How to Create More Diversity at Your DevFests

This page is created in collaboration with GDG Mentors in North America to help you to create diversity at your DevFests, and also other events. Thanks to GDG Mentors, James Cha, Justin Ribeiro, Sheldon McGee, Lloyg Dlewyn Lentz, Dan Baran, Nitya Narasimhan, Chida Sadayappan, Bill Mote, Michael Prentice, Dan Scott.

Diversity is important for your events. It is not about gender, ethnicity. -- it is about skills, mindset and supporting minorities.

In this page you will find how to find more women speakers, more women attendees and how to include more minorities at your events.

• Collaborate with Women Techmakers Leads and groups. Partner with them, invite their IWD Event speakers and attendees to your DevFests.
• Reach out women communities like Women Who Code etc, partner with them. Encourage them to create your DevFest in their meetup groups.
• Reach out diversity related communities in your city and partner with them. You will find a list of diversity related communities in Appendix, please contribute.
• Invite all minorities like blind people to talk about their experiences. Listening to a accessibility talk from a blind developer would brought more attention to attendees’ lives while designing and coding.
• Reach out the diversity related events in your area to collaborate with them.
• Provide some free tickets for women and other minorities.
• Provide scholarship for travel of women speakers and other minorities.
• Special call for speakers. It is not about positive discrimination but to encourage them to join your events as a speaker.
• To find women speakers, there are organizations would retweet your "Call for speakers" to reach more women. Call Back Women, Right Speak and more.
• Have a child care at the event.
• Reach out university clubs like IEEE Women in Engineering. They will volunteer at your event.
• Offer discounted tickets.
• Make the event around big women in tech attendees so you will find more women in town.
• For the first time speakers, encourage and mentor them about how to be a good speaker.