Techweek Inclusion Assessment Chicago 2014 Requested by Techweek Kelly Stickel - Ombudsperson President and Global Community Builder Remodista

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1 Photo taken by Kelly Stickel at Techweek Chicago 2014 Techweek Inclusion Assessment Chicago 2014 Requested by Techweek Kelly Stickel - Ombudsperson President and Global Community Builder Remodista

2 Executive Summary Following negative press from a marketing blast, Techweek reached out for a third party assessment. This assessment has been conducted to review Techweek s practices and efforts for building an inclusive community. The framework for this evaluation consists of open- ended questions that are focused on mission, leadership, content, marketing, sponsors, and attendees from an inclusion perspective. Sexism and inclusion are prevalent topics of conversation within the tech start- up community. Through continued media coverage, serious accusations, and controversial lawsuits, the collective voice is asking leaders to create better community experiences where everyone feels welcome to grow and conduct business. Definition of inclusion Cisco explained this paradigm in their 2014 Cisco Inclusion Assessment: Diversity acknowledges the differences that everyone brings to the office. Inclusion is what you do when you get them there, by ensuring they are acknowledged for who they are, and that they are valued and welcome. (Emphasizing that difference and underscoring the importance of the inclusion part of the equation is one reason that Cisco intentionally calls its program Inclusion & Diversity, rather than the conventional Diversity & Inclusion. ) Cisco Inclusion Assessment The request assessment guidelines Interview Techweek s leadership team to address our culture and decision- making processes A review Techweek s content to ensure use of our platform to make tech in Chicago better for all Examine Techweek s marketing and guide our messaging to promote community values Act as an additional line of communications for Techweek attendees and members of Team Techweek to confidentially report violations of our Code of Conduct In response to the requested assessment guidelines, it is clear that the leadership team both needs and wants direction and development. Techweek s leadership team is young and hungry, and ready to make inclusion a primary focus heading into While the team consists of a good balance of men and women, the it lacks a fulltime executive leader to guide them with the company vision and a plan to achieve success. What is Techweek s POV? Music, parties and fun, seem to be getting top billing, and the community overwhelmingly wants to see the content and expo front and 2

3 center. It was verbally articulated from many different types of people that they see and feel the core vision of Techweek slipping away. Summit is a grand word, and it does not accurately describe panels that generally lack structure and content. Having no program descriptions, made it difficult to understand what the panels were about. There is an opportunity for Techweek to be a thought leader in the conversation and have a point- of- view in all of the expo tracks. In 2012, there were 302 speakers, and in 2014 there were 150. No one is saying to cancel the parties and fun, but let s make sure not to lose sight of highlighting innovation and building valuable content for the startup tech community. Checks and balances are needed. Upon examining Techweek s marketing, it is evident that better checks and balances will help guide messaging to promote community values. There is no argument from Techweek that the pictures used in the for the Rave were inappropriate. Having pictures that objectify women was offensive to both men and women. There is an immediate need to create process and structure in order to govern the brand s image while creating inclusion within a growing community. It s not just about women. After talking to both men and women who attended Techweek, it was interesting to learn that it s more than just women who aren t feeling inclusive when it comes to the curated serendipity. Both would like to see more networking opportunities that weren t in loud settings. There were many different social events, but many seemed to have a nightclub feel. While no one is asking to stop having these types of social events, your community seeks more options during the 3 nights of the expo portion of the conference. There is a disconnect with the community. Techweek has great vision to be a big tent in the community, but they have done very little outreach. Connecting with community organizations and associations allows for the development of topics that could create interesting discussions leading up to Techweek s annual weeklong activities. However, positive actions are being taken, as Techweek looked at their FashionTECH Runway Show from 2013 and made improvements. The show this year was sophisticated, with both male and female models, a strong connection to local fashion, as well as, highlighting the technology wearables that are available to the consumer today. In addition, they chose to incorporate a few of the local CEO s into the catwalk, which personalized the experience for Chicago. An educational track prior to the fashion show would be a valuable add- on, creating rich content, and exposure to a real- time experience. In addition, Techweek expanded their Women s Leadership luncheon to 4 panels, a reception, with an announcement of their Fellows Program. While attention to the 3

