DICE launches student-created advertising campaign to tackle diversity apathy

Diversity and Inclusion at Conferences and Events (DICE) is launching an OOH advertising campaign to challenge the lack of diversity in events.

The work is the brainchild of creative duo Katherine O’Connor and Alicia Hessey, students from the University of Lincoln, who responded to a brief from the DICE team as part of their second year project.

The ‘Your Event Is Broken Without Diversity’ campaign will run in partnership with ISOLATED Talks® (an initiative from creative agency ...Gasp!) and will run across national digital billboards donated by Clear Channel.

The creative itself hinges on the visual of broken screen on each digital billboard, reflecting the idea that any event that only amplifies the voices of certain groups – such as white, middle class men – is essentially silencing every other voice. The lack of representation reflects a broken system, propped up by corporate gaslighting that prefers to discuss change rather than enact it.

O’Connor and Alicia Hessey say that what inspired their idea “was the fact that the Dice team say they don’t want it to exist, but it needs to.”

“Your event being diverse shouldn’t be a choice. Not just about who’s on your panel but the content of the event too. If your event isn’t inclusive it is inadequate. It’s broken.”

Amy Kean is the co-founder of DICE, along with Nicola Kemp, James Whatley and Seb Joseph,she says that male-dominated panels or panels that only feature white speakers (aka “manels” and “wanels”) are “morally incorrect.”

“This is why we launched DICE; to guide people through the curation of an inclusive event. A conference without diversity in its lineup is boring, backwards, and inevitably biassed, and that’s not up for debate. It’s a fact.”

She adds: “Our hope with this campaign is that it will remind event organisers that talking about change is no substitute to making or being the change. We have proof that the Dice charter is a brilliant catalyst for this progress.”

The campaign forms part of a range of activities planned by Dice to drive greater diversity in the events sector. No event that has more than 50% men or more than 70% white people on its line up will ever be certified by DICE.

The team believe now is the time to move from awareness to action and in line with this an illuminating piece of government-funded research is currently underway with the University of Surrey. The four month project aims to reveal the scale of the event's inequality issue as well as use AI technology to understand the bias in terminology used across marketing materials.

"With huge thanks to Clear Channel, we’re delighted to partner with DICE because diverse ideas deserve to be heard. They mustn’t remain isolated. It’s vital that events organisers know that your event is broken without diversity. DICE are leading the charge to make this happen.”
- Sophie Edwards
Co-Founder of ...Gasp!

DICE provides certification and guidance to help conferences and events deliver a representative and diverse set of speakers, perspectives, and attendees.

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