Tokens are for Subways

Then there's tokenism. Suzette Eaddy, CMP, director of conferences with the National Minority Supplier Development Council Inc., New York, says that it's not enough just to include a token “entertainer or ball player” of color as a featured speaker. For a brochure to truly motivate people to attend, showcase minority speakers who are doing well in their profession, she says.

Another common way associations attempt to diversify their meetings is to include what Carmen Van Kerckhove, co-founder and president of New Demographic, an anti-racism training company in New York, calls “the panel of marginalized people.” This is a panel that features, for example, a black person, a Hispanic person, a young person, and a person with a physical disability put on display to discuss their issues as members of a specific group. Instead of creating “the ‘diversity ghetto,’ planners could include those issues in the main topics of the conference.” She notes as an example a blogging conference she attended where they had a panel that discussed the different ways in which your identity intersects with blogging. “It became an open discussion not just about race, but about all aspects of identity,” she says.

And include minorities among your mainstream topic speakers, she adds. “It's more powerful if you have a panel of top executives that includes a person of color discussing a business issue, than it is to just plop that person of color up there to talk about their race.” The Association Forum of Chicagoland, Chicago, is very attuned to this, says vice president and COO Pamm Schroeder. But, she adds, it takes more work to find new, diverse voices than it does to just fall back on speakers you already know and have good evaluations for.

“Everyone wants to go for the tried-and-true, but you have to take a chance on new speakers to get new, diverse voices.” That, she says, takes time and phone calling and attending your own sessions to see who “seems to be interesting and interested in the topic.” (See article on page 28 for more ideas.) To take some of the nail-biting out of the experience, she suggests putting a new speaker whose speaking skills you're not sure about on with another presenter who's a known quantity. Speakers bureaus also can be a big help in finding diverse presenters. “You have to think carefully about the message that's being sent by putting on a monochromatic program. It's saying that no one else has anything to offer, and that's a terrible message,” says Schroeder.

A variation on tokenism is what Nelson calls the “Joe-from-Accounting syndrome.” “We see it a lot, often from marketing, where they say, ‘Joe from accounting is gay, so we ran the promotion by him,’” says Nelson. “But Joe isn't an expert in gay and lesbian marketing — he's an accountant who happens to be gay. And he can only speak for Joe; he doesn't speak for all gay people.” Van Kerckhove says, “It's important to speak with as many people as possible to get a well-rounded sense” of what would make them feel included and welcomed at the meeting.

Another common misperception made by dominant-culture planners, says Van Kerckhove, happens when people look around at a meeting and, seeing that there are few people of color, assume that it's because there are few people of color in the profession or interest group the meeting serves. In fact, it may be that “many of the people organizing the conferences haven't stepped out of their comfort zone to do a more thorough search to find people who are different from the mainstream” of attendees, she says.

Just Ask. They'll Tell

Once you understand where you're coming from, the next step is to educate yourself about how your assumptions measure up — or don't — to the realities of different cultures, ethnicities, religions, and ages. Most people will be glad to educate you about their world. Instead of getting mad after the nudity remark, Nelson recognized that the person he was dealing with wasn't inherently homophobic. “She was just ignorant about the realities of the segment,” he says. “We took it as an opportunity to educate, rather than retreat or make a big stink about it.”

Sometimes, you may just have to admit that you really don't know how to be inclusive toward a specific group of people. It can be painful, and scary to step up and ask the hard questions. You risk sounding insensitive, or ignorant, or both. But many, if not most people likely will share the attitude of Hala Durrah, founder and president, Fusion Event Management Services, Bowie, Md. “I don't mind being the poster child for the Muslim-American population,” she says with a laugh, noting that she is serving as just that for the purpose of this article. “I don't want ignorance to be bliss.” Just be respectful in the way you ask, she says. “I don't get offended if someone asks me about my hijab [traditional Islamic head scarf] by saying, ‘Can I ask you the significance of that,’” instead of ‘Why are you wearing that weird thing on your head?’ There is a way to ask, but we shouldn't let fear drive our actions.”

And even if you do get rebuffed, Digh points to this quote from diversity author George Simons: “What people in the U.S. don't seem to realize is that it is as destructive to intentionally take offense as it is to intentionally give offense.” She adds, “People on both sides of the registration desk have to be moving toward each other in recognition that they're part of a larger group.”

Ultimately, though, however much you learn about a group, individuals within that group are not going to be walking in lockstep. As Sarina Butler, association executive director, American Bar Association, Chicago office, says, “We recognize that even if you have a group of 30-year-old white males, they likely won't like the same things.” You will have to treat people individually by asking what would make that person feel included. And don't worry that treating people as individuals will result in 20,000 special requests, Digh adds. “They won't all come knocking on your door asking for accommodations.”