Lian Li

Lian always wanted to save the world

After a failed attempt at becoming a lawyer, she decided to do something with computers instead. Working as a Fullstack Software Engineer, she got into attending tech events and giving talks on Machine Learning. During this time, she fell in love with the tech community and discovered her passion for building community and providing a safe and productive environment for all, which led to her co-organising the community conference ServerlessDays Amsterdam.

Currently, Lian lives in Amsterdam and works as Developer Advocate at Loft Labs, helping to make developing on Kubernetes easy and fun.

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Sessions

10-23
14:20
30min
Actions speak louder than words: Building better communities
Lian Li

We've all seen it: Conferences fail to provide a diverse line-up, get called out publicly and speakers bail in fear of backlash. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. More often than not, they reveal a failure of leaders to create a diverse and inclusive community in the first place.
It’s not enough to have the right boxes checked. Marginalised folks need to also feel safe to share their experiences.

A clear set of values, Codes of Conduct, and programs aimed at underrepresented folks, are all tools that can help. Ultimately, however, a community is made up of people, and it is on us to reflect on our behaviour, resist the urge to go for the option that makes us comfortable and do better.

In this talk, I want to discuss how we can take action beyond calling people out on Twitter to build something that will truly benefit everyone.

Main Room