There's an article over at Chris "factoryjoe" Messina's blog that's been getting a lot of attention from the web application development crowd titled The Future of White Boy Clubs. I could describe his article, which is about the race/sex makeup of the speaker list at the recent Future of Web Apps summit, but I can do a better job of summarizing it by borrowing the graphic that Chris created for it:
More crackers than an hors d'oeuvres plate!
Chris' argument is based on the assumption that multicultural societies are good. This too is is my general leaning, but it's not everyone's: the neoconservative side of the blogosphere would very strongly disagree, and I can make some cogent arguments that in a multicultural society, there has to be some agreement on a baseline set of common cultural rules (men and women are entitled to the same right, privileges and opportunies, freedom of speech is a basic human right, and so on).
I think I'll save the serious commentary for the working week. In the meantime, I'd like to offer my services as a speaker at your next Web 2.0 conference. I'm the Technical Evangelist for a well-respected and long-standing internet company, I can speak and I am very clearly a member of a visible minority:
Even better, I play the uncoolest rock instrument -- keyboards -- in their uncoolest forms, accordion and keytar. It's like minority squared! Seriously: every speaking gig I get will come with a free accordion performance. C'mon, can even Scoble promise this?
What are you waiting for? Sign me up as a speaker today!
Office phone:
Google Talk:
Admittedly, being in a visible minority and playing an uncool instrument won't be enough these days to get you in. You need to start speaking with a Filipino accent, not a Canadian one. And you'd need to be female, which in your case would mean transgendering, which is even better from a minority standpoint than being born female. (I realize that Wendy might have a problem with that, but just think of all the fancy jewellery you'll be able to buy her with your director's fees.)
Oh, and you'll need to be physically disabled. If you do this properly, as an "accident", you can get insurance money too! Ultimately you could supply every traditional board's dream: a board complete with lots of minorities while giving up only one seat that is trivially outvoted.
(I suppose I should make it clear that this comment is completely in jest. I have no idea how many boards remain "traditional".)
Honestly if I would try to mimic that on the mirror, I’ll hurt myself .
Please keep on, despite of the awful thinks you read on the web.