Feet in the Door

Last week, the article Where are the Women in Tech and Social Media created quite the buzz. The author argued that while women made up 50% of social media / internet users, on average, only 25% were speakers at these conferences. The author argued for more diverse speakers, aka she wanted more women speakers. Since she was petitioning due to a specific conference, I have a feeling the post was  a little biased Really though, who still goes to a conference with “Web 2.0” in the name?

Of course, in the other camp you had the people vehemently arguing for no quotas; that any choice should be based on the quality of work submitted. Get real.

Here’s the thing. I don’t wholeheartedly agree with either of them. Here’s a few whys:

• – If people / conference leaders truly wanted to judge solely on the body of work, then the presentations should be submitted stripped of any identifying information. If not, then you have biases galore. Think about it. If Chris Brogan submitted the ugliest, worst presentation but it had his name all over it, would you still vote for him to speak? I’m guessing yes. Now, take that same hideous presentation and strip his name away. Would the presentation get a “yes” vote? I’m thinking not.
• – In a similar vein as the above point, what’s the difference between gender biases and biases towards friends or people you want a favor from? How many friends and/or idols of conference organizers are speaking at that next conference for this reason?

How I see it? Who cares HOW you got in? Race, color, gender, friend, celebrity, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is if you can cut it once you’re there. If you can’t, both you and everyone in the audience will know it. A great example… thanks to Title IX, a lot of female athletes got scholarships, myself included. At the time, were all of them fully qualified? Would they have gotten the scholarship if they had to be evenly split between males and females? No. But, the ones who worked their asses off? The ones that made it to Olympic Trials or placed at Nationals? Yes, in the end, they deserved it. They proved their worth. Would they have gotten a chance to prove themselves if not for a bias? I doubt it.

The lesson? Stop trying to control the biases. Stop worrying about HOW people got in the door because of who they knew or their gender. Start worrying about what they do AFTER they’re in. The strong ones? They’ll rise to the top. The weak ones? They’ll weed themselves out all by themselves.