http://ericholscher.comEric Holscher - Posts tagged inclusion2024-02-28T16:22:28.882480+00:00ABloghttp://ericholscher.com/blog/2017/aug/2/pacman-rule-conferences/The Pac-Man Rule at Conferences2017-08-02T00:00:00+00:00<section id="the-pac-man-rule-at-conferences">
<p>I firmly believe that conferences can provide a lot of value for people in an industry.
Conferences allow people to create a network,
which helps them feel integrated in a community and profession.</p>
<p>In order to build a network you need to meet other people at events, and for this to happen
attendees need to feel empowered to reach out and connect to people they don’t already know.
We do this by having specific events that encourage collaboration,
but also by giving people explicit permission to meet other people.</p>
<section id="give-people-explicit-permission-to-join-groups">
<h2>Give people explicit permission to join groups</h2>
<p>In the <a class="reference external" href="http://writethedocs.org">events</a> that I help organize,
I try to solve this problem by <strong>giving people explicit permission to join new groups of people</strong>.
In the introduction of the event,
I tell attendees their job is to meet people and make friends.
They are supposed to join groups,
battle past that awkward silence that occurs when they do,
and have a great time with new people.</p>
<p>This solves one side of the equation,
making a person feel empowered,
and like they are <em>doing the right thing</em> by talking to new folks.
There is a second part of this equation,
which is the group of people a person joins,
and that’s where the <em>Pac-Man Rule</em> comes in.</p>
</section>
<section id="the-pac-man-rule">
<span id="pac-man-rule"></span><h2>The Pac-Man Rule</h2>
<p>The rule is:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p><strong>When standing as a group of people,
always leave room for 1 person to join your group.</strong></p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>More memorably,
stand like Pac-Man!</p>
<img alt="../../../../_images/pacman.png" class="align-center" src="../../../../_images/pacman.png" style="width: 25%;" />
<p>The new person,
who has been given permission to join your group,
will gather up the courage,
and join you!
Another important point,
the group should now readjust to leave another space for a new person.</p>
<p><strong>Leaving room for new people when standing in a group is a physical way to show an inclusive and welcoming environment.</strong>
It reduces the feeling of there being cliques,
and allows people to integrate themselves into the community.</p>
</section>
<section id="video">
<h2>Video</h2>
<p>Dylan Beattie has made a wonderful video that captures this quite well.</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../../../_downloads/23d55c354d1a956872b3a4c12d9dc2b2/the-pac-man-rule.mp4"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Download</span> <span class="pre">video</span> <span class="pre">as</span> <span class="pre">an</span> <span class="pre">mp4</span></code></a></p></li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Going to a conference? Yes! Introduce yourself. Say hello. Chat to people. They're lovely. Really! And if you're already chatting in a group, make your group approachable using <a href="https://twitter.com/ericholscher?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ericholscher</a>'s Pac-Man Rule. <br><br>Here's how it works.<br><br>Have fun! <a href="https://t.co/QklklD43Me">pic.twitter.com/QklklD43Me</a></p>— Dylan Beattie 🇪🇺 (@dylanbeattie) <a href="https://twitter.com/dylanbeattie/status/1111619036809449472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></section>
<section id="your-mission">
<h2>Your mission</h2>
<p>If you choose to accept it,
is to try and build the largest Pac-Man in the room.
Invite new people into your groups,
make new friends,
and build a community full of people who feel included.
We all benefit.</p>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2017/dec/2/breaking-cliques-at-events/"><span class="doc">Breaking Cliques at Events: The Snowball Rule</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2019/sep/19/helping-first-time-conference-attendees-with-welcome-wagon/"><span class="doc">Using a Welcome Wagon to Help First-Time Conference Attendees</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2023/feb/10/we-dont-do-that-here/"><span class="doc">We don’t do that here: Setting social norms</span></a></p></li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
</section>
I firmly believe that conferences can provide a lot of value for people in an industry.
Conferences allow people to create a network,
which helps them feel integrated in a community and profession.2017-08-02T00:00:00+00:00http://ericholscher.com/blog/2017/dec/2/breaking-cliques-at-events/Breaking Cliques at Events: The Snowball Rule2017-12-02T00:00:00+00:00<section id="breaking-cliques-at-events-the-snowball-rule">
<p>I’ve been going to professional events for a number of years,
and one of the trickiest dynamics I have seen is that most events develop an “insiders” group who has been going for a long time.
These groups tend to feel like exclusionary cliques for first-time attendees,
and actively hurt the community’s goal of inclusion.</p>
<p>I’d like to propose a simple rule that we have at the <a class="reference external" href="http://www.writethedocs.org/">events</a> I run,
which I think makes inclusion easier for everyone.</p>
<section id="difficulty-meeting-new-people">
<h2>Difficulty meeting new people</h2>
<p>Meeting new people is scary, especially if you’re new to a community and you’re not sure if you belong.
