Adobe’s Developer Experience team has been committed to our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals for the Magento community this year, building on the work that we did in previous years with Jill Binder from Diverse In Tech.
So far this year, we have held two programs:
1. Creating a Welcoming and Diverse Magento Event Space:
We expanded our offerings earlier in 2021, building on the programs that we held the last two years with Diverse In Tech that were focusing on building diverse speaker lineups. This year we brought in the next step, creating inclusive and welcoming events. Having more representation in the speakers on stage is important, but we must be mindful to create an environment where those speakers and everyone else present at events from underrepresented groups feel welcomed and included.
The online workshop was a hit, with 31 attendees from 18 cities in 11 countries learning skills to create inclusive and welcoming spaces at their events. We have been holding quarterly coaching and accountability calls to continue supporting those who went through the workshop. People have come to the calls to share their great victories and to work through their challenges.
2. Magento Community Speaker Workshop:
We typically hold workshops specifically for helping people from underrepresented groups to overcome their obstacles to public speaking, especially when they are the only one from their underrepresented community. We also help them to find a topic that audiences want to hear.
By popular request, in 2019 and again this year in 2021, we opened up the Magento Community Speaker Workshop to the whole Magento community, well-represented and under-represented alike.
People always leave this workshop feeling more comfortable and even excited for public speaking opportunities. They create tools during the workshop to help them prepare, including a title, pitch, talk outline, and bio. Despite the pandemic we have already had a number of participants start public speaking.
This year, our 10 participants from 10 cities in 7 countries reported a public speaking confidence increase by 68%! We look forward to seeing these amazing speakers when they take to the stage, virtually or in-person.
What’s Next: Hold Your Own Magento Speaker Diversity Workshop
We began holding a training in 2020 to teach you how to hold the Speaker Workshops for your own communities. Despite the difficulties with events over the pandemic, the Hold Your Own Magento Speaker Diversity Workshop was a success. We have seen some people start doing this in their communities right away.
Now we are looking for another group of people who want to learn how to hold this workshop in your own culture, language, time zone, etc. (If you have taken the training before, you are also welcome to take it again.)
The next Hold Your Own Magento Speaker Diversity Workshop is on Thursday, September 9, 2021 from 5-8pm UTC.
Read more and register now!
Here is some feedback from past participants of this workshop:
"It's very important to have a diverse speaker program during all the Magento events. After taking this training, I am able to help more women overcome the irritating imposter syndrome. This workshop really helps with achieving a minimum of 50/50 mixture of men and women for your events."
- Chantal Schinkels, Customer Success Manager, The Netherlands
"Before taking this training, I didn't think I knew enough to help another person feel good about getting on stage to speak. Thanks to this training, I have the materials and guides to be an effective speaking mentor. I would recommend this workshop to anyone who is looking to better understand some of the reasons why underrepresented groups aren't submitting talks and actionable ways to help increase these numbers."
- Eric Hileman, CEO & Co-Founder MageMojo
When you facilitate it for people from under-represented groups in your community, you will be:
- Helping them bust through personal obstacles to speaking, such as impostor syndrome;
- Helping them find a topic;
- Helping them create a title, pitch, bio, and outline;
- Helping them to become a better speaker;
- Giving them a chance to practice public speaking;
- Helping them build confidence and feel motivated to start public speaking.
Please share with anyone you think may benefit from taking this workshop. We look forward to working with the Magento community to continue to train a diverse pool of speakers.
