[AusNOG] AusNOG 2.0

[david at hughes.id]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your email.  It's such an important topic and hopefully this conversation can be the first step towards a solution.

I totally agree.  With 20 / 20 hindsight and some prep time I could have worded the comments I made at the conference much better.   I had only just been informed of the incident and was as surprised as I was disappointed.  It's hard to fathom why we are still facing issues like this in 2022.

AusNOG strives to provide a safe and inclusive environment within the confines of our events, and I honestly believe we do that.  We have never had an issue of this nature at an event that is part of an AusNOG conference.  We have protocols in place with our events team and the venue staff regarding unacceptable behaviour of attendees.  We encourage and value the participation of everyone from our industry and have zero-tolerance for those who wish to impact upon that.  

We cannot control what occurs when people leave the environment we provide, but it's certainly an area of concern for the whole industry.  We must all have expectations of the behaviour of our peers.  I know so many wonderful people in our industry yet we keep talking about the behaviour of the absolute minority.  How do we fix that?

To attend an AusNOG event you must agree to behave in accordance with the Code of Conduct.  If you don't, you'll be removed from the event and you won't be welcome back.  But that only covers the time people are at the actual event.  Once you leave the conference venue our CoC cannot be applied to your behaviour.  However, attendees at the conference are employees of companies, and those companies should have expectations for the behaviour of their employees.  Do companies have a Code of Conduct for their staff?  Do companies remind staff of their expectations before they attend an event?  If not, perhaps we can work together to define a code of conduct any company can sign up to, for employees attending not just AusNOG but all industry events?

As you say, this is an Industry-wide problem so I'm asking the whole industry to work to address it.  I'd like to see an industry wide expectation on how people behave when attending all industry social events.  I'm more than happy to take the lead and coordinate this through AusNOG.  If you are an employer who sends staff to industry events and are interested in helping with this or signing up to a shared Code of Conduct please get in touch?


Regards,

David
...

> On 11 Apr 2022, at 2:15 pm, Andrew Yager <andrew at rwts.com.au> wrote:
> 
> Hello!
> 
> Following the recent AusNOG event, I made a comment on LinkedIn expressing disappointment about the fact that we had another sexual harrassment incident, and that the conference organisers didn't take a stronger approach from the platform to condemn it.
> 
> To clarify, David did publicly say that this type of behaviour was unacceptable. David did seek to distance the conference itself from the behaviour. I personally felt that the way this happened effectively downplayed the incident. I feel like he could have done better.
> 
> I stand by those comments; and firmly believe we need to do more as an industry to combat these.
> 
> Since these comments have been made, there has been an increase in calls for a new alternate conference. I know that Bevan mooted this idea on LinkedIn today; and there have been similar calls on my original post and in other conversational forums.
> 
> I will note that at the time the Code of Conduct for the conference was not available online; but this has been restored after David was alerted to this issue. I should have done this myself and asked David directly, and I did not.
> 
> I want to reiterate that:
> 
> The AusNOG community is a great community. Sure we cycle through phases, but the networks and community that have been built within this group works to support and grow the Australian Telecommunications Industry, encourage development, and support those within our sphere.
> 
> I support the AusNOG conference. I think more work can be done to address incidents of harassment and assault; but this isn't a uniquely AusNOG problem. This is as much an industry problem. Other conferences have and continue to have these issues. As AusNOG transitions to a member-led organisation under the new constitution, I want to see us collectively learn from what we haven't done well as a community in the past and grow and change. If there is another conference, I'll encourage my team to attend; but I will continue to support AusNOG for as long as we can.
> 
> We need to find ways and places to talk about this problem. The AusNOG mailing list is likely not this; and I'm not sure where it is. But we need to find ways to change thoughts, attitudes and perceptions; and to provide ways to create safe and supportive work, social and educational environments for all people in our industry.
> 
> I don't have the answers on how we as an industry change. The statistics of assault and harassment within our ranks are discouraging; but the overwhelming feedback I've had over the last few days is that people want change, and want to be part of it.
> 
> I don't know exactly how AusNOG 2.0 will work. I don't know how the new membership system will impact the decision making processes, or encourage engagement, or provide enhanced ways to make this change.
> 
> But I want to publicly thank David, Joe and the rest of the board for taking the first steps to make this happen.
> 
> And lastly; thanks for organising a great conference. It was fun, informative and educational. There was new content, content that sparked discussion and thinking, and encouraged and challenged our practice - which is exactly what we wanted.
> 
> I don't really want or need replies to this email. I'm happy to leave it as it is; but I do think that something needs to be said in the AusNOG mailing list context given the wide discussion happening in other places.
> 
> Thanks,
> Andrew
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