Male, Pale and Stale

Everywhere I go recently there is a lot of talk about equality and diversity, opportunities for all, talent attraction and retention. In fact, there have always been these conversations in the industry for as long as I can remember.

This probably has been reinforced recently by some conference programmes that I have been honoured to present and events that I have attended.

Sometimes however, it’s a case that there is an obvious gender imbalance and/or age imbalance for these sort of events.

Predominately the attendees and/or speakers are ‘male, pale and stale’ or in other words, men, older and of the same demographic – me being a case in point. Should this be the case? The answer is an emphatic ‘NO’. The make up of the conference demographic should resemble the geography in which the event is held. If we continue to hold events without considering diversity the crisis around talent will continue to increase. We need to showcase the great skills and abilities that all genders have within our industry.

A few years ago, I took my apprentice along to a data centre conference and exhibition. She spent some time wandering around the halls looking at the range of equipment on display and said ‘now I get it, I understand what we are talking about and dealing with day to day.’ That experience was worth the cost of the travel and time out of the office. It is continuing professional development! I am afraid that organisations who purport to be ‘data centre specialists’ and do not attend conferences, exhibitions and seminars will only be serving up the equivalent of ‘cold left-overs’ to their clients and will miss out on the all important networking with fellow professionals. A strong network within the industry means that you and your organisation become a known name. It does not mean you have to be on the conference platform at every event either.

Often, I have said that people attend conferences for 3 reasons:

1.?????? To network with fellow professionals

2.?????? To pick up ‘freebies’

3.?????? To actually learn something

To be able to learn, we do not need to sold to, but rather to see how problems can be addressed and the solutions to these problems. Over the last few years conferences have improved in this regard and when I attended Platforms Global in Antibes last year , there was such a great line-up of presenters and no trade show that allowed people, me included, to sit in the conference hall and actually benefit from the programme that has been curated for them. The DCA Transformation conference is of a similar ilk, without a trade show, and attendees are ‘driven’ to the conference hall to learn.

This brings me back to what I mentioned earlier; the ‘diversity’ on conference programmes. I have said before that global companies like Microsoft, Google and Facebook were all started by people under the age of 30, Sir Tim Berners-Lee was 34 when he invented the world wide web. Unless we start listening to and learning from younger people we will end up like the dinosaurs some of us are already! The 3 companies mentioned earlier are not shining examples of gender diversity at the start up point, but it does show the great ideas that younger people have.

What about networking events? While we have said people like to network at conferences, dedicated networking events are also around, I know of at least 3 in the UK alone. What do you get for attending, some canapes, drinks and chat. I am in two minds if the idea of having alcoholic drinks with other professionals is sending out the right image of the industry? Again, the diversity of such events is often ‘male, pale & stale’, which is counterproductive to what the industry is trying to promote and also a drinking culture is maybe not the current 21st century thing.

The last thing to consider are Award Ceremonies. I can remember writing on LinkedIn about 3 years ago about equality and diversity at an awards event, there was more diversity in those waiting at table than those sat at table. It was so obvious that nearly every table was ‘m, p & s’. However, I am happy to say that at my last two times at awards events in 2023 the situation had dramatically improved. This situation has no doubt been improved by initiatives such as the ‘Rising Stars programme’ which means, by default, there will be more younger people in attendance. Long may this continue to showcase our emerging talent.

One particular event that is upcoming in the calendar is the W.Media Awards to be given in December 2024. https://w.media/awards The interesting thing with this award event is the emphasis being put into wider teams such as Talent Acquisition and Market Intelligence, and initiatives such as Skills Development. Perhaps you are able to make a nomination?

Whether people are award winners or not, there is a need to ensure that events are representative of the geography in which they are held and further opportunity is given to emerging talent to showcase what they are doing in the industry. Please take 3 minutes and 46 second to watch one of the most inspiring videos about the 2024 Rising Star - Laura Allwood

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