Sharing the mic

Conference season is fast approaching and I, for one, am looking forward to getting out and seeing people after a quiet summer. There is only one thing about the upcoming conferences that makes my heart sink and that is the prospect of the inevitable manels.?

What’s a ‘manel’??

For those of you who haven't heard the term 'manel', it's an all-male panel.?

What’s the problem with a manel??

A more diverse panel brings greater diversity of thought so there will be more ideas and more different points of view which will be much more entertaining and informative for both speakers and attendees.?

A panel made up entirely of men is also potentially sending other (inaccurate) messages that you may not be aware of:?

1. Women are not welcome in this area of supply chain or at this level of seniority.?
2. The organiser of the event does not believe that women have anything to contribute on this subject.?
3. Men are the only experts on this topic.?

Supply chain is lacking in diversity, so we need to make the diversity there is more visible. The consequence? More role models.?

This blog focuses on gender diversity on panels, but the arguments also hold true for people from minority groups. We need to see panels that represent the demographics that our supply chains serve.?

The case for manels?

The most frequently heard reason for a manel is, "I can’t find any women who want to speak on the panel." There is some truth to this statement as some women really aren’t keen to speak on a panel. Here are a few some of the reasons why:?

• Fear of tokenism.?

• If they work part-time, taking time out to speak at a conference is a bigger deal than for those working full time.?

• Women are more likely than men to have additional responsibilities outside of work making it harder to take time out to attend a conference.?

• There are some oversubscribed women who do speak on panels and don't have time to attend all the conferences they're invited to.?

• If the event has only hosted manels in the past, women may question whether they are welcome at this event.?

While there is a smaller pool of women in supply chain to ask compared to men, this is precisely why we need to increase representation of women on panels: to provide role models and encourage more women to enter, and remain, in the profession.?

At boom! most of our panels are female-only panels due to the nature of our mission. There are some supply chain topics where it’s harder to find female speakers, but we always manage to find at least three, and we’ve been doing that for almost five years.??

There are also some great supply chain conference organisers out there who are making a huge effort to increase the numbers of both female speakers and female attendees. I’ve attended events where there has been this focus on increasing female representation and I’ve heard from both male and female attendees how much they appreciate the increased gender diversity.?

Call to action - how to increase the diversity of panels?

Advice for panellists – women and people from minority groups?

• If you are worried that you are being asked solely because of your gender, then speak to the event organiser and ask why they want you.?

• I have a rule which roughly goes 'accept all speaker engagements that you're offered provided that they align with your areas of expertise and/or personal branding, and you can logistically do it’. I have this rule because it's good for my career but also because I know that I'm usually the only woman on the panel and I need to be a role model. I had so few role models in my supply chain career that I feel that I must be part of the change I want to see.?

• You're busy doing your day job and attending a conference gets in the way of this. However, there are many benefits of being a speaker including: networking, raising your profile, experience of being on a stage.?

• It can be exhausting representing your ‘group’ (I hear/read about this fatigue a lot from women of colour), so if you don't have enough energy to accept this invitation to speak, then give yourself a break and say no but consider the next invitation that comes along when you may be feeling stronger.?

Advice for panellists?– men

• Ask about the other speakers on the panel and tell the organiser that you won't speak on a panel of only male speakers. Make sure that event organisers are aware of your 'no manels' policy.?

• Put forward women and people from minority groups from your organisation or elsewhere as (alternative) panellists.??

Advice for attendees?

• Talk to the event organiser about the lack of diverse panels and document your comments in your feedback forms.??

• Highlight diverse panels on social media.?

Advice for event organisers?

• Put in place a 50/50 (or at least a ‘no manels’) speaker policy and publicise it?

• An all-male panel with a female moderator is still a manel?

• Ensure your organising team is diverse?

• Accountability - publish your diversity statistics?

• Ask your network and your speakers to recommend a woman that they work with as a speaker?

• Use LinkedIn and get to know key people you'd like at your event. Don't just connect with them on LinkedIn and ask them to join your panel - read their articles, comment on them, ask them questions about their work. They will be much more receptive to your invitation to speak.?

• Follow boom! on LinkedIn for international speakers or, where they exist, women in supply chain or logistics groups local to your event.?

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Everyone has a role to play in making manels a thing of the past – and when we do, #EveryoneWins.?

Let’s share the mic.?

This edition of the Supply Chain 50/50 newsletter was written by Melanie Salter, Director of Supply Chain Research at boom! Global Network.