People that have been attending an event for years are much more firmly planted in the community.
They are able to help newcomers understand the norms and standards of a place.</p>
<p><strong>This means that long-time attendees should be the ones introducing themselves to first-time attendees.</strong></p>
<p>With that in mind,
I came up with a new rule that properly assigns the responsibility.</p>
</section>
<section id="the-snowball-rule">
<span id="pac-man-plus-rule"></span><h2>The Snowball Rule</h2>
<p>The rule is:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p><strong>For every year you have attended an event, you should try to meet that many new people each day.</strong></p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>An example makes it clear:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>If you have attended an event for <em>three years</em>, you should try to meet <em>three new people</em> each day.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<p>My original post on the <a class="hxr-hoverxref hxr-modal reference internal" href="../../../2017/aug/2/pacman-rule-conferences/#pac-man-rule"><span class="std std-ref">The Pac-Man Rule</span></a> for another useful event rule</p>
</div>
</section>
<section id="the-organizer-s-responsibility">
<h2>The organizer’s responsibility</h2>
<p>As an organizer,
you’re asking a lot of the long-time attendees.
Particularly in the software industry,
a lot of people (including me!) have anxiety around meeting new people.</p>
<p><strong>By using the Katamari Rule,
it’s the organizer’s responsibility to make meeting new people easier.</strong></p>
<p>So here are a few ideas for how to make meeting new folks easier: <a class="footnote-reference brackets" href="#id2" id="id1" role="doc-noteref"><span class="fn-bracket">[</span>1<span class="fn-bracket">]</span></a></p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Organize lunches and dinners around topics so that people know they have shared interests</p></li>
<li><p>Give folks “Ask me about ____” stickers to wear, so that breaking the ice is easy!</p></li>
<li><p>Have an <a class="reference external" href="http://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2018/unconference/">Unconference</a> or open space, where there are tables or rooms labeled by topic in 30 minute blocks</p></li>
<li><p>Have a <a class="reference external" href="http://www.writethedocs.org/organizer-guide/confs/welcome-wagon/">Welcome Wagon</a>, which is a few folks who are designated friendly faces for the event</p></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="outcomes">
<h2>Outcomes</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>New people only have to meet <em>one</em> new person each day, a useful and attainable goal</p></li>
<li><p>People coming back for the second or third year feel a bit more responsibility to be <em>stewards</em> for the community, a valuable role for them to play</p></li>
<li><p>The organizers and long-time attendees need to meet the most people, and they are the most valuable in spreading the culture of the event – they are also the most exciting for new people to meet!</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In the events that I have run, this rule has turned out quite well.
I have gotten feedback from people, who turned it into a game:
“My friends and I competed to see how many new people we could meet each day”</p>
<p>However, the most important outcome is how it changes the dynamic of the event itself.
It goes from an event where it feels like people aren’t accessible, to one where people know it’s their job to meet new people.
This makes it easier for everyone to meet new people,
make connections,
and really build the valuable professional networks that we all need to be happy in our careers.</p>
<p><strong>Giving everyone at the event the direction to meet new people makes it much easier to meet new people.</strong></p>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2017/aug/2/pacman-rule-conferences/"><span class="doc">The Pac-Man Rule at Conferences</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2019/sep/19/helping-first-time-conference-attendees-with-welcome-wagon/"><span class="doc">Using a Welcome Wagon to Help First-Time Conference Attendees</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2023/feb/10/we-dont-do-that-here/"><span class="doc">We don’t do that here: Setting social norms</span></a></p></li>
</ul>
</div>
<hr class="docutils" />
<p class="rubric"><em>Footnotes</em></p>
<aside class="footnote-list brackets">
<aside class="footnote brackets" id="id2" role="note">
<span class="label"><span class="fn-bracket">[</span><a role="doc-backlink" href="#id1">1</a><span class="fn-bracket">]</span></span>
<p>Thanks to <a class="reference external" href="http://jacobian.org/">Jacob Kaplan-Moss</a> for feedback,
particularly around ideas on making things easier.</p>
</aside>
</aside>
</section>
</section>
I’ve been going to professional events for a number of years,
and one of the trickiest dynamics I have seen is that most events develop an “insiders” group who has been going for a long time.
These groups tend to feel like exclusionary cliques for first-time attendees,
and actively hurt the community’s goal of inclusion.2017-12-02T00:00:00+00:00http://ericholscher.com/blog/2019/sep/19/helping-first-time-conference-attendees-with-welcome-wagon/Using a Welcome Wagon to Help First-Time Conference Attendees2019-09-26T00:00:00+00:00<section id="using-a-welcome-wagon-to-help-first-time-conference-attendees">
<p>You walk into the room and you’re wearing the <em>wrong</em> thing.
