Training modules/Keeping events safe/Second draft

Purpose of this module

The Wikimedia Movement has had in-person events as part of its core from early on, from the first 2003 Munich Meetup to the first Wikimania. Meeting your colleagues and others interested in working with you can be fun, rewarding, and important; doing work face-to-face can not only be more efficient, but also help everyone involved connect better to those working alongside them and to the goals they share.

Real-life meetups and conferences can be very productive ways to bring contributors together; however, they can also provide opportunities for conflict, unwanted contact, privacy violations, or other forms of harassment. This module is intended to help prepare event organizers to handle challenges around allegations of harassment and abusive behavior at events they host, organize, or attend. This module can also be useful for event participants as it contains basic advice on how to prepare, avoid or deal with harassment, should they experience it during in-person events.

Being prepared means having a course of action for incidents, designated people to receive reports, a working relationship with the venue where the event is being hosted, and a good knowledge of applicable policies. It is also important to have ways to avoid conflicts and defuse problem situations before they spiral into serious incidents. This training module will help prepare contributors like you to host successful events by introducing you to best practices for preventing and handling problematic situations at your events.

This module promotes full adherence to several behavioral standards and policies, such as the Friendly Space policies, the Code of Conduct and the Event ban policy.

Basics: What do we mean by safety?

When we talk about safety for event participants, it is important to remember that this safety is both psychological and physical. While it is hopefully obvious that we want to ensure that users are physically safe at an event – whether that's from physical hazards or other attendees – it is equally important to ensure that the environment allows people to feel supported enough to participate and engage fully. When attendees feel harassed, insulted or abused, the effects can be serious. Not only could you lose them as event attendees, you may lose them entirely as contributors to the Wikimedia projects based on one of these incidents.

Basics: Who is involved in keeping an event safe?

It is important to remember that everybody is in position to contribute to the personal as well as collective safety of event attendees; this is not a responsibility that falls exclusively on a single person or team. Everybody can take steps to help ensure their own and others' actual or perceived safety during in-person events.

• The event organizing team (EOT) will often run a risk assessment and review potential safety-related scenarios during the planning stages of the event. They will then ensure that there are appropriate protocols in place that can be implemented should a situation warrant it. Members of the EOT should be easily identifiable by anyone attending an event, and there should be a well-publicized way to contact them in case a safety threat is identified.
• The hosting/paying organizing team (PEOT) will also take responsibility for considering the safety of an event. As they will represent the entity funding (but not necessarily organising and running) the event, they may not be involved in general operations as much as the EOT may be. They should, however, be involved at least on a meta level like, for example, ensuring there are policies in place to help frame expectations during the event.
• Venue staff and security have a general responsibility for the safety of people using their space. They will often be involved in the event's organisation and work closely with the EOT to ensure that all reasonable measures are taken to help assure participant's safety while on their premises.
• Event attendees can also take proactive steps that can help safeguard their own safety, as well as the safety of others.

Situations you might encounter

Even though all efforts should be made to ensure that events are safe spaces for contributors to meet, congregate, and collaborate, there may be instances where you may experience or observe situations that may make you or others feel uncomfortable, in a minor or major way. All of these violations can and should be addressed whether they occur against you or whether you observe them occurring against another person. This list is not meant to be exclusive – rare or unusual cases can always come up.

• Unclear safe spaces violations consist of commentary and/or actions that are not inappropriate or abusive, unless considered within a specific, existing context. They may also be things that, while unnoticed by some, can be quite alienating for others.
• Minor to moderate safe spaces violations usually consist of inappropriate comments, on-wiki arguments becoming a hostile or heated in-person debate, or inappropriate content that may be displayed in a presentation. These violations, especially, may not always be intentionally designed to upset others, but should nevertheless be addressed if they occur.
• Major safe spaces violations are situations where someone experiences a great deal of stress or feels threatened because of abusive conduct such as targeted harassment, explicit verbal personal attacks, implicit physical or sexual threats, or repeated unwanted actions after an explicit request to stop.
• Locally or globally banned users are not permitted to attend events. If you become aware of one being present at an event, keep in mind that the presence alone of a locally or globally banned user is considered to be a friendly space violation and should be reported to the EOT. Even if you don't feel immediately threatened by the individual, it's very possible that there are concerns outside of your knowledge and/or other attendees who could feel significant concern.
• Critical safety violations such as physical or sexual assault and abuse are extremely rare; however, when such incidents are observed or reported, they must be taken extremely seriously.
• Medical emergencies may also be encountered. Even though a medical emergency may not necessarily be the result of altercations with another person while at the event, it also needs to be treated as a matter of priority by the EOT.

