[AusNOG] AusNOG 2.0

Tue Apr 12 15:09:49 AEST 2022

I've already said this to you privately; but count us in.

Andrew

On Tue, 12 Apr 2022 at 14:44, <david at hughes.id> wrote:

>
> 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
> > _______________________________________________
> > AusNOG mailing list
> > AusNOG at ausnog.net
> > https://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
>
>
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