We’re growing the DICE community, in partnership with www.diversespeakers.uk

People often ask me if they can “tap into the DICE community” to find a ‘diverse’ speaker for their event. I normally have a few responses to this: 

• What do you mean when you say ‘diverse’ speaker?
  Do you mean a woman? Or a non-white person? Or are you referring to any one of the 9 protected characteristics as outlined in the 2010 Equality Act? Because diversity is a big thing. 

• And have you looked?
  I’ve worked in events, and half the fun of curating a top-notch lineup is the serendipitous discovery of amazing new (or old!) talent. 

• When is the event?
  If it’s in two weeks time, and the event’s been in production for six months, then we also need to look at your planning process. (However, I probably know a few amazing people who are friends of DICE that are more than qualified to speak at your conference on ecommerce/advertising/disruption.)

• Are you paying?
  This is a timely conversation and one that needs to be had more. If you value someone as an expert… expect them to spend time preparing something of exceptional quality for your audience, IF YOU ARE AN EVENTS COMPANY THAT MAKES MONEY FROM EVENTS then please make sure you have a budget to find ‘diverse’ speakers. 
  

As these requests become more frequent and our collective tolerance for unequal, all-white-all-male events becomes extinct, I realised we needed to formalise things a little. 

Which is why I’m so happy to announce our partnership with Diverse Speakers, a site created by the founder of creative company The Barber Shop, Dino Myers-Lamptey. Outside of this website, Dino is relentless in his pursuit of diversity in the ad industry and is a founding member of MEFA (Media For All). 

I particularly loved a quote of his from the panel I chaired recently at Mediatel’s Shoulder to Shoulder conference: “If you’re going to hire a D&I specialist, make them unsackable. Otherwise how can they be brave enough to do their job?” 

Diverse Speakers is a constantly growing collection of superb speakers from across the ad industry that events organisers can use to curate an inclusive lineup. It’s got some incredibly talented people, and yes… there’s a fee. DICE is a voluntary organisation, but a lot of people spend a lot of time helping organisations get their houses in order, and they need to be paid for that time. Exploiting the time of women and PoCs to make your business more diverse is an irony of the highest order. 

We recently road-tested Diverse Speakers whilst helping Zee MELT (one of the world’s biggest digital events) make their lineup less white and male, and it was a roaring success, so I’m looking forward to even more positive results in the future. 

And if you’re interested you can submit yourself to the site, too. Dino and team are always on the lookout for amazing voices. 

Amy Kean
Co-founder, DICE