We assume that participants at Accumulo Summit are intelligent and well-intended, and we’re not inclined to tell people what to do. However, we are aware of unacceptable behavior that has occurred at other technical conferences and want our stance on the matter to be clear.
The Accumulo Summit organizers do not tolerate discrimination or harassment against any person on the basis of gender, race, color, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or age. The core of our approach is simple – we will do whatever we believe is necessary to ensure that Accumulo Summit is a safe and productive environment for everyone.
What follows is an adaptation of Tim O’Reilly’s comments on the matter, which have served as the basis for numerous conferences including all O’Reilly Conferences.
You may have seen or read about issues of sexual harassment at technical conferences. At Accumulo Summit we take those issues very seriously. We acknowledge that this is a real, long-standing issue in the technical community. Let us be clear: we don’t condone harassment or offensive behavior, at our conferences or anywhere. It’s counter to our values. More importantly, it’s counter to our values as human beings.
We’re voicing our strong, unequivocal support of appropriate behavior by all participants at Accumulo Summit. We invite you to help us make Accumulo Summit a place that is welcoming and respectful to all participants, so everyone can focus on the conference itself, and the great networking and community richness that can happen when we get together in person.
One issue that has come up at other technical conferences is sexual or racist comments or images in slides. This is not appropriate. speakers and exhibitors should use good judgment; if we hear complaints and we think they are warranted, you may not be invited back.
Even more alarmingly, we’ve heard accounts at other technical conference of female attendees having to put up with stalking, offensive comments, and unwanted sexual advances. We’d like to borrow a line from the Flickr Community Guidelines, which use the term Creepiness as follows: “You know the guy. Don’t be that guy.” If we hear that you are “that guy” (regardless of your gender), we will investigate and take any action we feel is appropriate, including asking you to leave.