Have folk noticed any webinar series doing especially well with regards with the diversity of their speaker line ups?

It would be good to promote and share some good practices.

n.b. As with everything in the inclusion, diversity, equality and accessibility space - this is not a 'quota' based approach - if the speaker list is not diverse (e.g. in terms of ethnicity/gender, and more) then there is a problem in who is able to speak & who is being invited

If you have been invited to give a webinar, or are about to, did you ask the inclusion, diversity, equality and accessibility policies and approaches?

This is an important aspect of being an active ally - it's not up those who are being excluded to fix things.

Also - if you are an institute, department, or research centre - have you looked at what your members have set up and what it looks like?

If there is a lack of diversity in your line ups, then it's a big red flag for those who have been marginalised that you really don't care.

The best plan of action:

Plan your webinar series to actively include diversity (including, and beyond gender).
Ask people from different backgrounds what would help them get involved (and give them space to talk), and make these accomodations.

As multiple threads and discussions here indicate - virtual meetings (eg webinars) have the opportunity to enable people who would usually not be able to speak and/or watch, for an in-person talk - and this is awesome.

There are also a few webinar series, or organisers, who seem to have 'lucked out' with the classic "lets just get the white men to talk"

(Yes some white men are awesome, but they don't need to be in every line up, and diversity goes beyond gender & skin colour... but if you are arguing with me about that, spend your energy elsewhere plz)

Do you notice anything about the @PhysicsNews webinars?



(nb I wasn't the one to spot this, someone else appeared in my DMs...) https://twitter.com/PhysicsNews/status/1262367388307161090

It's even more galling when you look at the image that @PhysicsNews have used in the tweet I have quoted...