1. Anti-Harassment Policy
Every conference or event should have a well written anti-harassment policy which outlines types of conduct that is inappropriate and will result in an attendee being asked to leave and probably not result in an invitation in the future. O’Reilly Media has one here which can be used as a framework.
2. Good Bathroom Balance
I’ve heard from women friends that sometimes it was difficult to find a restroom because some were reassigned or even closed forcing women to have to walk long distance to a bathroom. Additionally, making sure accessible restrooms are available is a must. The Geek Feminism Wiki discusses the topic here.
3. Dietary Restrictions
I recently learned that some people consider vegetarian food to mean different things. I was running a conference with a couple thousand people and although we checked about dietary restrictions in advance we learned that some folks from India considered mushrooms not to be vegetarian because the texture was close to meat. This was new to me, but we we able to accommodate by having different steamed vegetables and rice made for them for the rest of the event.
4. Be ready to help
Recently, at a conference we had two gentlemen who were blind and although the hotel was supposed to provide a guide, the person was late. So instead of inconveniencing the guest, I had to be ready to take them to their room and help them around by showing them were the restroom, phone and light switches were. The bottom line is: be sure that every attendee gets a great experience to the best of your ability even if you have to go above and beyond.
