Code Of Conduct
PyCon Balkan is an annual event that is held in various countries in the Balkan region since 2018.
We value the participation of each member and we want all attendees to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Accordingly, all attendees are expected to show respect and courtesy to other attendees throughout the event
To make clear what is expected, all staff, attendees, mentors, organizers, and volunteers at any Python Belgrade event are required to conform to the following Code of Conduct. Organizers will enforce this code throughout the event.
Everybody who participates in PyCon Balkan in one way or another is required to conform to this Code of Conduct (CoC). This includes attendees, speakers, sponsors, organisers and volunteers.
The organisers will introduce a Code of Conduct team that will be primarily responsible for handling any incidents. The CoC applies before and throughout the event (including related activities such as social events, and social media). We have also published our response guidelines.
Our Standards
PyCON Balkan is dedicated to providing a positive event experience for everyone, regardless of age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion (or lack thereof), education, or socio-economic status.
Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive environment include:
•Being kind to others
•Behaving professionally
•Using welcoming and inclusive language
•Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
•Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
•Focusing on what is best for the community
•Showing empathy towards other community members
Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:
•Harassment of event participants in any form
•Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
•Violent threats or language directed against another person
•Sexual language and imagery in any event venue, including talks
•Insults or put downs
•Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or exclusionary jokes
•Excessive swearing
•Unwelcome sexual attention or advances
•Unwelcome physical contact
•Sustained disruption of talks or other events
•Other conduct that is inappropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds
Why do we have a Code of Conduct?
Our goals with having this Code of Conduct are:
• Helping everyone feel safe and included. Many attendees are first timers, or have had poor experiences in other events. We want to set the expectation that harassment and other unpleasant behaviour are not acceptable. So that if people do have an unpleasant experience, they know that’s not neither the norm nor acceptable to us as a community.
• Helping to build trust that if an incident is reported, we will not respond with victim blaming, and that we will do a thorough investigation. Even, for example, if the incident concerns someone in a position of power.
• Informing everyone of the expected behaviour. We are a diverse community, and having a Code of Conduct makes the expectations of everybody’s behaviour explicit and transparent.
• Having a framework for report handling. The Code of Conduct is the basis for dealing with a report, assessing whether the CoC was violated, and what action should be taken.
Our Code of Conduct
• Be kind and considerate to others. Do not insult or put down other attendees. Behave professionally.
• We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, colour, immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, size, family status, political belief, religion, and mental and physical ability.
• We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. This includes offensive comments related to the categories above, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, violent threats or language, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention. Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour is also not acceptable.
• Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate for any venue to which the CoC applies.
• Don’t publish individual photographs of people without their consent. • Be careful in the words that you choose. Remember that sexist, racist, and other exclusionary jokes can be offensive and unwelcoming to those around you. Excessive swearing and offensive jokes are not appropriate for PyCon Balkan.
Participants asked to stop any inappropriate behavior are expected to comply immediately.
If a participant engages in behavior that violates this code of conduct, the event organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the event with no refund.
Thank you for helping make this a welcoming, friendly event for all.
Where does the Code of Conduct apply?
This Code of Conduct applies to all conference related spaces. That includes, but is not limited to:
• The conference venue(s)
• The conference hotel(s)
• Any conference related social activities
• Discord & Slack channels, tweets with the conference hashtag, and other online media
The Code of Conduct does not exclusively apply to events on the conference agenda. For example, if after a scheduled social event you go to a bar with a group of fellow participants, and someone harasses you there, we would still treat that as a CoC violation.
Scope
All PyCON Balkan attendees are subject to the Code of Conduct. This includes staff and volunteers, mentors, sponsors, and sponsor representatives.
What can happen if the CoC is violated?
In case of a Code of Conduct violation, some of the most common actions organisers may take are:
• Demanding that a participant stops their behaviour.
• Demanding that a participant prevents further contact with certain other participants.
• Not publishing the video of a conference talk.
• Cancelling a conference talk.
• Removing a participant from the conference, without refund.
The action taken is at the discretion of the Code of Conduct team. Participants are expected to comply immediately, and further action may be taken in case a participant does not comply. A record will be kept of all incidents.