Bear in mind that you, as the event organizer or as a volunteer, are also entitled to feel safe at an event. Incidents involving you should be treated just as seriously. Having a backup investigator to help in such a case is important. We'll talk more about this later in the training.

Before the event

All parties involved in an event can take proactive actions in preparation for handling a harassment issue that may arise: from staff and volunteers working together to ensure all necessary and proactive preparations are made, to participants planning to/and eventually attending the event. Some ideas on proactive actions are inspired by the actions listed under the procedures prescribed under the Event ban policy, and are listed below.

Before the event: Event Organization Team (EOT)

• Designate responsible parties who will handle an issue, should it arise. Who is the designated first responder? Who accepts reports? Who adjudicates them? Who handles the in-person situations like escorting someone out? Is there sufficient number of team members, able to address a wide range of issues, before and after escalation into serious problems? This is one of the key tasks in preparation for an event and advance preparation can make a big difference to the way a situation is handled on the ground, in real time.
  • Set up an emergency Response Team (RT) that will be responsible for handling safety incidents and concerns. This can be done by the EOT in advance of the event. If the event is large, ideally the RT members should be tasked solely with RT-related responsibilities. If the event is small, the RT members may have to wear other hats too.
  • Ensure the RT is staffed sufficiently. In the unlikely event of a incident report involving an RT member, having enough members on the RT helps avoid conflicts of interest.
  • If possible, assign the RT in groups of at least two team members: one person that may handle the incident and one person that will assume the key responsibilities of the main handler towards the event and the attendees.
  • Ensure RT diversity. In small scale events, where there's too few RT member to form teams, the RT should consist of at least two separate individuals from different backgrounds (whether cultural, ethnic or simply different schools of thought). This will help ensure there are sufficiently diverse report-takers, so that if a concerned party feels uncomfortable contacting one with their concern, they can contact the other.
  • Ensure the RT is diverse. While, ideally, there should be teams of at least two people
  • Assign tasks/responsibilities to designated parties. Whether in the form of an RT or not, each person should know what they are supposed to do if an issue arises.
  • Establish a chain of command. Ensure everyone is clear on what to do, under what circumstances and who they should notify.
  • Decide on an escalation protocol. Consider an expedited/rapid reporting method for outreach to more members of the EOT or venue security. Consider mobiles phones with hands-free headsets in terms of hardware. Consider use of code words for when communication has be performed in public areas, to ensure privacy is respected and panic among participants is avoided.
• Advertise RT to the rest of the EOT. If the EOT is large enough to assign an RT, it is important that the rest of the EOT know who they are. Awareness of the reporting structure is essential in successful handling of issues.
• Make RT or EOT members easy to recognise. This can make handling of an issue faster and save affected individuals from added frustration. Options for this include different coloured t-shirts (than other attendees), special badges indicating team assignment, different prints on a unified colour t-shirt, or different hats. If different colour coding is used, ensure that colors are friendly to visually impaired participants.
• Get adequate training. Being ready to react quickly and appropriately is crucial to the handling an issue while on the ground. The EOT should ensure that the designated RT members receive sufficient training in advance of the event so that they are better prepared and nerves do not take over. It may be a good idea to hold a refresher session on the day, with brief reminders of processes and key information. Though focused on online interactions, the [LINK Training Module for handling online harassment] has good materials on working with harassment victims and handling reports that apply to in-person issues as well.
• Assess venue security needs. Prior to booking the venue:
  • If the event and therefore the venue is not large enough to already have designated security, it may be worth for the EOT to perform a risk assessment to determine if additional security service should be considered and outsourced for the duration of the event.
  • If the venue already offers security, discuss security issues with the event coordinator on the venue's side to ensure that the space and policies match the needs of the event. Involving them in the early planning stages, before and after the venue booking, allows for proactive reviewing of escape routes, creating fallback plans, etc. which can in turn greatly assist at later stage and during the event, if an attendee needs to be escorted out, etc.
• Prepare important information so it is readily available during the event. This can be a variety of information such as details on the venue's security, escape routes, police contacts, hotlines, etc. This can help the RT deal with an issue faster than it would be if this type of information is not readily available.
• Plan event/room use layout (for instance, a quiet room, washroom allocation/assignment to ensure gender inclusion, etc). Make sure there a safe space with reasonable sound insulation/barriers from the rest of the event space, that can be used for the harassment victim to regain composure, calm down, and feel comfortable sharing important details of the incident they experienced.
• Review sign up list. Sometimes participants not permitted to attend an event may be detected as early as the registration phase. Keeping an eye on the registration list can lead to early action where needed, and avoid headaches at later stage. More details can be found under the Event ban policy and relevant processes.
• Request agreement to behavior standards and policies (Friendly Space policies, Code of Conduct and/or equivalent policies in local projects) during registration process. This can act as a reminder of the standards participants are expected to adhere to.
  • It may also be helpful that printed safety material that includes a copy of the Friendly Space policies applicable to the event is prepared. This can be handed out to the attendees as they receive their event information pack, event ID, etc.
• Notify in writing and with at least two people CC'd, any prospective attendee who is refused registration and participation to the event.

