Making GORUCO more inclusive

Over the years GORUCO has invested considerable time, energy, and resources into diversity and inclusion initiatives. Here is what we have done this year.

We offered discounted tickets for those who identify as belonging to a group that is underrepresented in the technology industry. Thank you Stride for sponsoring this.

We once again ran a diversity scholarship program. The program aims to support traditionally underrepresented and/or marginalized persons in the Ruby community who may not otherwise have the opportunity to attend the conference for financial reasons. This year we have 16 successful scholarship applicants. As part of the program we asked other attendees if they will be willing to be scholarship guides and organised a meet-and-greet for both successful applicants and guides before the conference. Thank you Dev Bootcamp for sponsoring this.

We did a first round of blind selection and then were conscious during our talk selection process to select diverse talks and speakers. This led to last year’s even 50-50 female-to-male speaker lineup, and we are almost there this year (5 women speakers vs 7 men speakers).

We set up a child care program, free of charge, for anyone who requires it in order to attend our conference. Child care is available for the duration of the conference and provided by SitterCity.

We lined up a presentations skills improv workshop for our speakers, where they can practice various activities that address the fear of public speaking. The workshop is taught by Jill Frutkin.

We are happy with our efforts this year and look forward to what we can do even better next year.