Contact Information
If you believe that someone is violating the code of conduct during the event, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the event staff immediately either in person, or by sending an email to conduct@pyconbalkan.com In urgent cases, you can also phone us on +381 62 85 65 619.
Our Code of Conduct team to be announced.
The team members will be introduced in person at the conference. You can approach any of them at any time to discuss an incident or concern. You can also ask any other staff to help you find them at the conference.
• Incident Report
• to be announced.
In case of a conflict of interest, you can individually contact:
•to be announced.
•to be announced.
Guidelines for reporting incidents
Please do not feel like you may be a burden to us by reporting incidents. Even if you happen to report multiple incidents during the conference. We rather consider reports an opportunity for us to act: by knowing about an incident, we can act on it, and often prevent it from continuing or repeating. But if we don’t know, we can’t take action.
If you are not sure whether the situation was a Code of Conduct violation, or whether it applied to that particular space, we encourage you to still report it. We would much rather have a few extra reports where we decide to take no action, rather than miss a report of an actual violation. We do not look negatively on you if we find the incident is not a violation. And knowing about incidents that are not violations, or happen outside our spaces, can also help us to improve the Code of Conduct or the processes surrounding it.
In your report please include, when possible:
• Your contact info (so we can get in touch with you)
• Names (real, nicknames, or pseudonyms) of any individuals involved. If there were other witnesses besides you, please try to include them as well.
• When and where the incident occurred. Please be as specific as possible.
• Your account of what occurred. If there is a written record (e.g. tweets or Discord channels) please include screenshots, or otherwise a link.
• Any extra context you believe existed for the incident.
• If you believe this incident is ongoing.
• Any other information you believe we should have. If you don’t have some of this information, or not at this time, please still make the report anyways.
If you feel unsafe reporting in person, you may choose someone to represent you. In this case, we’d need their contact information, but we’d ask you to make clear that this person represents you.
When handling a report, we follow specific guidelines .
Emergencies If you’re currently afraid of your physical safety or are in danger, contact local law enforcement in Serbia:
• Emergency (Fire, Medical, Police): 193, 194, 192
Other assistance
Conference staff will be happy to help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. However, we will not contact security or law enforcement without your consent, except when not doing so would create significant danger for other participants.
We value your attendance at PyConBalkan 2019
License
This Code of Conduct has been adapted from the PyCon Code of Conduct, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, and has been updated by PyCON Balkan team.
The organisers will introduce a Code of Conduct team that will be primarily responsible for handling any incidents. The CoC applies before and throughout the event (including related activities such as social events, and social media). We have also published our response guidelines.
Our Standards
PyCON Balkan is dedicated to providing a positive event experience for everyone, regardless of age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion (or lack thereof), education, or socio-economic status.
Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive environment include:
•Being kind to others
•Behaving professionally
•Using welcoming and inclusive language
•Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
•Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
•Focusing on what is best for the community
•Showing empathy towards other community members
Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:
•Harassment of event participants in any form
•Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
•Violent threats or language directed against another person
•Sexual language and imagery in any event venue, including talks
•Insults or put downs
•Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or exclusionary jokes
•Excessive swearing
•Unwelcome sexual attention or advances
•Unwelcome physical contact
•Sustained disruption of talks or other events
•Other conduct that is inappropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds
Why do we have a Code of Conduct?
Our goals with having this Code of Conduct are:
• Helping everyone feel safe and included. Many attendees are first timers, or have had poor experiences in other events. We want to set the expectation that harassment and other unpleasant behaviour are not acceptable. So that if people do have an unpleasant experience, they know that’s not neither the norm nor acceptable to us as a community.
• Helping to build trust that if an incident is reported, we will not respond with victim blaming, and that we will do a thorough investigation. Even, for example, if the incident concerns someone in a position of power.
• Informing everyone of the expected behaviour. We are a diverse community, and having a Code of Conduct makes the expectations of everybody’s behaviour explicit and transparent.
• Having a framework for report handling. The Code of Conduct is the basis for dealing with a report, assessing whether the CoC was violated, and what action should be taken.
Our Code of Conduct
• Be kind and considerate to others. Do not insult or put down other attendees. Behave professionally.
