Why Gender Diversity Matters to Event Planners

The largest marketing, sales and leadership conferences in the world are facing a huge challenge. Traditionally, conference audiences and speakers have been nearly 100 percent white males. However, times have changed. The make-up of the audience is now evenly split between men and women.

The event planner's job is to ensure that the right content is presented -- content that will deeply resonate with the audience and make the overall experience meaningful. This boils down to choosing the right speakers for each opportunity. Event planners are keenly aware of the need to have more women -- and other skin tones -- on their stages. Event planners are now focusing on having voices that are reflective of the audience so that their inner conversations can not only be heard, but fully understood.

Curiosity drove me to better understand the perfect combination of voice and perspective these planners were looking for in the speaker selection process. After 59 interviews with conference hosts and meeting and event planners, it is extremely clear that there is a challenge to have the right collection of voices on their stages. Read more

Gene Hammett - Entrepreneur - 23 May 2017