4 details needs to be tighter, these are all actions that show Techweek wants to make their conference experiences more inclusive. Assessment, findings and recommendations These are the findings, assessments, and recommendations published unedited, as requested by Techweek. A copy will also be provided to anyone upon request, including sponsors. Techweek Leadership Team Techweek s leadership team is young and hungry, and ready to make inclusion a primary focus heading into While the leadership team consists of a good mix of men and women, the team lacks experience, a leader to guide them with the company vision, and a solid plan to achieve success. Because of these concerns, some recommendations on leadership and team have been made. It is recommended that Techweek: Hire CEO or interim CEO with conference experience o Lead and make day- to- day decisions. o Build out company vision and mission. o Build and develop leadership team. o Build educational curriculum and content framework. o Develop guidelines and parameters for sponsors. o Develop Techweek s voice on inclusion and diversity. o Work with Executive Director or COO to map out growth plan. Expand the Executive Director to a COO that is focused on national operations, process and procedures. Allow investors to step back from the day- to- day activities and decision- making, so they can focus on their other businesses. o While the investors are passionate about Techweek s Mission, they have many other obligations and businesses that won t allow for the full time focus needed to realign and scale Techweek. o Their influence and efforts can be used to guide the vision, and work with the board to cultivate community development. Add a Community Manager in each city to build community relations o This could potentially be a dual function of the Account Manager until the business scales to justify 2 roles. Create an organizational chart. Techweek Leadership s Understanding of Inclusion 4

5 Overall, this Leadership team had a basic understanding of inclusion, and how that might look in the different areas being assessed. While they do not have a solid understanding, it was clear they want to learn more, and in turn reflect it better in this community. A handful of Techweek leaders see inclusion as blindness to all. It should be noted that blindness is a passive activity, while inclusion requires action to make attendees feel welcomed and comfortable, and in a worthwhile environment. It is recommended that Techweek: Map out community demographics based on Techweek Chicago Define and build relationships with the organizations and associations aligned with cultivating women in the technology fields: Ms Tech, Black Girls Code, NCWIT, IEEE, YWCA TechGYRLS, chiduxx: Chicago Women of Design & UX, Girls Who Code, and #XXHack/CWDevs. Research and partner with STEM programs in Chicago. Collaborate with Remodista s Breaking Glass Series: Collaboration and the Value of Women in Technology in September Techweek Content There is a need for education on the difference between assets, content and educational curriculum. While pitching potential investors is important, educational takeaways should be at the forefront, helping the startup community get to the next level. A proactive team, could be building and shaping content, leading up to and following the panels highlighting Techweek s POV. It is recommended that Techweek: 5

6 Increase educational influenced tracks with developed content. Reprioritize content at the most prominent piece of the festival. o Include panel descriptions on mobile and website. o Add a balance of keynotes and speakers, in addition to the panels. Continue to cultivate the Women s Leadership Program focused on development and networking for female leaders. o It was noted that some women are seeking a road of equality, which from their perspective, doesn t include separating women into their own group. o There are also women in the community who see it as a value, and think the program should be developed further, so it make sense to continue its evolution. o Use this program development to connect with associations and organizations focused on supporting the start up community. Connect with city councils, associations and organizations, with a goal to work on collaborative projects and events. Techweek Marketing There is a lack of management, process and procedure for growing the marketing program. There is also some confusion in the use of the term content, which is used to describe marketing collateral, and also used to describe content for expo summits. Many of the steps in marketing are repeatable for each city conference, so defining process and procedure, would baseline best practices as the business scales. It is recommended that Techweek: Build annual marketing program to support the calendar of events. Create a process for tagging appropriate photos to use in marketing campaigns, from events that show the diversity of the Techweek community. Create inclusion materials that educate your internal and external community about the value of making everyone feel welcome. Conduct an exercise that defines the makeup of the Techweek Community. Share the community character traits on the website and blog. Separate sales from marketing, and allow for checks and balances to be put in place for creating sales collateral and planning conference campaigns. Techweek Attendees 6

