ATTENTION: This session requires advance signup to attend. For Online Schedule: Please utilize the RSVP link below the description to reserve your seat. For SXSW GO App: Use the RSVP 'Find a Timeslot' link. You must have a SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum badge to attend, and, you must have an activated SXsocial account (social.sxsw.com) to reserve a seat. If you have any issues with signing up, please email support@sxsw.com. VERY IMPORTANT: Because of the limited space, we recommend you arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the published start time of this session. If you have not checked in at the room you RSVPed for at least five minutes prior to the session start time, you may lose your seat to an attendee in the waiting list line.

Prerequisites:
Should have basic knowledge about the lack of diversity in technical fields.

What to Bring:
Laptop, paper, pen.

We create social good to right injustices, empower communities and inspire social change. But do we reflect the people we serve? Sexism and racism continue to be played out in tech communities, which remain overwhelmingly white, male and college-educated. An honest assessment of where we're falling short and strategies for moving forward will help us build welcoming, sustainable communities for social good.
This hands-on, two and a half hour long workshop will give you the tools to:
1. Develop strategies for building more inclusive, accountable and effective spaces — and be better at what you do.
2. Find ways to be an effective ally to those who are marginalized in your workplace, and build a more inclusive culture.
3. Find allies outside of your workplace if you can't find any within. -

Draft Timeline:

I. Who’s in the room? [10 min]
A. Self-introduction & Breaking into Working Groups - [10 min]

Go-round: In 30 seconds, share— this is if there are <= 20
If 20+ then small/large org spectrogram into to those around you - THESE

Name
Where you’re from (define that however you like)
One person who brings you here today

II. What’s the problem? [35 min]
A. What people are bringing to the room [5 min]

Ask people to write down the one problem or issue in their organization they most want to solve. For instance “we want our board to reflect the diversity of our community,” or “we want to make anti-oppression training a regular part of our staff work,” etc. Invite everyone to think specifically about this problem as we work today.

B. Vocabulary discussion [15 min]

What do we mean when we talk about:

structural racism/sexism/classism/homophobia
impostor syndrome
accidental techie
microaggressions
implicit bias
covering/invisibility (ability/disability, classism, race, sexuality, gender, everywhere!)
BRING PEOPLE BACK TOGETHER

C. What evidence is out there [20 min]

This is the traditional “presentation” sections. What data on diversity, is available?

III. What’s the solution? [30 min]
A. Harvest some of the problems people are trying to solve [5 min]

1. From the issues folks identified in the prior section, invite them to share if they feel inclined, and write them up on a sheet of paper.

2. Determine 3, 4 or 5 problems (depending on the number of the participants) that have resonance with a number of people. Each problem/issue becomes a group — invite people to choose which group they’d like to participate in. Have each group determine a scribe.

B. Collectively work on solutions [25 min] -

1. Give each group 5 minutes for each (20 minutes total) of the following questions:

Describe the situation now. What needs to change?
Describe the ideal situation. If the problem were completely resolved, what would it look like, feel like, sound like?
Determine the blockers to the ideal situation. What’s in the way of making this happen?
Determine what actions could be taken to address, defuse or circumvent things standing in the way and change the situation. [scribes record this section]

2. Give each group an extra 2 minutes to determine a presenter to report-back on the fourth section (solutions) and identify the most important highlights.

3. Each group reports back in 2-3 minutes.

C. Closing
“Write down one commitment for a concrete action you’ll take when you leave here to begin moving your work down the path to the solution.”

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