• We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, colour, immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, size, family status, political belief, religion, and mental and physical ability.
• We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. This includes offensive comments related to the categories above, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, violent threats or language, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention. Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour is also not acceptable.
• Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate for any venue to which the CoC applies.
• Don’t publish individual photographs of people without their consent. • Be careful in the words that you choose. Remember that sexist, racist, and other exclusionary jokes can be offensive and unwelcoming to those around you. Excessive swearing and offensive jokes are not appropriate for PyCon Balkan.
Participants asked to stop any inappropriate behavior are expected to comply immediately.
If a participant engages in behavior that violates this code of conduct, the event organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the event with no refund.
Thank you for helping make this a welcoming, friendly event for all.
Where does the Code of Conduct apply?
This Code of Conduct applies to all conference related spaces. That includes, but is not limited to:
• The conference venue(s)
• The conference hotel(s)
• Any conference related social activities
• Discord & Slack channels, tweets with the conference hashtag, and other online media
The Code of Conduct does not exclusively apply to events on the conference agenda. For example, if after a scheduled social event you go to a bar with a group of fellow participants, and someone harasses you there, we would still treat that as a CoC violation.
Scope
All PyCON Balkan attendees are subject to the Code of Conduct. This includes staff and volunteers, mentors, sponsors, and sponsor representatives.
What can happen if the CoC is violated?
In case of a Code of Conduct violation, some of the most common actions organisers may take are:
• Demanding that a participant stops their behaviour.
• Demanding that a participant prevents further contact with certain other participants.
• Not publishing the video of a conference talk.
• Cancelling a conference talk.
• Removing a participant from the conference, without refund.
The action taken is at the discretion of the Code of Conduct team. Participants are expected to comply immediately, and further action may be taken in case a participant does not comply. A record will be kept of all incidents.
Contact Information
If you believe that someone is violating the code of conduct during the event, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the event staff immediately either in person, or by sending an email to conduct@pyconbalkan.com In urgent cases, you can also phone us on +381 62 85 65 619.
Our Code of Conduct team to be announced.
The team members will be introduced in person at the conference. You can approach any of them at any time to discuss an incident or concern. You can also ask any other staff to help you find them at the conference.
• Incident Report
• to be announced.
In case of a conflict of interest, you can individually contact:
•to be announced.
•to be announced.
Guidelines for reporting incidents
Please do not feel like you may be a burden to us by reporting incidents. Even if you happen to report multiple incidents during the conference. We rather consider reports an opportunity for us to act: by knowing about an incident, we can act on it, and often prevent it from continuing or repeating. But if we don’t know, we can’t take action.
If you are not sure whether the situation was a Code of Conduct violation, or whether it applied to that particular space, we encourage you to still report it. We would much rather have a few extra reports where we decide to take no action, rather than miss a report of an actual violation. We do not look negatively on you if we find the incident is not a violation. And knowing about incidents that are not violations, or happen outside our spaces, can also help us to improve the Code of Conduct or the processes surrounding it.
In your report please include, when possible:
• Your contact info (so we can get in touch with you)
• Names (real, nicknames, or pseudonyms) of any individuals involved. If there were other witnesses besides you, please try to include them as well.
• When and where the incident occurred. Please be as specific as possible.
• Your account of what occurred. If there is a written record (e.g. tweets or Discord channels) please include screenshots, or otherwise a link.
• Any extra context you believe existed for the incident.
• If you believe this incident is ongoing.
• Any other information you believe we should have. If you don’t have some of this information, or not at this time, please still make the report anyways.
If you feel unsafe reporting in person, you may choose someone to represent you. In this case, we’d need their contact information, but we’d ask you to make clear that this person represents you.
When handling a report, we follow specific guidelines .
Emergencies If you’re currently afraid of your physical safety or are in danger, contact local law enforcement in Serbia:
• Emergency (Fire, Medical, Police): 193, 194, 192
Other assistance
Conference staff will be happy to help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. However, we will not contact security or law enforcement without your consent, except when not doing so would create significant danger for other participants.
We value your attendance at PyConBalkan 2019
License
This Code of Conduct has been adapted from the PyCon Code of Conduct, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, and has been updated by PyCON Balkan team.