The proof of the pudding

And yeah, there are lots of axes of ‘balanced representation’. Thinking you can have a perfect solution is probably almost as misguided as thinking it doesn’t matter.

Scout, and Nurture, do. They give the people that the audience didn’t know, who do challenge them. If for no other reason than bringing a fresh perspective. There are lots of speakers I know who are famous because they are good at it. But I have heard what they have to say, and they will underwhelm me when I hear them the third time if it is really a riff on the same story.

For the reason, people who are not brilliant speakers, but have something new and interesting to say, make an important *part* of the puzzle. (Since the audience is different people too, this is a puzzle, not a single choice repeated in 18 talk slots).

But your “hypothetical” of a racist homophobe is interesting. Since I am pretty solidly against the ideas of racists and homophobes (and people who think there is no sexism problem in our industry, and various other ideas too), I find their views challenging. As the organiser of a conference, the “editor” as you so nicely put it, I don’t want those ideas to be the tone reflected by my event even if they are incidental to the main thrust. At the same time, the challenge of including someone who promotes ideas that set me on edge because they can inspire me in different areas is one that I find interesting.

I don’t believe that racists or creationists (sorry folks, I don’t believe in that either) “deserve equal time”. If I find a speaker like that, I want to gently challenge them on our incidental points of disagreement while getting value from the knowledge they can bring which is central to “The Endeavour”. Not stand up and argue with them, but find a way to ensure that my editorial values are clearly reflected through the whole of the event, while allowing a plurality of views to be presented. If I can do that, I think I’ve made some progress towards building an interesting event — because it is about informing the audience, but more importantly about people leaving the conference with their brains in high gear.