The tech world suffers from a disproportionate lack of inclusion and diversity.
More than ever, event planners are now expected to have an inclusivity strategy that tackles the stark gap in diversion, but these “plans” are more often concerned with token representation rather than genuine diversity.
We all know the drill. A woman gets called to a panel of judges to balance out the other three men. A black person is hired at a company for appearance’s sake and quota fills. A marketing team brings on a millennial to “provide a young, fresh perspective”.
If you’re wondering what the problem is with that, you’re not alone. This sort of window-dressing representation does work short term. It provides representation and fills a necessary quota. But beyond that, it doesn’t make any long-term impact—in most cases, diversity gets confused for inclusion.
If you want to truly make an impact in your community, inclusivity must be more than a checklist of tasks.
Striving to become more inclusive and diverse means making an active and conscious effort to allow more voices into your personal and professional space.
It means including people of all ages, ethnicities, physical abilities, educational levels and ethnic backgrounds.
So, whether you’re organising your first-ever hackathon or your 10th, here are nine strategies to help you bring more inclusivity and diversion into your next hackathon, so you can build an enriched community and make the most impact.
Maximise Your Impact: 9 Steps To An Inclusive Hackathon
1. Bring fresh voices to your judge panel
It’s no secret that white panels continue to be the norm rather than the exception. Meanwhile, audiences continue to be put off by the absurd lack of diversity among those who call the shots.
This is why it’s crucial to prioritise the diversity of your reviewing panel as the first point of call. Your judging panel is the most visible aspect of your hackathon and is an instant window into your inclusion and diversity efforts.
But still, many organisers have argued that it’s simply too difficult and unrealistic to find female speakers and judges for their panels. Some have even argued that they simply want the “best” on the panel and that in certain industries, that happens to be the men.
These problematic excuses are just that: excuses. Melanie Ehrenkranza called it out boldly on Twitter when she responded to these tired claims by putting out a call for female tech speakers. In 24 hours, Ehrenkranza collected 1,000 names.
The reality is that the vast majority of people don’t want to sit and listen to the same voices say the same things, over and over again, at different events.
Not only is it boring and predictable, but it can be incredibly alienating to the vast majority of society when the representation is so slim.
Take the first step in making your hackathon more inclusive by giving your participants fresh voices and different backgrounds representing them.
Ruchika Tulshyan, author of The Diversity Advantage, summed it up best when she said: “I find it a waste of time to attend a conference where I won’t learn from a wide variety of expertise, views and experiences.”
2. Encourage beginners to participate
Most hackathons welcome beginners but potential participants have no idea because organisers don’t explicitly say so. In fact, most people don’t even know that there are several roles required at hackathons that have nothing to do with coding!
Make it clear to potential participants that no hacking experience is necessary in order to join your hackathon. You can do so by adding a note in your initial call to submission or even posting reminders on your social media channels when applications are officially open. You might be surprised at how many more applications you receive.
3. Beware of “Manels”
In 2020, of almost 73 million people working in science and technology in the EU, women accounted for almost 37.5 million (51.3%).
Yet, somehow, nobody can find female keynote speakers experienced or interesting enough for Europe’s well-known tech conferences.
The term “manel” as you might have already guessed, refers to the infamous all-male panels that tech events are notorious for (speaker panels, judging panels, etc.)
But replacing an all-male panel with an all-female panel, for example, isn’t enough to make a change.
Improving diversity and inclusion goes beyond the gender of your speaker/judging panels, and should always be centred around providing different perspectives.
Take a look at the lineup for your judge/speaker panel and ask yourself if you’re really providing a diverse and balanced variety of perspectives for your participants. Be honest, and make the necessary changes to reflect your answer.
4. Use registration forms with open-ended questions
If you want to maximise your impact and create a more inclusive hackathon, why not start with the first point of contact with applicants?
Starting with your application form, you can set the tone for inclusion by validating every single person who wants to be a part of your hackathon—and it’s simpler than you might think.
Open-ended registration questions are a small tweak you can make to your submission process that can have tremendous effects.
Example: Basic female/male gender pronouns may alienate some participants if they don’t identify with either term. By creating open-ended text fields, dropdown menus or checkboxes, you can provide more choice to your audience so they can select the pronoun that best reflects their identities.
5. Double-check your calendar
The last thing you want is to schedule your hackathon on the same day as a huge women-in-tech conference. Not only is it simply poor planning, but you risk having wildly disproportionate demographics at your event.
Likewise, if you’re targeting university students, make sure there are no other big student events going on that weekend so your hackathon doesn’t clash.
6. Don’t forget your promotional material
If you have any promotional material, make sure it reflects a diverse range of people.
Diversity should always be visible, and it’s a small effort to help future participants visualise themselves at your hackathon and identify themselves as a valid contribution
7. Take a closer look at your language
Not only are terms like “rockstar”, “ninja” or “superstar” overused and usually unnecessary, these jargon words typically attract men disproportionally more than they do women.
For this reason, it’s worth refraining from using them. Jargon like this tends to have aggressive and more “boyish” connotations that when seen in job applications, can actually stop women from even applying, according to Fast Company.
So scrap the overly aggressive, jargon language unless you want to deter lots of quality participants from applying, which is the last thing you should want for your hackathon.
Instead, use neutral language. If you want to say that you’re looking for a coding “rockstar”, simply swap it for “skilled programmer” or something similar.
Just avoid the overly boyish terminology wherever possible.
8. Set and measure diversity targets
If you don’t hold yourself accountable for creating an inclusive and diverse space for your hackathon, it’s impossible to measure your progress.
Leveling the playing field that discrimination has created is more than simply talking about it at your meetings. It’s about setting clear goals, making a commitment to yourself and your community, and measuring those targets.
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself when measuring your progress:
- Did we hit the quota for female participants? If not, what could have been done differently to attract more females?
- Did we have a diverse judging panel?
- Did we have a diverse range of mentors?
9. Ask participants for feedback
Another extra step you can take is to directly ask participants what they felt about your efforts.
After the hackathon, you can send follow up communications or even surveys to better understand if people felt included and welcome.
Remember, it’s easy to feel comfortable and assume you ticked all the boxes just because your hackathon looked diverse.
You might have put together an inclusive-looking judge panel or brought in a group of mentors from different ethnicities. But the reality of bias is that sometimes it’s unconscious, and even those with the best intentions may say or do something that can potentially alienate someone else.
If this happens, it’s unlikely that someone will voice their concerns right there and then, while they’re feeling marginalised or uncomfortable. Most people need time to process and reflect on their experiences before they’re ready to share constructive criticism.
Give everyone that opportunity by following up a couple of days after the hackathon to really listen to any concerns participants may have had.
Remember: the only way you can get a true grip on how well you’re doing is to ask for feedback.
Maximise your impact: organising your diverse and inclusive hackathon with Eventornado
Organising a hackathon is about more than cool mugs and branded freebies. It’s also an opportunity to build and grow inclusive spaces where like-minded people from all walks of life can come together and learn from each other.
That’s why we make sure our organisers have everything they need in order to build and nurture a diverse and rich community for their hackathons.
From flexible team formation to smarter collaboration tools, Eventornado equips hackathon organisers with tools that genuinely help them build a rich community and maximise their impact.
Get started with your free demo today to discover how easy organising your next hackathon can be!
Want to read more articles? Check out our library of blog posts and guides where you’ll find lots of useful insights and tips for first-time hackathon organisers.
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