Everyone else is dressed casually,
but you are not.
You feel silly and find the quickest excuse to leave the situation.
This is an example of a common situation:
not knowing what is expected of you when you enter a new place.</p>
<p>It’s stressful to enter a new group without knowing what to expect.
It breeds anxiety and self-doubt,
and makes it much less likely you’ll join any activities.</p>
<p>At <a class="reference external" href="https://www.writethedocs.org/">Write the Docs</a>,
we’re working to make the community easier to join because we want everyone to feel welcome.
We do this with the Welcome Wagon program,
which helps attendees at both the planning and the attending stages of the conference.
We hope that this breaks down barriers to help them get the most value from our community.</p>
<section id="welcome-wagon-guide">
<h2>Welcome Wagon Guide</h2>
<p>One major part of the Welcome Wagon is our <a class="reference external" href="https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2019/welcome-wagon/">guide</a>.
It documents how to successfully navigate our community.
It’s basically a <em>User Guide</em> for the conference.
It covers:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Common questions, like “How do I take part in the unconference?” and “Where is everything?”</p></li>
<li><p>How to plan your time at the conference</p></li>
<li><p>What is expected of you while you’re at the conference</p></li>
<li><p>Tips and tricks for having the best time at the event</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We answer attendees most common questions before the event,
making expectations more explicit and enabling people to focus on enjoying their time instead of spending it worrying.
This reduces anxiety and also makes it more likely that people will have a good first experience with our community.</p>
</section>
<section id="welcome-wagon-events">
<h2>Welcome Wagon Events</h2>
<p>The second major part of the Welcome Wagon is a set of events at the conference itself.
We have a team who are the humans who are the “Welcome Wagon”,
and they lead the Welcome Wagon events at the conference.
You will find their pictures in the guide to make it easy to recognize them at the event.</p>
<p>Currently we:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Provide an introduction the evening before the conference</p></li>
<li><p>Give venue tours the evening before and the morning of the conference</p></li>
<li><p>Invite the attendees to ask the Welcome Wagon team questions any time throughout the conference</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The goal of these events is to introduce the Welcome Wagon team to people,
as well as to explain how the conference and community work.
Attendees can ask the Welcome Wagon team questions throughout the conference,
because they know their faces and that they will be helpful.</p>
</section>
<section id="run-a-welcome-wagon">
<h2>Run a Welcome Wagon</h2>
<p>If you’re curious about how to run a Welcome Wagon at your conference,
you’re in luck.
We have a <a class="reference external" href="http://www.writethedocs.org/organizer-guide/confs/welcome-wagon/">organizer guide</a> that explains how to do it.</p>
<p>We strongly believe that iteration across a number of events and perspectives are the best way to make great things.
So if you adopt a similar program at your conference we’d love to hear about it.
We are always open to feedback and ideas to make the program better as well.</p>
<p>You can also look at our examples from our 2019 conferences in order to get a better idea:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference external" href="https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2019/welcome-wagon/">Portland 2019 Welcome Wagon</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference external" href="https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/prague/2019/welcome-wagon/">Prague 2019 Welcome Wagon</a></p></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="credits">
<h2>Credits</h2>
<p>I wrote this blog post,
but the Welcome Wagon wasn’t my idea.
It was created by Christy Lutz and Leona Campbell at our Portland conference.
We have been working to refine it over the years,
and I’m just hoping to promote it so other people can learn from our work.</p>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2017/aug/2/pacman-rule-conferences/"><span class="doc">The Pac-Man Rule at Conferences</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2019/sep/19/helping-first-time-conference-attendees-with-welcome-wagon/"><span class="doc">Using a Welcome Wagon to Help First-Time Conference Attendees</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2023/feb/10/we-dont-do-that-here/"><span class="doc">We don’t do that here: Setting social norms</span></a></p></li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
</section>
You walk into the room and you’re wearing the wrong thing.
Everyone else is dressed casually,
but you are not.
You feel silly and find the quickest excuse to leave the situation.
This is an example of a common situation:
not knowing what is expected of you when you enter a new place.2019-09-26T00:00:00+00:00http://ericholscher.com/blog/2023/feb/10/we-dont-do-that-here/We don’t do that here: Setting social norms2023-02-10T00:00:00+00:00<section id="we-don-t-do-that-here-setting-social-norms">
<p>I have long been a fan of social rules to make events more inclusive.
Ever since I attended my first tech conference,
I’ve seen the career-enhancing power of events,
but they have never been equally accessible to all people.</p>
<p>As organizers we need to be working to improve the spaces that we are responsible for,
and I’d like to share one powerful concept that can help.</p>
<section id="a-powerful-tool-for-settings-norms">
<h2>A powerful tool for settings norms</h2>
<p>I came across the concept of using <cite>We don’t do that here</cite> as a backstop for settings norms,
and I’m thinking about how we can apply it at <a class="reference external" href="https://www.writethedocs.org/">Write the Docs</a> events.
