This is an excerpt from the article: Black Event Industry Leaders Call for Action, published by EventMB on June 8, 2020.
The event industry is suffering from inaction and a lack of representation. We spoke to four black leaders and they gave us a plan to change that.
At EventMB, diversity and inclusion in the event industry is a topic that we hold very dear to our hearts. In one way or another, we have added diversity as a top trend in our annual report for the past few years.
Interview by: Julius Solaris
When there is representation, it takes the form of tokenism
Tamela Blalock, Vice President of Cooperative Relations at NCBA CLUSA International, offered this explanation of the concept: "Tokenism is when one person of color is hired and has to represent the entire spectrum - - the 'black experience.' While this one person is expected to be the representative, they're often not listened to. They're just there to check the box so the organization can move on.”
One of the most consistent points we heard from talking to several planners is the lack of a long-term action plan -- a commitment that goes beyond the spur of the moment.
Andrew Roby said that “the general attitude is ‘Okay, let's talk about it right now,’ but then a week later, nothing happens. Someone may hire a black person to be a speaker, but that's not enough. I think that we need a change in organizational structures. We need a commitment from events to incorporate diversity into our practice. Otherwise, we risk ending up in the same vicious cycle of climax-anticlimax.”
This was echoed by Tamela Blalock, who added that “at least the conversation is now more likely to come up in a board meeting without the person of color necessarily having to do the heavy lifting. That has changed. What has not changed is that, despite the increase in rhetoric, there's still very little action. McKinley Advisors did this report where they measured diversity and inclusion in associations. Boards and C-suite leadership would say that diversity and inclusion are very important to them. However, their actions show that there is no movement on it. Not in hiring for recruitment, not in programs that vet or select the vendors.“
The full article is available to read here: Black Event Industry Leaders Call for Action, published by EventMB on June 8, 2020.