Ensuring a diverse speaker lineup at any event is a multi-step process that begins in the idea phase and continues throughout the life of the event. At first glance, it may seem like an unapproachable task, but the experiences of conference organizers has shown that putting a little effort into planning for diversity can have big returns.

Below, we introduce five ideas that can help you recruit and maintain diverse speaker lineups for conferences and events. The ideas can be summarized as M.A.P.S.S.: Mission, Advertise, Pipeline, Selection, and Sharing.

Recruiting a diverse speaker lineup for a conference or event starts with the conference organizers making diversity and inclusion a priority. A key step towards this is to make diversity a conference mission. By elevating its importance, the implementation of the goal permeates all aspects of planning. As a conference mission, recruiting diverse speakers becomes the responsibility of everyone involved in putting together the event, not just one person or committee. When putting together the organizing committee, members should be aligned with the mission. It also helps if the committee members have non-overlapping networks so the team can maximize its reach when searching for potential speakers. The organizing committee can set the tone for the conference by also making sure that the invited speakers reflect the mission. In some cases, it also helps to set a recruitment goal, so the committee can track its progress. If the committee is worried about being able to meet their speaker diversity recruitment goals, they can offset a potential lack of diversity in the call for proposals by having more underrepresented minorities as invited speakers.

• Decide early on if the diversity of the speaker lineup is a priority for your event.
• If it is, declare that in the same way other concrete “to do’s” are recorded and tracked.
• Recognize that assembling a diverse organizing committee, with non-overlapping networks, is a high leverage point.

The Call for Proposals is another place where a tone of inclusivity can be set for the conference. The call is the conference's chance to show potential speakers that diversity and inclusion is a priority and having speakers that represent the whole community is important. Within the call, use wording and make offers that reduce and remove the potential barriers to speaking. In the past, conferences have offered services like speaker training, where more experienced speakers are paired with beginners for practice and knowledge sharing, and registration / travel fees are reimbursed to help defray the cost of being a speaker at a conference. Similarly, for potential speakers with families, conferences can offer to cover the cost of child care at the conference or at home, and offer family rooms with video links to the presentations. Some conferences have found success by making it clear, within the call, that they are looking for people to share their experiences, and being an "expert" is not a prerequisite for speaking. Consider offering methods of submitting talk proposals that don't force potential speakers to include information that would identify their gender identidy or race. Sometimes, this can help build confidence, in people, that this type of information will not be used against them in the decision process.

With a well crafted Call for Proposals, it is important to get the word out to the audiences you want to target. Having an organizing committee that can tap into their different networks helps. If the conference is attended by a diverse population, it can be useful to encourage those attendees to apply to speak. Advertising the opportunity to speak is about getting the word out to the right populations. Social media networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook have communities focused on promoting speaker and leadership opportunities. Use these Diversity, People of Color, and Women in Tech based resources to spread the word about the opportunities offered by your conference. You can also reach out to meetups in your region to promote the event and find new speakers who are looking for a chance to shine. While adverstising the call, don't be afraid to ask for help getting the word out that the conference is looking for underrepresented speakers. People notice when a conference is not talking about diversity and when a conference is. Letting the community know that your conference is talking about it will help attract the speakers you are looking for. Also, don't be afraid to ask for recommendations for speakers or approach individuals about proposing a talk. This type of personal connection can help inform people about opportunities and show them that their participation is valued.

• Be clear about the range of talk topics and formats that you encourage. Don’t assume that people know “the usual drill” or are confident enough to apply, despite a perceived lack of fit.
• Remove uncertainty around the selection criteria and the resources available to speakers. Can you share your evaluation rubric or process? Describe, e.g., fee waivers, travel reimbursement, support for child care or remote presentations.
• Use all available methods to get your Call for Proposals in front of a large and diverse audience. There is an abundance of networks and social media communities that exist exactly for this purpose.

1. LatinX in AI: http://www.latinxinai.org

   a. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/latinxinai/

   b. Twitter: https://twitter.com/_LXAI

   c. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/latinx-in-ai/

2. BDPA (Black Data Processing Associates): http://bdpa.org

   a. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NBDPAConference

   b. Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BDPA

   c. LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=21066&trk=anet_ug_hm

3. Black in AI: https://twitter.com/black_in_ai?lang=en

4. Women in Machine Learning: https://wimlworkshop.org

   a. Google Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/women-in-machine-learning

   b. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WomenInMachineLearning/

   c. Twitter: https://twitter.com/wimlworkshop

5. Data Science Africa: http://www.datascienceafrica.org

6. R-Ladies Global: https://rladies.org

This blog post from kdnuggets is a gold mine of contacts and resources that can be used to find speakers who identify as women and underrepresented.

Cultivating a diverse and inclusive speaker population takes time and at the heart of the matter is networking. If your conference speaker lineup doesn't reflect the diversity of the community it serves, you may be able to start building a pipeline of speakers by allowing people to work their way up to speaking, through different types of smaller opportunities. Prior to the conference, smaller events can be organized where committee members can better get to know potential speakers and offer them a chance to speak in a less stressful atmosphere. These pre-conference events can be a good place to give feedback and take note of presentation topics that may not get wide exposure in a larger conference setting.

At the conference itself, potential future speakers can take on roles that give them more public speaking exposure, like leading small table conversations, workshops, doing short lightning talks, poster presentations, or setting up a conference track with talks aimed at informing beginners in the community.

• In addition to seeking out diverse speakers for, e.g., keynote talks, pay attention to other roles and presentation formats. Develop the future speakers you want to headline your event 3 - 5 years from now!
• Incorporate some sessions consisting of lightning talks, posters, and small “birds of a feather” discussions. These are great examples of lower-stakes roles where the organizing committee has more flexibility to take some risks and discover new talent to encourage.

Selecting the speakers is where the rubber hits the road. Before you get started evaluating the proposals, develop a rubric to help score the proposals evenly. Be willing to accept non-traditional topics or approaches to presenting information. If you are worried about reaching your diversity goals, consider reserving slots that can be filled in as you find speakers that help you meet those goals. Finally, review the agenda and goals before releasing the speaker selections to the public.

• Develop a rubric and process before selecting speakers.
• Get out ahead of challenges. For example, if you predict that the pool for one type of talk or one subject track will be very homogeneous, logic says you will need to compensate elsewhere to meet your diversity goals. Certain topics within the R ecosystem cut across subject areas (for example, Shiny or visualization) and offer a great chance to recruit speakers from a large and diverse population of useRs.
• Review the overall speaker line-up prior to making the agenda public.

The process doesn't end when the conference is over. After the conference, it is important to determine whether the speaker goals that were set at the beginning of the process were met and what things should be changed for next time. Consider sharing your results with others. Even if you did not meet your goals, the experience is something that others can learn from, and it shows that the conference is trying.

• Do a post mortem and take notes about what worked well and you would do differently next time.
• Capture positive experiences with, e.g., the new names who gave great lightning talks and posters. Tell them they stood out and encourage them to submit a proposal for something bigger next year.