Changing the conversation

“Is it laziness, is it affinity bias?” Priya Narain, co-founder of Event First Steps and sales manager at KERB Food asks.

These were the questions that led to Narain, along with Gabby Austen Browne – co-founder of Diversity Ally, Felicia Asiedu – senior marketing manager at Cvent and Shonali Devereaux – lecturer of leadership & organisation at Hertfordshire University, to create the Diverse Speaker Bureau.

The Diverse Speaker Bureau exists to offer a portfolio of subject matter experts from diverse backgrounds, to speak on panels and provide keynotes on subjects that don’t just relate to the part of their identity that is perceived as diverse.

In other words, the bureau was created to offer practical opportunities for genuine interactions, from subject-matter experts. It does not promote diversity for the sake of diversity, instead championing and supporting the path to inclusivity through diverse thinking and diverse people.

“As women, we’re always being asked to talk on panels, perhaps on topics that weren’t of actual relevance to us but purely because we fit the diversity angle,” Narain adds.

“I was recently asked to feature on a panel on diversity in recruitment. I have no knowledge of recruitment whatsoever. But there are people out there who can and do so.

“When we all came together, it was a very solid and unified conversation about why aren’t these people being found, why aren’t they being seen? But with the Diverse Speaker Bureau, there is no longer the excuse of, ‘I couldn’t find anyone’ or ‘I didn’t know anyone.’ We’re here to say: ‘Here you go, this is how you can do it.’”

Felicia Asiedu explains that the Diverse Speaker Bureau was a long time in the making and the result of many ‘we should do something about this’ conversations. When the founders came together to home in on why the bureau needed to exist, it became clear that integrity and trust were essential to the success of the organisation.

“We want to make sure it isn’t just a case of putting someone on a panel because they’re the right colour, shape, size or have a disability”, she says.

“We want that person who sits on your panel to sit there with integrity and that feeling of ‘I know what I’m talking about, and I happen to be from an underrepresented group’.”

“It enriches debate, opens up and demystifies perceived cultural differences,” says Gabby Austen-Browne. “The bigger variety of people we see or hear from and engage with, the more we can evolve as human beings.

“It’s also really important for audiences to see themselves reflected in the speakers, or discussions or particular topics on stage.”

Shonali Devereaux adds that when she joined the industry “aeons ago” there were no people like her to look up to.

“While I must admit I don’t realise I’m brown until it’s pointed out, it has been helpful because students at the university I lecture at have come up to me and said ‘it’s really wonderful to see a woman of colour represented as a university lecturer, it’s inspiring.

“We need inspiring people on panels to inspire the younger generation.”

Austen-Browne argues that the lack of diversity and representation in the industry is a problem that will not go away until it’s properly dealt with, and organisations cannot afford to ignore the issue at hand.

“Ultimately, audiences will migrate to business events, or align themselves with organisations that are actively hosting diverse speaker panels and that are allowing different voices to be heard,” she says.

“We want to globalise debates”, clarifies Devereaux. “What that means is we want to bring all sorts of world views into the conversation. Different experiences and opinions enrich conversation, enrich everybody’s world view, help to integrate cultures and helps with innovation.

“Companies that are at the forefront of innovation are ones that take into account multiple world views, diverse world views with their organisations. We want to do that within a speaking panel to inspire ideas from all different walks of like and we want to make it easy for people to access that talent and make it easy to connect with experts in the field.”