CODE OF CONDUCT

I was recently trading emails with one of our speakers for INDUSTRY. She had just confirmed that she was up for joining us in Cleveland this Fall, which totally made my day. She was curious about something, though.

“What’s INDUSTRY’s Code of Conduct?” she asked.

It dawned on me that we didn’t have one. Of course, growing up with my Midwestern values, perhaps I took it for granted that people at professional events know that they should act… you know… professional. Yet, it’s true that tech events, in particular, have seen their share of edge cases where certain attendees or even speakers crossed a line and offended others by their words or actions.

This email inquiring about a code of conduct made us think about what we would want for INDUSTRY. We asked ourselves what we believe in and what we want for others that experience INDUSTRY. We drafted some of these beliefs and wanted to share them with all.

Here’s what we believe:

Nobody deserves to be treated with disrespect: While this might be self-explanatory to many, we believe that INDUSTRY should be a place where you don’t have to worry about somebody else being rude, offensive, or discriminatory. We don’t stand for those that are demeaning to others for any reason at all. Treating people with respect takes little effort, but goes a long way in ensuring INDUSTRY is the type of environment where everybody feels comfortable learning and staying open to be inspired.

Great ideas come from all different types of people: We unequivocally won’t stand for discrimination of any kind – whether it’s by race, sexual-orientation, gender-identity, culture, religion, physical abilities, professional background, or anything else. At INDUSTRY, we want all to feel like they and their ideas are welcome and valued. Because they are.

Friends don’t let friends hurt others: If you see anybody at INDUSTRY treating somebody else with disrespect in any way, let us know. Seriously. It’s not something we stand for, and we want to diffuse any such situation.

You can reach any one of us by email (which we’ll be checking very often, even throughout the event):

Mike Belsito – mike@productcollective.com
Paul McAvinchey – paul@productcollective.com
Rebecca McAvinchey – Rebecca@productcollective.com

If you have any questions or feedback about this, let us know – we’d love to hear from you. Again, more than anything – we just want the INDUSTRY experience to be the best it can be for product people that want to learn and be inspired. Join us in helping make that happen.

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