We explore the importance of codes of conduct at conferences and events, which serve a crucial purpose in outlining acceptable behaviors and providing guidelines for event organizers to address potential issues. A good code of conduct should be up-to-date, relevant, and communicated to all attendees, speakers, and staff. Enforcement is a critical component, and organizers must be prepared to enforce it to prevent undermining the entire purpose of the code.

We also discuss the process of handling code of conduct violations at conferences and events. Pre-planning is crucial, including knowing how violations will be reported, escalated, and addressed. Training volunteers and event staff to handle conflict resolution and having a designated decision-making team are also necessary. 

Finally, we discuss the positive impact of addressing violations effectively, which can lead to a great experience for everyone involved, and hopefully any issues are addressed quickly with minimal disruption to the event.

Timestamps and highlights

0:02:52 - Expectations of a Code of Conduct 

0:08:06 - Adapting and Evolving Codes of Conduct

0:11:50 - Proactive Code of Conduct Enforcement

0:20:35 - Anonymity and Decision Making

Expectations of a Code of Conduct 

“I think that now, generally speaking, there's an expectation that every event is gonna have a code of conduct. There are even a few codes of conduct online that have been created specifically so that people can copy and paste them and adapt them for their events. In case that someone who's hosting an event doesn't know how to write the code of conduct. But I think that has positives and negatives. So the positives, I would say, is that if you don't know how to write a code of conduct, fantastic. You have a great example online and it's okay and you don't have to put that much thought into it. However, I would say a negative is and this is what we're gonna get into. You have the code of conduct and you know you're supposed to have it and you have it because there is that expectation.

But are you prepared to stand up for that code of conduct? And are you prepared to take action if that code of conduct is violated because it's not just about having a set of rules, It is also about if these rules are broken, what is the procedure? What is going to happen as a result?”

Adapting and Evolving Codes of Conduct

“A code of conduct is not a decoration. It's not a dead document. It's not set and forget it. It has to keep evolving, keep changing, keep growing because culture changes. 

Absolutely. I agree one hundred percent. And I think the current affairs and current events piece of it, it does have a lot of influence. I mean, you look at some of the more tragic things that have happened at larger events like mass shootings and other major issues like that. Those types of things bring into the spotlight additional things that can be called out in a code of conduct, and I've seen people adapt theirs to include firearms bans, to include weapons, other kinds of weapon carrying policies and things like that.

 And that that is relevant and that is important because as the world continues to change and as things happen, we as event organizers and producers need to adapt and evolve and make sure that we're responding to potential conflicts and potential incidents and issues and things like that through our codes of conduct.”

Proactive Code of Conduct Enforcement

“So for me, as an organizing team, you get a report like that. You're in the middle of your code of conduct enforcement process because everything has come before that all the planning that you've done is going to inform what happens next. 

Exactly. 

So let's start with the beginning. The proactive nature of codes of conduct. So you've set one up. Great. You've established a code of conduct. You made sure it was relevant. Cool.

Also, you need to figure out what your plan is going to be when you do get a violation. Or or report that that is affected by the code of conduct. So to me, that includes knowing how things are going to be reported and how they'll be escalated. Typically, on-site staff are then going to pass the report along to somebody in a leadership position Or decision making position. And then that person needs to know what to do about it. That includes who is involved with any decision making. What kinds of actions are anticipated that you may need to take? That could be everything from blocking someone from a virtual chat to ejecting somebody from a physical venue to escorting them off premises with security to calling the police. there's a graduated scale of action that you could take if you don't know what those are in advance, it's gonna be really hard to come up with those on the fly and be able to respond in the right way.”

Anonymity and Decision Making

“One of the most important things is that it shouldn't be down to just one person. And I think it's important talking about why. People have biases. We know this. I have biases. You have biases. Everybody has biases. If you designate a single person to be responsible for making all decisions relating to code of conduct, their biases are going to factor into their decisions whether they know it or not. So having multiple people contribute to a decision making process is really important. I would recommend at least three to be able to say, okay, We're gonna look at the facts, look at the report. This is what the victim has told us. This is what they would like to see happen. Do we feel comfortable with this? Do we know of any other behavior of this particular person? Great. Let's come to a consensus and decide what to do going forward. That way, the decision is placed upon multiple people's shoulders and you can back each other up if things go south.

More than one person, but at the same time, not everybody on the staff needs to know the drama, it's not a gossip sesh. Not everybody on the team needs to be involved in code of conduct. So also identifying the people, okay, if something happens, these people need to be informed, but these people don't need to worry about it. 

Yes. I think the keys here are anonymity, keeping it quiet and swift. So you need to be able to react quickly. You wanna only inform those people who need to know what's going on, and you wanna keep the victim's identity anonymous as much as possible.”

Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated by Podium.page using AI and has been edited for clarity.

