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need someone diverse in attendance , or someone with a disability in attendance , etc .”
Neil Basing , events manager and emcee , PinkNews , agreed , he said : “ I think tokenism is when you just pluck anyone out of the air because they fit a box that you might be missing . I have done this as a queer events manager as well , I am guilty of tokenism .”
It ’ s an easy trap for organisers to fall into , especially when many business communities are dominated by certain groups of people . Those organisers that are early on in their inclusion journeys may not consider the impact of tokenism until it is too late according to Basing . He said : “ I ’ m guilty of getting so far down the line in my event planning , then looking at my panel , and thinking ‘ I have to fill that with someone who is a woman .’ Particularly when it comes to sectors like business or engineering where it ’ s typically led by white straight men . I think it ’ s shoehorning anyone that could possibly be marginally aligned with what you ’ re trying to achieve . What we need to do is be better at incorporating proper representation or authentic representation in from the start of an event .”
Aside from the moral reasonings for investing in a more inclusive strategy and moving away from tokenism , there are also business drivers according to Ogiste . He said : “ People just don ’ t necessarily want to come to the event where they don ’ t feel represented in what is being presented to them . I think there was a time where people would just come to the event and feel uncomfortable and just go home and maybe have a little moan about it . For them to arrive and feel uncomfortable in the scenario , they just don ’ t feel like they need to do that anymore .”
“ There are now people that will say the reason they didn ’ t attend an event that ’ s been held by x-organiser is because they didn ’ t have diverse speakers and representative of who they are and what matters to them .”
For Basing “ proper representation ” also must include “ diversity of thought ” rather than just a focus on the intersections that a person may belong to . Basing continues : “ Making sure that you ’ re branching out into who your panel are and what they think , will allow organisers to be a bit be more creative about how they organise the content at their events .”
Make the change Changing people ’ s attitudes towards tokensim is no easy task , the practice is ingrained in many businesses that the approach has to be amended both internally and externally in order for impactful change to take place .
Ogiste focuses on the internal steps that an organisation can take to tackle tokenism . He said : “ Tokenism is the sense of , there ’ s one person of colour that ’ s in all the photos when organisers talk about the company , but that ’ s not reflected in the senior leadership team .”
This surface level commitment to DEI is compounded by many of those from minority groups being “ junior people that are brought in , on a certain level .” Ogiste relates this trend to senior people from these groups having left “ because then they hit the ceiling within the company .”
Ogiste ’ s point is that true representation starts from within , if organisers focus on
DEI within their hiring practices , this focus will translate to more equitable attendance to events .
Basing sees that progression is down to people being asked to speak on their expert topics , rather than aspects of their identity . He said : “ I think that ’ s kind of where things are going right now is that people can say : ‘ You want me as a queer person to speak on your panel ? That ’ s fine . But make sure that ’ s not all I ’ m www . conference-news . co . uk