understand that some events don't have budget to pay speakers, and I'll address this on a case-by-case basis (but also, you should have budget to pay your speakers). .
I would love to be able to attend the entire conference if I am speaking.
- You must have a dedication to protecting the most marginalised and minoritised individuals in this industry.
- You must have clearly defined methods for dealing with conflicts when they arise with trained staff to address conflicts and be prepared to appropriately handle complaints. CoCs are only as good as their enforcement.
- Both Write Speak Code and JSConfEU provide excellent CoCs that can serve as strong starting points.
- All areas that are part of the conference should be accessible and follow the criteria of the American Disabilities Act and/or equivalent international standards.
- Live captioning helps make the content of a conference more accessible to a wider audience and I'd like to attend larger events that have some type of live captioning.
- More than one non-binary person of color or woman of color speaker
- You don't only invite marginalised folks speaking about their experiences of marginalisation.
- Ideally panels and speakers are diverse across race, gender identity, expression, and orientation, physical and mental ability, etc.
- I will allow video recordings/live streams so long as they are accessible (captioned) and free (no paywalls!).