0:00:00

Welcome to Make it Kickass. The podcast about creating conferences, people actually want to attend by the people who help create them. I'm Nessa Jimenez. 

And I'm Isaac Watson. 

We see them when we walk into a venue. We see them when we go to an event website. We see them When you're trying to order tickets online, we mostly don't read them. I mean, I don't, I just check and keep going. But what do they actually mean? What do they actually do? And more importantly, what happens when something goes wrong at an event?

0:00:41

Code codes of conduct these days are terms of service. When you sign up for a new account or something, just like, oh, I don't need to read that legalese. That's fine. 

Exactly. 

Accept and move on. So many people do that. And I think part of that is because they've become fairly standardized among conferences and events. So the language of a code of conduct is typically similar. And I would say that ninety five, ninety eight not even ninety nine percent of people probably aren't going to violate a code of conduct anyway, which is great. That doesn't mean that they're not important. They have to exist. They need to exist. Unfortunately because as we all know, some people are stupid and will violate it if you're not careful. I'm not really clear on the exact history of a code of conduct. I know they've been around for probably, I would guess eight or ten years. 

I think if I recall correctly, they came up around specifically tech conferences.

 I would also say not just tech conferences, but the San Diego Comic Con where there's a lot of cosplayers and there's a lot of issues around consent about what's okay to do with the cosplayer. And with women being assaulted at these events sadly. And so through these reports of these incidents, I think what happened is a lot of conference organizers realized, we can do better or the attendees demanded that the organizers do better, and so this was done in response to that. So a code of conduct is essentially a way of codifying what is and isn't okay for an attendee or a speaker or a sponsor to do during the event and it gives the organizers a course of action to take that everybody's agreed to upfront. And so it tries to smooth out the process of addressing a potential issue.

0:02:52

I think that now, generally speaking, there's an expectation that every event is gonna have a code of conduct. There are even a few codes of conduct online that have been created specifically so that people can copy and paste them and adapt them for their events. In case that someone who's hosting an event doesn't know how to write the code of conduct. But I think that has positives and negatives. So the positives, I would say, is that if you don't know how to write a code of conduct, fantastic. You have a great example online and it's okay and you don't have to put that much thought into it. However, I would say a negative is and this is what we're gonna get into. You have the code of conduct and you know you're supposed to have it and you have it because there is that expectation.

0:03:48

But are you prepared to stand up for that code of conduct? And are you prepared to take action if that code of conduct is violated because it's not just about having a set of rules, It is also about if these rules are broken, what is the procedure? What is going to happen as a result? 

Yes. And I think that what I've seen over the years is that as code of conduct have become more prevalent and as the adoption of codes of conduct has become just kind of status quo, what a lot of event speakers and other attendees are starting to demand in request of organizers is that they also commit to enforcing that code of conduct because if you're not gonna follow through on it, then why do you even have that first place? So you're right. There are plenty of resources out there. As a producer of conferences, I insist that all of my clients adopt a code of conduct, but also understand what that means about enforcement. Because purely having something up on the website isn't going to be sufficient for following through and being able to address a potential conflict if it arises.

0:05:12

And what does a good code of conduct have or what does it achieve? To me, what makes a code of conduct good are three components. One, it needs to be up to date. So you can't just copy and paste something that you found from a conference website from five years ago. There may be things in a code of conduct for a comic con that are specific to cosplay, for example, that don't apply to your business conference where your attendees aren't coming dressed in costumes. fine tune and make sure it's up to date and relevant. That's piece number one.

0:05:50

Second, a good code of conduct is a code of conduct that is communicated. If you are not putting that information out there to your attendees, to your speakers, to your sponsors, to even to internal staff at your company, to make sure that they're all aware of what's in there, then it makes it really hard to enforce or back that information up. Which is why I think it's important to communicate multiple times that there is one. right before the event, please make sure you review this. you could even call out that it's changed recently to kind of encourage people to familiarize themselves with it. And there are two reasons for that. One is not just discouraged behavior, but two, to let attendees know what you are willing to stand up for and enforce and to let them know how they can report. 

The third component to me for a good code of conduct is enforcement. We talked about that a little bit already, but it's worth harping on because if you don't have a plan in place, to deal with any potential violations that are reported or accusations that are made, then you are gonna get caught flat footed and really have a hard time backing up what you've said you would do to protect the people who have gathered at your event, and that puts you in a disadvantage. I wanted to say a few words about what a code of conduct is not.

0:07:22

A code of conduct is not a “wokeness” street cred thing. And that's kind of where the marketing comes in because I see that all the time. It's like, oh, we have this code of conduct, and they're trying to use it to prove, look how forward we are. Look how inclusive we are. Look how cool we are. But if you're not enforcing it, if your only intention is for this marketing, is for this street cred, It's useless. You already touched on it, but I'll say it again.

