The QCon San Francisco Conference organizers are pleased to announce that 10 Diversity Scholarships were awarded for QCon San Francisco, 2016. The scholarship was open to all underrepresented groups in the technology community. QCon is committed to encouraging diversity in the tech community. While QCon has worked hard to provide opportunities for speakers from all backgrounds (for example in London this year, 50% of keynotes included women on stage, and in San Francisco, 66% of the keynotes speakers will be women), we felt that we could do better to reach a more diverse attendance pool (6% of attendees in London and 11% in New York were women).
Eileen Murray, Conferences and Events Coordinator for C4Media, the organizing company for QCon and InfoQ, notes that the event staff are constantly seeking ways to allow attendees to safely express themselves, and take care of their needs. “We offer a Family and a Prayer room to all attendees and speakers” allowing a space for privacy if desired and requested.
Through nominations from speakers, track hosts, and co-chairs, members of underrepresented groups within the tech community were considered for these scholarships. Recipients were picked randomly from the nomination pool and notified via email. Five Diversity Scholarships included a three-day conference ticket for QCon SF 2016 (Nov 7-9), and the remaining five scholarships also included a travel stipend.