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Event Code of Conduct

Sara the Rasa mascot watering a plant

At Rasa, our mission is to empower all makers to create AI assistants that work for everyone. To achieve this, we believe it’s imperative that we grow our community of makers and professionals from all around the world with different backgrounds and levels of experience in conversational AI. To empower you, our community with the means to excel in your projects through the sharing of knowledge, and support you in finding solutions to any obstacles in your path.

In order to achieve these goals, we ask that everyone participates in such a way that promotes an inclusive, respectful and friendly environment.

This Code of Conduct should not only help you understand how to act within the community, but also help you to understand what to expect from others in this space.

Respect and be excellent to each other

The base of every great community is mutual respect and trust. Having strong opinions on topics is completely understandable and acceptable. In fact, we encourage people to be passionate about the project. We welcome sharp, factual feedback and valuable discussions, but not abusive criticism, attacks on people in a derogatory form or discussions with the sole purpose to start arguments. Be kind to each other.

Approach matters constructively

Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Let’s focus on working together to resolve issues, learning from mistakes and finding solutions.

Take responsibility for your words and actions

We all make mistakes. If someone has been harmed or offended, we listen carefully and respectfully, and work to right the wrong.

We do not tolerate harassment of event participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any event, including talks, workshops, parties, Twitter and other online platforms. Event participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the event without a refund at the discretion of the event organisers.

In the case of online and in-person events, harassment includes, but is not limited to:

  • Verbal or written comments that reinforce social structures of domination (related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion)
  • Threats of violence, to harm others or hate speech
  • Impersonation, exposing someone's private information
  • Sustained disruption of talks or other events
  • Sexual images in public spaces or in posted event chat
  • Deliberate intimidation or stalking
  • Harassing photography or recording
  • Inappropriate physical contact
  • Unwelcome sexual attention
  • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour

Enforcement

Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately.

If a community member engages in harassing behaviour, community management and/or event organisers retain the right to take any actions to maintain a welcoming environment for all. This includes, but is not limited to, warning the offender or expulsion from the event with no refund, and/or banning them from future events.

Event organisers may take action to address anything designed to, or with the clear impact of, disrupting the event or making the environment hostile for any participants. We expect participants to follow these rules at all event venues, online events and event-related social activities.

Reporting

If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible.

You can make a personal report by:

  • Emailing us at community@rasa.com
  • During an in-person event, you can also contact a team member, identified by organizer t-shirts

When taking a personal report, our staff will handle it with full discretion. We will fully investigate it and take whatever action is necessary to prevent a recurrence, which may involve other event staff to ensure your report is managed properly. Once safe, we’ll ask you to tell us about what happened. This can be upsetting, but we’ll handle it as respectfully as possible, and you can bring someone to support you. You won’t be asked to confront anyone, and we won’t tell anyone who you are without your prior consent.

Our team is dedicated to ensuring your safety for the duration of the event. We’ll be happy to contact local law enforcement, local support services, or otherwise assist you to feel safe. For in-person events, we can also help you contact hotel/venue security or provide escorts. We value your attendance.

Language

In our commitment to a harassment-free and inclusive environment, we strongly believe it’s important to pay attention to harmful language patterns.

Ableism

Words like “crazy”, “dumb”, “insane” or “lame” are examples of ableist language, devaluating people who have physical or mental disabilities. Its appearance often stems not from any intentional desire to offend, but from our innate sense of what it means to be normal. These words can be avoided by using more fitting, clearer descriptions of what we want to communicate.

To find out more about ableism and replacement terms please read this guide.

Sexism

Using gendered terms like “dude” or “guys” to address a mixed-gendered group of people contributes to furthering exclusion of underrepresented individuals. We strongly advise avoiding gendered pronouns as well as gendered terms.

For more information please familiarise yourself with the Geek Feminism wiki guide.

“Language” Attribution: This text is based on Conference Code of Conduct, The Geek Feminism wiki and the work of Valerie Aurora published under CC-BY 3.0 license.

For matters related to our community forum, please read our Forum Community Code of Conduct