0:07:52

A code of conduct is not a decoration. It's not a dead document. It's not set and forget it. It has to keep evolving, keep changing, keep growing because culture changes. 

Absolutely. I agree one hundred percent. And I think the current affairs and current events piece of it, it does have a lot of influence. I mean, you look at some of the more tragic things that have happened at larger events like mass shootings and other major issues like that. Those types of things bring into the spotlight additional things that can be called out in a code of conduct, and I've seen people adapt theirs to include firearms bans, to include weapons, other kinds of weapon carrying policies and things like that.

 And that that is relevant and that is important because as the world continues to change and as things happen, we as event organizers and producers need to adapt and evolve and make sure that we're responding to potential conflicts and potential incidents and issues and things like that through our codes of contact.

0:09:06

Do you think COVID or health related things are gonna be making their way into codes of conduct? 

That is an excellent question. There's been a lot of talk lately, especially around vaccine requirements or in person gatherings or on-site testing and how do you if this goes back to all in-person, the debate about the authenticity of a vaccination card or are these passports valid, can we create something like that? I think that there are certainly health and safety elements that will come into play. I don't know how that's really going to be affected by the pandemic. it's hard to say at this point what that's going to bear, especially because so many people are focusing on hybrid events these days that you know, the in person health and safety, I think, is less in the forefront of people's minds than maybe it should be. So I don't know. That's an excellent question. I don't really have an answer for.

0:10:29

You have a code of conduct. You're at the conference. And something went wrong. Now, what do we do? And I will tell you a story. I will kindly change the details, so we don’t get  into any trouble. But I was working at a conference not that long ago. And the conference involves a social justice issue. One attendee attacked another attending verbally. And the victim of this attack was very, of course, affected by it. And they left a session, but they informed us of this code of conduct violation.

0:11:09

Now, at this point using that as an example. What is supposed to happen? So to me, this is why I appreciate the example. That's a perfect example of something that could happen. I think often when we talk about codes of conduct, we're kind of implying sexual assault, which is a bit more of an extreme, and that of course involves potential criminal action as well. So that's a great example.

0:11:42

The other thing to me is that that is the middle of the story, not the beginning of the story from a code of conduct standpoint. So for me, as an organizing team, you get a report like that. You're in the middle of your code of conduct enforcement process because everything has come before that all the planning that you've done is going to inform what happens next. 

Exactly. 

So let's start with the beginning. The proactive nature of codes of conduct. So you've set one up. Great. You've established a code of conduct. You made sure it was relevant. Cool.

0:12:18

Also, you need to figure out what your plan is going to be when you do get a violation. Or or report that that is affected by the code of conduct. So to me, that includes knowing how things are going to be reported and how they'll be escalated. Typically, on-site staff are then going to pass the report along to somebody in a leadership position Or decision making position. And then that person needs to know what to do about it. That includes who is involved with any decision making. What kinds of actions are anticipated that you may need to take? That could be everything from blocking someone from a virtual chat to ejecting somebody from a physical venue to escorting them off premises with security to calling the police. there's a graduated scale of action that you could take if you don't know what those are in advance, it's gonna be really hard to come up with those on the fly and be able to respond in the right way.

0:13:30

The rest of that plan is also, how are we addressing conflict? How are we communicating to the relevant people? doing all of that legwork in advance, being proactive about creating that policy and that decision making process documenting it is critical because when that report happens, whatever it is, then you have a clear path to take and you as a as a producer or organizer or host can set aside any emotions or anything that might be influencing  defense mechanisms or anything like that, and you can rely on the process. In that moment, when you hear Oh my god. This person was assaulted, and it was a racial type of comment that was made.

0:14:28

You do have an emotional reaction. Like, I got angry and upset, but having that protocol, I know what I need to do. I can feel my feelings, but I know what the next steps are. That emotional reaction can also go both ways. Some people have kind of the Mama bear instinct where they quickly go to someone's defense and maybe they get angry and worked up. Other people, especially the producers that I know because of the nature of work we do, are people pleasers. Right? We want everybody to get along and have a good time. And so our natural inclination and our bias is gonna be toward smoothing or maybe even downplaying or being a little anti confrontational.

0:15:21

So I think that's why this plan is key. And that plan includes, Are you training your volunteers or your event staff, the people on the ground to be able to identify a report and pass that up to the right person? Are they your team enrolled in conflict resolution training? There are all kinds of things that you can do in advance to prepare for this kind of stuff. And you are so smart to have been working with a team that could anticipate these potential issues because of the subject matter of the event knowing, okay, if we're gonna have a conduct violation, it's likely going to be in this realm or it could be this, this, or this. And so we're gonna come up with some scenarios and you can run some role playing, and do some prep in advance to figure out, okay, how can we do this in a way that is kind of procedural and make sure that we're treating everything consistently.

