#SpeakingForAll – Invest in diverse speaker line-ups
This week’s show title can only mean one person! The delightful Louise Triance. She joins us to talk about the Facebook group, #SpeakingForAll. Which Katrina and Louise co-founded with Audra Knight, over 2 years ago. The question for Louise, and Katrina, is simple. Do you think we have more diversity in speaker line-ups at recruitment events?
“I think that some event organisers have either taken on-board the feedback we have kindly, and subtly, given them – or – they’ve just recognised for themselves, through some sort of osmosis, that they need to step up their game!” She tells us, “broadly speaking, I think things have improved”.
We ask Louise about the migration to virtual events and whether this would be helpful to event organisers thinking about diverse speaker line-ups and she says, “yes, and that is something I strongly feel – there is even less excuse for not having a diverse line-up.”
Headhunting your speaker line-up
We ask Louise about new speakers and how she approaches and encourages those first-time speakers to join an event line-up and she says, “one thing you could think about is the format of which you want them to talk, so it’s maybe it’s more comfortable to be part of a panel the first time you speak”.
With her experience of adding seasoned speakers to event line-ups, we ask Louise if she encounters any reluctant speakers, she tells us, “the sort of challenges I get are people saying ‘I’m not really the expert on that’, the other thing I hear is – I think my boss would be better suited to do this” and she goes on to say, “in every single one of those cases, their boss or colleague was a man – and I have to say, I actually want you to speak!”
If that wasn’t enough, below you’ll hear Louise talk about:
- What’s Recruitment Working Lunch?
- How COVID-19 has impacted the events landscape
- What is a ‘manel’?
- Diversity of speaker panels in-person versus online
- Is Virtual Reality (VR) events the future of the space?
- Live versus Pre-Record Speaker Events
Thank you to our fabulous sponsor EnterpriseAlumni
