[guadec-list] Proposal for a Women's Dinner at GUADEC 2017

[Nuritzi Sanchez <nuritzis stanfordalumni org>]

Hi GUADEC team,  

I was hoping to help organize the annual women's dinner at GUADEC this year and wanted to be mindful of some of the feedback we received last year, and also see if this year's GUADEC team would be able to help us with some on-the-ground logistics. 

I've included some of the feedback we received last year below and have highlighted some actions to be taken as a result. Does anyone have any other feedback we should keep in mind as we organize this event? 

Re: logistics: 

@GUADEC team - do you have a suggestion for when to host the dinner? I forget what the social activities calendar you already have looks like.

Looking at Trip Advisor, I found two restaurants that might work for this event since they seem to be able to accommodate large groups and you can reserve online. The two are Arnero (Indian food), and Try Thai. My first choice is Arnero since it's cheaper and would therefore be friendlier for sponsored participants / people on a tight budget. If the local team has suggestions for alternative locations, that would be great!

Thank you!

Best, 
Nuritzi

There are two pieces of feedback from last year that especially come to mind: 

1. Announcing the dinner at GUADEC: It would be great if we could include the women's dinner information when we announce other social events that will take place at GUADEC. However, we should give other groups an opportunity to announce their social events as well. 
   
   Why: Last year there was a discussion around the women's group being given special preference over other groups to announce their social events. Perhaps opening up a time slot to allow other groups to announce their social events could help make sure that other groups don't feel discriminated against.
   
   How: We could do something like email the engagement and/or foundation lists to see if any groups have social events they want announced at GUADEC, or something along those lines. 
   
   
2. Inviting people in-person: We should refrain from inviting people to the women's dinner in-person since this can be quite awkward for attendees.
   
   Why: Last year, we tried inviting people we thought identified as women to the dinner. This put some attendees in an awkward situation. 
   
   How: Perhaps we can have a place at the venue that lists the social events happening throughout the conference? This would allow other groups to give exposure to their events and would also allow people who are new to GUADEC/didn't see the announcement about a women's dinner before to sign up. 

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Nuritzi Sanchez  |  +1.650.218.7388 |  Endless