[…] beyond tellerrand has a very cozy and friendly atmosphere and I’m very lucky to have had my first speaking experience in such inviting environment and community grown by marc.
Code of Conduct
A bit of background: for a long time I was thinking, that beyond tellerrand does not need a Code of Conduct. I thought that I, Marc Thiele, run this event and expect everybody to be gentle, respectful, peaceful, and that everybody respects each other. But many conversations with other people and amongst them many event organisers, convinced me to create a Code of Conduct.
In many good conversation, I came to the conclusion that …
- … beyond tellerrand grew a lot within the last 5 years, I – by far – do not know everybody personally anymore.
- … a lot of people might visit the website, not knowing the event, and maybe they get encouraged to come and join the beyond tellerrand family, which they would not, if btconf does not have a Code of Conduct that states certain things. In other words: it shows that beyond tellerrand cares about the topic and might help them getting a safer feeling about the event.
- … instead of “just” copying an existing Code of Conduct, it makes much more sense to write your own, as copying is easy and makes it just another standard “must have” on your web site, without being convinced that you need to have one and sometimes maybe without even knowing the content of the Code of Conduct you link to.
When beyond tellerrand started in 2011, the aim was to create an event for a “friendly and inspiring community”, expecting people to be respectful and tolerant towards each other. Regardless of gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religious views. Harassment of any kind will obviously not be tolerated. Examples of what harassment includes are: offensive verbal comments related to gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention. Surely there is more kinds of harassment, but you get the point, right?
In short it is quite simple: treat everyone as you want to be treated.
I’m very happy and proud of what beyond tellerrand created in the last years and it honestly comes deeply out of my heart. Therefore one of the things I'd like to ask for is, that if you see someone behaving disrespectfully, seeing someone having problems or have problems yourself, to come to me and let me know about it. I run this event and only if you let me know about something, we’re able to react and do something. I will listen and give my best to resolve the matter.
As a peaceful person I will always seek to resolve conflicts peacefully and in a way that is positive for anybody involved. But if someone is not able to apologise for a mistake or does not stop any harassing behaviour, I will surely ask this person to leave and exclude him/her from the event without warning or refund.
This is me, just in case you never met me before and need to grab me at the event. My name is Marc, my email is marc@beyondtellerrand.com, and my mobile phone number is +49-177-3267512. Feel free to use any way to contact me, if you see or have problems. If you don't find me for any reason you can also grab one of the many volunteers (look for volunteer shirts) or speak to the venue staff.
Thank you!
Thanks to everybody who was involved in any of the past events and made it such a great experience. Respectful, inclusive, but also relaxed, welcoming and funny.