Code of Conduct

The Quick Version

Our community is dedicated to providing an inclusive environment for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices.

We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any venue, including talks, workshops, parties, Slack and other online media. Participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled at the discretion of the community organisers.

If you believe someone is violating the code of conduct, we ask that you report it by emailing [email protected].

All our speakers, attendees, and anyone else taking part in CocoaHeads activities are expected to familiarise themselves with these policies. While these policies are open to discussion and change over time, participation in the CocoaHeads community implies that you are willing to abide by the policies in place at that time.

The Full Version

Respect yourself, and respect others. Be courteous to those around you. If someone indicates they would like to be left alone, let them be. Our event venues and online spaces may be shared with members of the public and employees of the venue; please be considerate to all patrons of these locations.

Here are some behaviours we’d like to see:

be nice! 🙂
welcome newcomers into your circle of discussion.
encourage current and new speakers by listening respectfully and asking relevant questions at the end of talks.
help clean up at the end of an event.
be considerate of others when entering and exiting the venue. There may be people working or neighbours sensitive to noise.

Here are some examples of behaviours which are not appropriate:

offensive verbal or written remarks related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race or religion.
sexual or violent images in public spaces (including presentation slides).
deliberate intimidation.
stalking or following.
unwanted photography or recording.
sustained disruption of talks or other events.
drunk or under the influence of illegal drugs at an event venue.
inappropriate physical contact.
unwelcome sexual attention.
sexist, racist, or other exclusionary jokes.
unwarranted exclusion from the community based on age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion.

Community members asked to stop any inappropriate behavior are expected to comply immediately.

Reporting

Any time that you feel this code of conduct is being broken, or the conduct of speakers or attendees is distressing to you, you should always feel comfortable to report it, knowing that you will be taken seriously, and that it will be appropriately investigated and dealt with. There are a few different avenues for reporting.

Personally, to members of the organising committee by emailing [email protected]
Anonymously, at https://melbournecocoaheads.typeform.com/to/fLjfOi. Anonymous reports will go to all members of the organising committee and Values and Diversity committee.

All complaints made in any of these ways will remain confidential, be taken seriously, investigated, and dealt with appropriately.

Personal reports are always much better since there is only so much investigation that can be done without the ability to speak to the reporting party. When you report personally to any of the above people, please make sure you tell them if there is anyone specifically you do not want them to speak to about the issue. Normally the person you report to will discuss the report with other team members and/or the reporting mentors.

What happens after you file a report?

You will receive an email from the organising committee acknowledging receipt of your report. The committee will meet to review the incident and determine:

What happened.
Whether this event constitutes a code of conduct violation.
Who the bad actor was.
Whether this is an ongoing situation, or if there is a threat to anyone’s physical safety.

If this is determined to be an ongoing incident or a threat to physical safety, the committee’s immediate priority will be to protect everyone involved. This means we may delay an “official” response until we believe that the situation has ended and that everyone is physically safe. Once the committee has a complete account of the events they will make a decision as to how to response. Responses may include:

Nothing (if we determine no violation occurred).
A private reprimand from the committee to the individual(s) involved.
A public reprimand.
An imposed vacation (i.e. asking someone to “take a week off” from events or Slack).
A permanent or temporary ban from some or all Melbourne Cocoaheads spaces (events, Slack, etc.)
A request for a public or private apology.

Unless they’re anonymous, we’ll respond to the person who filed the report with either a resolution or an explanation of why the situation is not yet resolved.

Once we’ve determined our final action, we’ll contact the original reporter (if we can) to let them know what action (if any) we’ll be taking. We’ll take into account feedback from the reporter on the appropriateness of our response, but we don’t guarantee we’ll act on it.

Speakers

Presentation material should be appropriate for people of all ages. Any public presentation which is part of any event, including but not limited to presentations, lightning talks, recruiter/job position or other promotions, mailing list posts and forums, is subject to this code of conduct and thus may not contain:

sexual or violent imagery.
exclusionary language.
insults or personal attacks.

Presenters are asked to avoid language which is not appropriate for an all-ages audience as much as possible. If the subject matter of the presentation cannot be presented adequately without including language that could be considered offensive, this should be pointed out in advance, at the beginning of the talk and in the schedule. If presenters are unsure whether their material is suitable, they are encouraged to show it to an organiser before their session.