Here is a quote from the blog post where I heard this idea,
so you can get a sense of the idea:</p>
<blockquote class="epigraph">
<div><p>If no one has told you yet, as your career in tech progresses you will eventually become a “custodian of culture.” If you run a meetup or a team, if you lead an open source project, or if you organize an event people will be looking to you to know what is and isn’t okay in that space. You get this responsibility whether you want it or not. […]</p>
<p>When I’m able I’d much rather spend the time to educate someone about diversity and inclusion issues and see if I can change how they see the world a bit. But I don’t always have the time and energy to do that. And sometimes, even if I did have the time, the person involved doesn’t want to be educated.</p>
<p>This is when I pull out “we don’t do that here.” It is a conversation ender. If you are the newcomer and someone who has been around a long time says “we don’t do that here”, it is hard to argue. This sentence doesn’t push my morality on anyone. If they want to do whatever it is elsewhere, I’m not telling them not to.</p>
<p class="attribution">—<strong>Aja Hammerly</strong>, <a class="reference external" href="https://thagomizer.com/blog/2017/09/29/we-don-t-do-that-here.html">We don’t do that here</a></p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>I really loved this framing, and it spoke to me directly as someone who is responsible for a conference.</p>
</section>
<section id="the-responsibility-of-a-community-leader">
<h2>The responsibility of a community leader</h2>
<p>I’ve written in the past about the value of having people dedicated to setting culture at your events,
most recently in <a class="reference internal" href="../../../2015/oct/16/the-importance-of-being-welcoming/"><span class="doc">The Importance of Being Welcoming</span></a>.
The most powerful way to set culture is by being a good, positive example.
Our Welcome Wagon does a wonderful job of this,
showing by example how to be a welcoming and open member of a community.</p>
<p>That said,
you sometimes need to be able to shut down behavior as well.
<cite>We don’t do that here</cite> is a powerful tool,
when used by someone in a position of cultural power.</p>
<p>My first attempt at making a rule from this concept is:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>As a person with a position of power,
it’s your responsibility to enforce community standards.
Start by setting a good example of how a community member should act,
but <cite>We don’t do that here</cite> is a powerful tool for shutting down negative behavior.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p><cite>We don’t do that here</cite> allows you to reinforce culture in a way that can’t be argued.
However,
it fully depends on your position of power,
to set the norms of the community.
Being able to use it effectively,
the community needs to agree ahead of time on what the standards are.
Deciding on a shared community vision for this can often be the hardest part.</p>
<p>You must define and enforce community standards if you wish to grow a healthy community.
<cite>We don’t do this here</cite> is a powerful tool to keep,
for the (hopefully) rare situation when you need it.</p>
</section>
<section id="examples">
<h2>Examples</h2>
<p>Aja’s post had a couple good examples.
I’ll include one here,
so you have a good understanding of how to use this in a social setting.</p>
<blockquote>
<div><div class="line-block">
<div class="line">Them: Tells an off-color joke.</div>
<div class="line">Me: “We don’t do that here.”</div>
<div class="line">Them: “But I was trying to be funny.”</div>
<div class="line">Me (shrugging): “That isn’t relevant. We don’t do that here.”</div>
</div>
</div></blockquote>
<p>This is a wonderful example of being an ally,
someone who speaks up to ensure that the space is more welcoming.</p>
<p>Read the <a class="reference external" href="https://thagomizer.com/blog/2017/09/29/we-don-t-do-that-here.html">full post</a> for other examples.</p>
</section>
<section id="further-reading">
<h2>Further reading</h2>
<p>I found this concept originally in Chris Holdgraf’s <a class="reference external" href="https://chrisholdgraf.com/blog/2023/fosdem/">FOSDEM 2023 report</a>.
Aja Hammerly’s <a class="reference external" href="https://thagomizer.com/blog/2017/09/29/we-don-t-do-that-here.html">blog post</a> is where I learned more.</p>
<p>Have you found a useful rule or technique for making your events friendlier and more accessible?
I’d love your suggestions on how to spread this idea more widely.</p>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2017/aug/2/pacman-rule-conferences/"><span class="doc">The Pac-Man Rule at Conferences</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2017/dec/2/breaking-cliques-at-events/"><span class="doc">Breaking Cliques at Events: The Snowball Rule</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2019/sep/19/helping-first-time-conference-attendees-with-welcome-wagon/"><span class="doc">Using a Welcome Wagon to Help First-Time Conference Attendees</span></a></p></li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
</section>
I have long been a fan of social rules to make events more inclusive.
Ever since I attended my first tech conference,
I’ve seen the career-enhancing power of events,
but they have never been equally accessible to all people.2023-02-10T00:00:00+00:00