0:16:25

And with every event, again, the whole point of this conversation is if you're gonna have a code of concept, are you prepared? Are you willing to stand up for it? Do you have that plan of action? Because if you don't, then instead of creating a safe space for people to participate, You are actually putting them in danger. because something happens, now what? And I've seen this particularly in the online spaces where they're using the codes of conduct they're copying and pasting.

0:16:59

But then the event comes. And in the chat room, while the stream is going, you have people saying racist stuff, sexist stuff. To spam the chat. And I'm sitting here going, where is the mod? Where is the mod? these people are spamming racist stuff. Where are the mods? And that tells me this event is not safe for me. This is not a place that I wanna be in. So don't do it.

0:17:25

I'm really glad you brought that up. Because, we've harped on enforcement, but we haven't really talked about what that is. it's not just what are you gonna do when something happens? It's also how are you paying attention to what's happening? Because you can't rely on any one particular attendee to feel comfortable reporting an issue. There are still a lot of issues where any given attendee just may not feel comfortable coming forward because they don't know your organizing group, they don't. They don't trust the process. Maybe they've been burned before. Any number of reasons that they may not make a report and so you need to be actively paying attention to that.

0:18:10

Moderate your chats. It's not that hard. Yes. You could spend time brainstorming common phrases or slurs or whatever that might be posted in a chat and just come up with a running list to refer to. it's not that hard to do and yet so many people seem to forget that part. And I will also bring up the fact that if your event is free, anybody can walk in and that means that you have a way higher probability of getting jackasses in your event. Which means you need to do your job and watch the event like a hawk. And I mean, it's not just racist and sexist comments. It's also like self promotion and trolling and there's all kinds of behavior that is worth moderating and worth paying attention to. It's easier to deal with online. Like, just block them. Like, kick them out.

0:19:17

Let's talk a little bit more about the action process. Because I think that's important. So you've gotten a report, you've talked to the victim, you've gathered, you've documented, Maybe if somebody comes to you the day after the opening party and reports sexual advances and you wanna get some witnesses, whatever you've done. You've got all that. Now what? So what do you do? 

So you know what the victim would like you to do? How do you actually take action? And so, again, going back to your preplanning and saying, okay, who's in the decision making process?

0:19:58

One of the most important things is that it shouldn't be down to just one person. And I think it's important talking about why. People have biases. We know this. I have biases. You have biases. Everybody has biases. If you designate a single person to be responsible for making all decisions relating to code of conduct, their biases are going to factor into their decisions whether they know it or not. So having multiple people contribute to a decision making process is really important. I would recommend at least three to be able to say, okay, We're gonna look at the facts, look at the report. This is what the victim has told us. This is what they would like to see happen. Do we feel comfortable with this? Do we know of any other behavior of this particular person? Great. Let's come to a consensus and decide what to do going forward. That way, the decision is placed upon multiple people's shoulders and you can back each other up if things go south.

0:21:05

More than one person, but at the same time, not everybody on the staff needs to know the drama, it's not a gossip sesh. Not everybody on the team needs to be involved in code of conduct. So also identifying the people, okay, if something happens, these people need to be informed, but these people don't need to worry about it. 

Yes. I think the keys here are anonymity, keeping it quiet and swift. So you need to be able to react quickly. You wanna only inform those people who need to know what's going on, and you wanna keep the victim's identity anonymous as much as possible.

0:21:58

We have now reached the part of the episode that I always think is hilarious. Because just listening to you trying to talk quickly and summarize everything. This segment is called too long, didn't listen. If you don't have time to listen to the full episode, what Isaac does in this segment is he tries to summarize all of the big important points that we've just discussed in sixty seconds or less. So take it away Isaac. 

They are really important because they help your attendees feel safe. They help you know how to address potential issues. And they define what is and isn't good behavior.

0:22:40

So what happens when it actually happens? When somebody comes to you and reports behavior or you observe some behavior that you want to be addressed. First of all, go back to your plan. The code of conduct is more than just a document. You need to have a plan in place if you get a report or if you see behavior that violates the code of conduct, you need to know in advance what you are going to do. That includes who's involved in a decision making process, what kinds of information you're gonna collect and evidence you're going to document and what your potential courses of action are. Then when it happens, you follow the plan. It's not that hard and you do it quickly and quietly and decisively and you rest confident that it's all amazing and your code of conduct has worked beautifully.

0:23:23

You've addressed the issue, and everybody's had a great experience. Except for the person who violated it, who should know better, and we'll hopefully never do that again. 

And talking about a great experience. I hope you have had a great experience listening to this week's episode. Thank you so much for joining us. To get transcripts, full show notes, learn more about what we do here at kickass conferences, You can visit us at our website kickassconf.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please feel free to share it and also leave a rating review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast because that really helps us out. Thank you and we'll see you soon.