All the above can be considered for larger scale events. If you are holding a smaller event, some of the above steps may not be applicable or may not be possible. Make a reasonable effort to have practical processes and protocols in place should a harassment incident occur; you can only do what you have capacity for.

What would you do?: Repeat offenders

You are reviewing the event registration list, as part of your EOT responsibilities, and you notice a username that rings a bell. After some thought and research you realise that not long ago there was a case about this contributor posted on the en.WP AN/I with details of a particular incident they appear to have been involved in.

If you were in this situation... what would you do?

Before the event: Participants

• Keep an open mind. Do some research on the culture you are about to enter and consider cultural differences. Something that is considered normal in your city/country may not be standard practice in the city/country where the event is held. Since you are the guest, a level of respect should be shown towards the local culture, even if you don’t personally agree with it. Preparation for dealing with harassment does not exclude preparation of how to avoid (unintentionally) becoming the harasser yourself.
• Read the behavioral guidelines applicable to the event you are attending. Those may sometimes vary from one event to another, and from one culture to another. It’s of great benefit to be aware what standards are expected of you before you enter the event.
• Be ready to report an issue. In some cultures, reporting harassment or abuse issues is not always received well, deterring victims from reporting in the future. There is zero tolerance of abuse on Wikimedia events, and you don’t have to put with abusive behavior towards you. There is no shame in reporting witnessing or being subjected to harassment and your report will be handled confidentially to the extent possible.
• Be an ally. Be willing to speak up and stand up when you see something happening that may not necessarily require reporting but is testing boundaries of what is appropriate.
• Identify the EOT/TR members, so you can easily spot them if you need to report a safety issue or concern to them.

During the event: Who may report?

Even though harassment is defined as a certain type of activity, the extent to which the person on the receiving end is affected may vary from one individual to another. Some people may not be affected by somebody harassing them and may not consider it a big deal or worth reporting. At the same time, some types of harassment are less evident to the naked eye, and only one who has sustained long-term harassment is able to identify it as part of a behavioral pattern that is not ok, while a bystander unaware of the context may brush it off.

The Wikimedia community's general approach to coming across and rectifying abuse or vandalism is that of "if you see it, fix it if you can – don't wait for somebody else to do it". When it comes to harassment, however, collective responsibility in reporting and/or dealing with can be tricky. It is very important that the person immediately affected by one's harassing behavior is the person reporting the issue (a direct report). That's because they are in position to provide crucial information first-hand, the possibility of misunderstanding relayed conversations is minimised and confidentiality can be achieved.

