Time: Friday 12:00 - 12:30 / Location: Fisher Room

It's been scientifically proven that more diverse communities and workplaces create better products and the solutions to difficult problems are more complete and diverse themselves. Companies are struggling to find adequate talent. So why do we see so few women, people of color, and LGBTQ people at our events and on the about pages of our websites? Even more curiously, why do 60% of women leave the tech industry within 10 years? Why are fewer women choosing to pursue computer science and related degrees than ever before? Why have stories of active discouragement, dismissal, harassment, or worse become regular news? In this talk we’ll examine the causes behind the lack of diversity in our communities, events, and workplaces. We’ll discuss what we can do as community members, event organizers, and co-workers to not only combat this problem, but to encourage positive change by contributing to an atmosphere of inclusivity.