7 In order to grow attendance and quality, they will need to identify target markets, determine why attendees return, and define preferred content. Below is a cross section of unedited comments captured from the attendees, sponsors, and speakers during and after Techweek Chicago The Techweek brand needs to be more focused and well defined. The expo and conference, the centerpiece of the event, still suffers from some technical issues, hit- or- miss content, and identifying the right audience. Attendees often attend hoping to find developers, but end up meeting more folks in business development. Not that it s a bad thing for us, we re hiring across the board, but an event called Techweek makes you hope it s more focused on the in- depth techies. Techweek continues to add more events outside of the expo, concerts, fashion shows, etc., but they really need to nail the core content. The lack of focus on the core technology expo component has led to marketing challenges, as it did a couple weeks ago for Techweek. There are some good sessions, and plenty of folks in suits, and for the most par, it s more a relaxed networking event rather than a formal conference. There s a good energy at the show that does make it unique. You feel like you can come and go as you please, you can share ideas without judgment, and you can have solid conversations with just about anyone. We always feel like we can be ourselves during the show. I like the energy that is creates and the size of its reach. From what I have seen, this is the largest gathering of innovation and technology and the breadth of it has expanded and it is exciting for the city. I think the level of preparation around the content and the schedule needs to be solicited sooner. As someone putting together panels, it was way to tight for my comfort. Usually, a panel, you have the content and topic well exposed prior to the event. Never gone to the Saturday session. Maybe do the high school, college, kids session. Leverage a lot of spaces as part of a tour and take the kids through all the co working spaces. The website and app need improvement. Registration process was clunky and confusing. The content on the web and mobile site needs to be restructured. There should be someone really blogging and highlighting the content from each day and that should be on the website. There are 7

8 opportunities to really continue the discussion coming out the conference. If I can t get to the other cities, the content derived from their can have an on going life that can spring up other events or content through out the year. You can really make progress on issues and topics with members that share your interest. The traffic flow was inefficient - having only one bathroom on the floor is frustrating and getting around requires the long walk around the whole floor. Also, I wish there was more water. It was easier to get alcoholic beverages than water, and that was part of what led the whole experience to be so dehydrating. I did attend the portion of the event focused on women. I enjoyed much of the day and met some great women. The first panel of the day was especially noteworthy - I've already quoted it a few times. However, it was confusing to get to certain places and events. For example, the VIP networking event was hard to find and so few people were there; it was almost a let down. I would like them to know that from an inclusion perspective, as a man, I too would rather not have nightclub like events for networking. It is hard to talk over the music. While I am not opposed to the concept for others, if inclusion is about making everyone feel welcome, I would like this option presented thinking about the different types of people who attend. The TW party at American Junkie was too loud and like a club scene. It s a very hard to have a conversation in this environment. We arrived at the portion of the event focused on women. The space was very difficult to find. We saw a group of women hanging in the VIP room and apparently that was it but I sort of imagined a more formal affair with cocktails, snacks, and introductions. Overall, I was really disappointed about the inclusion of women at the event very few on panels, giving keynotes and leading discussions. Sometimes Techweek walks the line, but we hope this assessment gives them the direction needed to expand their inclusiveness. While the quality of content is improving, they need to get better at it. Need fewer breakouts and panels and more keynotes and presenters. Need some more solid speakers at the event. This was one of the few conferences I went to that was fun. Everywhere you go, there was something to do and everyone was willing to interact. I had people coming to introduce themselves to me. While they were trying to build network, I was at Techweek for that reason. There also were a lot of happy hours, parties, and even a music festival with some top DJs- only problem was, no one attending knew who they were besides a select few. I did not like the amount of recruiters at Techweek. It was overwhelming and almost annoying at a certain point. On Monday, I 8

