[Aust-NZ] FOSS4G SotM Oceania meeting minutes

[John Bryant]

Hi Brad, thanks for that. We're trying something that's new, as far as
we're aware, so we appreciate your feedback.

We expect parents to be responsible for looking after their children at the
conference, and we're providing some means to help them do so. We hope that
other attendees will be helpful, but we're aware we can't expect everyone
to be comfortable with this. Rest assured, we definitely don't expect you
to be looking after other people's kids.

We are asking for what we consider to be a reasonable amount of tolerance
for the presence of children, which I hope is within the realm of community
expectations. What we're trying to do is create an environment where people
who don't have the option of leaving children at home can choose to attend,
and trying to articulate the expectations so there is a reasonable level of
tolerance. The idea here is that it will enable a fully diverse audience,
reflecting our professional community, to attend.

We'll take another look at the policy, and see if there is anything we need
to do to clarify.

Cheers
John

On Sun, 9 Sep 2018 at 19:58, <bradh at frogmouth.net> wrote:

> I note the approval of
> https://foss4g-oceania.org/child-friendly-conference in the minutes. Will
> you take patches on that policy?
>
> I’m particularly concerned about this part:
> In kind, we request that everyone:
> • Be patient with children. They are our future leaders and learn by
> modelling what we do.
> • Be patient with parents. Children are not robots and don’t have ‘quiet
> now’ buttons.
> • Leave seats near exits free, for use by parents and children (see above
> - they may need to make quick exits)
> • Assist. If you see a child looking lost or distressed, get down to their
> level and ask them how you can help. Find a conference volunteer to hand
> over to.
> • Remember parents are doing the best they can. At the conference, if you
> have issues with children or parents, please contact the diversity team (as
> per the Code of Conduct).
>
> I don’t think the second last point is reasonable. I’m not going to the
> conference to look after other people’s children – I’m not comfortable
> doing so, and I don't consider it my responsibility to do so in any case.
> Will you take amendments to make that "if you feel comfortable in doing
> so"?
>
> The second point can also be interpreted such that parents do not need to
> control their children. The request that parents "Be aware of the needs of
> other conference attendees, who have also paid to turn up and hear people
> speak." is fairly weak (and doesn't actually require parents to do
> anything, while everyone else has to tolerate the child).
> Will you take amendments to make parents responsible for controlling their
> children and mitigating the effect that those children have on other
> conference attendees?
>
> Brad
>
>
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