2023 Digital Conference
Dramaturgical Landscapes

Conference Guidelines

LMDA’s Values Statement

LMDA promotes the creation of stories that reflect a broad spectrum of authentic
experiences in our diverse
global community. We uphold equity, diversity, and inclusion as our foundational
values, and we recognize
and examine the intersectionality of our society. We are committed to provoking,
addressing, and advocating
for issues of justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and land/territory. Our
membership is dedicated to
fostering an environment of respect, celebrating difference, and seeing the
principles above reflected in
all aspects of our organization.

Conversation Practices

Below are recommendations for applying LMDA’s Values to our virtual conversations
during this conference,
and beyond. We welcome your further suggestions. These practices are adapted from NNPN’s Community Agreements, Claudia Alick
CALLING UP and the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture
Working Group. 

General Conversation Best Practices:

• Speak from your own experience (use “I” statements).
• Allow yourself and others the freedom to speak in rough draft.
• Assume positive intent in others’ statements and acknowledge the impact of
  your statements on others.
  Throw sunshine, not shade.
• It’s okay to disagree – seek the value in others’ truths and
  perspectives.
• Listen to understand, not for your turn to speak. 
• Employ W.A.I.T. – Why Am I Talking? / Why Aren’t I Talking? Ask
  yourself: is this going to move
  the conversation forward? 
• Silence can be productive. In order to create space for all voices, sometimes we
  must allow the space to
  grow in silence. 
• When we engage with complex topics, we likely won’t reach closure, and
  that’s fine.
• No one knows everything – together we know a lot.
• It’s our shared responsibility to create a space that invites listening,
  thought, and discussion. Take
  care of yourself, each other, and the space. Let us know what we can do to support
  you.

Additional Videoconference Practices:

• Mute by default (to avoid alerts and dings), unmute yourself when you have something
  positive to contribute
  or question. 
• Be as present as possible and support others in doing the same. Faces are important
  – use your video
  when you have the capacity.
• Be human – take care of your needs! Stretch, eat, drink, use the restroom,
  rest. Do not apologize for
  the children, partner, parent, pet, with whom you are sharing space. Check in with
  yourself before each
  session and make sure you have the capacity to attend. If you discover you
  don’t, that is okay. 

Live Chat Guidelines

We encourage comments and conversation during all sessions. Feel free to use the WebEx
chat like Twitter: pulling
resonant quotes, sharing links/resources, asking questions, etc. However, our moderators
reserve the right to
remove any harmful or otherwise inappropriate posts, for example:

• spam from a human or a robot 
• personal attacks on another user 
• doxxing (i.e., revealing someone else’s personal information)
• illegal activities (links to illegal downloads, ways to steal
  service, etc.)
• pornography
• racism, sexism, and other discrimination
• trolling (i.e., posting of inflammatory, digressive, or off-topic
  messages with the intent
  of disruption)
• commenting on someone’s physical appearance, voice, or style
  (including comments
  intended as complimentary)

Note that this is not a comprehensive list. Above all, our team of moderators will work
to keep conversation here
friendly, engaging, helpful, and productive. If a comment or forum post is harming that
endeavor, we’ll
take action, and repeat offenders may be banned from the conference. If you experience
harassment in any form
during the conference, please email anti-harassment@lmda.org.