9 was excited to be at the Kickoff, but it was just flooded with people that asked me if I was looking for a job. While it was fine at the hiring fair, the recruiters flooded the other events as well. Techweek did a great job in giving opportunities to start- ups, while others care less. At other events, they focused only on their bigger sponsors. There were a lot of opportunities for smaller companies in a large conference. I really like how many people were in attendance on Thursday and Friday. There was a really great energy and enthusiasm for the talks, events and booths. The event is also different in that because of its size it has the ability to speak for the entire tech community and engage a larger spectrum of people. Techweek has the ability to be a voice for Chicago, and other cities it travels to. The problem is that Techweek does not make good use of its abilities. The talks that I attended we not very strong. Many had five panelists presenting for just 30 minutes. I would prefer more quality speakers/ presentations, not quantity. Fellows weren't announced in advance of the event and were only given a few days' notice that they received the fellowship. What was the event hashtag? How could Techweek better encourage attendees to socialize the event and engage with speakers? Questions weren't allowed after my panel. There was an Uber code for black pass members. When I tried to use it on Friday, the app told me that the code was expired. Saturday, the day of my panel, was absolutely dead. How can we get more people to the event on a Saturday (content- wise) or center the event only on weekdays? Not enough diversity overall at the event. There was no big splash. The event needed to have something bigger like a new car design, or a new airplane design, or a big new consumer product release. Many of the comments echoed the same themes as this assessment. The Techweek team is young, and they lack an executive leader who can focus and build out the vision through managed execution. They need to create and document processes for their marketing programs. Techweek should make the expo the center focus. This will allow Techweek to build specialized networking and valuable content for a very diverse and quickly growing community. Techweek offers a unique conference idea that if managed effectively could scale and be of value to many budding tech communities across the US. It is a good sign 9

10 that they have asked to see their reflection in the community, and are already taking steps to show authentic intent to be more inclusive. These recommendations are straightforward, and it will be an interesting journey to watch Techweek in the next year. Hopefully, we will be observing Techweek take advantage of this opportunity to realign, with this assessment and insight from their quickly growing community. Kelly Stickel, President and Global Community Builder for Remodista, Ombudswoman for Techweek Chicago 2014 For the past 7 years, Kelly has been actively building educational events, creating curriculum and content, working with industry thought leaders and executives, actively redefining conference business models, while elevating women leaders in the digital community. She executed the majority of these projects, while working in a series of roles at Acquity Group from , and at her own company Remodista, which she founded in June of Remodista is a power broker in connecting the most influential and solution oriented executives who are focused on innovative global commerce solutions. Kelly spent the last decade in Management Consulting, focused on Recruiting, Vendor Relations, Business Development, Women s Leadership Development, and Alliance Partnerships. She focused on Business Transformation immersed in ERPs, CRMs, Commerce Platforms, CMS, Digital Marketing Innovation, Consumer Mobility, Mobile, Social, Search, and Community. Kelly has spent the majority of her career solving behind the scenes problems and challenges through negotiation, mediation and issue resolution for projects and implementations across all verticals. From a conference perspective, Kelly helped revive Mobile Monday Chicago in 2009, helped build Chicago Start- up Showcase Series Kelly is one of the original 10

11 founders of the Heartland Mobile Council, and Co- Creator of the first Mobile University She also created Mobile for Mommies in 2010, Women s Leadership Series 2012, Bricks and Mobile Conferences , The digital YOU Series 2012, Breaking Glass Series 2013, Women s Global Initiative 2013, Remodista s STEM Project with the Girls Scouts of Chicago 2014, Global Brand Commerce Program 2014, and a soon to be launched Remodista s China Truth Series Kelly worked as an advisory board member to Fashion Digital New York, which launched in late 2012, a mentor for Women innovate Mobile, and an advisor and mentor to many women leaders looking to get to the next level. In the past year, Kelly has personally connected with 302 female brand leaders, across the US. Focusing her conversation on education and how the conference experience could better align with these leader s business objectives, when taking time from their busy schedules, to attend a series. She well versed in assessing conference environments, and is honored to take on this important community role as Ombudsperson for Techweek Chicago