Βy-stander reports are also encouraged as they can serve the two extremes of the harassment spectrum. For example, in extreme situations where violence is inflicted and the person affected is physically unable to report the issue at the time it's happening or, shortly after it has happened, only a third party / by-stander who witnessed the incident could make a report. On the opposite side of the harassment spectrum, bystander reports can also help in de-escalating a relatively minor situation and prevent it from becoming an issue. It should be understood though that soon as the report is made, a by-stander is not likely to be kept informed of the progress and specifics of that report, as the affected party's right privacy should be respected.

During the event: Ways to accept reports

Reports can be accepted verbally and in writing.

A report should ideally be placed in writing once the reporter is in a safe place and in position to compile one, so that there is an immediate official record of it, that can be referred to, followed up on and reviewed at later date.

However, a typed/written report may not be possible or practical to bring immediate resolution of an imminent situation where immediate action is required. This is especially true for the more extreme incidents where outright Terms of Use or other applicable policy breaches occur, such as direct and explicit threats of harm, actual physical violence, etc. In such situations an verbal/in-person report not only acceptable but highly encouraged. It is also possible that participants affected by or witnessing harassment do not feel comfortable compiling a written report to voice their concerns due to a number of other factors (language proficiency, cultural norms, etc.). They may instead raise their concerns verbally.

Lack of a written report should not be reason to turn a concerned participant away. A report of harassment should be taken seriously, regardless of the medium used to communicate it.

A verbal report can be submitted by reaching out to an RT member, on the ground. While RT members should be easy for participants to visaully identify, one may not be present at the time an incident is taking place. In that case the reporter can alert any EOT member on sight, who should also be easily to spot. The EOT member can then find an available RT member to take over, handle and/or escalate as seen fit, etc. While the responsibility of handling a report primarily falls on the RT, an EOT member should be prepared to accept an urgent report where time is of the essence and an RT member is not immediately available, in order to provide some level of immediate relief to the reporter. They can then involve the RT as soon as it's possible, according to internal communication and escalation protocols.

In cases of verbal reports, a written record should be made by the RT as soon as the issue has concluded, ensuring that their account of the report is accurate by having the reporter review and sign the outreach part of it.

During the event: Dealing with the incident reporters in general

Determining whether a report is valid or not can be a tricky task as it may not always be evident right away that the harassment report is valid. This may become clear later on, as more details are made available, unless the report handler is aware of extenuating circumstances that allow them to make that judgement call instantaneously.

• Be fair and objective. It is important that all incoming reports are treated fairly, with equal amount of objectivity, respect, politeness, kindness and understanding.
• Don't handle a report alone. You will ideally be set in teams of two so that you can support each other in this process.
• Make yourself available. Dismissing people who approach you with a report of possible harassment can be devastating to them. Making the time to sit down with them right away helps establish initial rapport and allows some of their stress to be aleviated.
• Find a private or quiet space where the reporter can feel comfortable and safe enough to share details; this can help you gather all important information on the incident before you can determine validity or next steps. This applies even for public reports as it can help calm the parties involved.
• Give the reporter an option as to who they want to report to. Establish they feel comfortable speaking to you. If they don't, give them the option to speak to another RT member. This is especally helpfull to the reporter in situations involving a great deal of stress.
• Be present. Ensure that you are not only physically present but also mentally. This helps establish communication, sharing, understanding and then helping.
• Listen. Really, listen. Avoid arguments, value what the reporter has to say. Allow them time to say it.
• Understand. Once the reporter has expressed a full thought or emotion, let them know you understand it. You can rephrase what the reporter has told you, in your own words, allowing them the opportunity to affirm whether your understanding of the issue reported is accurate or needs clarification or modifications.
• Show empathy. Try to identify how the reporter feels. This can lead to better understanding, which helps establish trust, which can in turn lead to setting yourself and the reporter up for better handling the reported problem.

During the event: Dealing with incident reporters with valid reports

Reporting a legitimate harassment incident may require for the reporter to muster a lot of courage. It is important to remember that the person coming to you is likely experiencing an array of negative feelings (they may feel hurt, embarrassed, upset, threatened, unsafe, discriminated against, angry, etc). On top of the advice listed under the previous section:

• Take notes. You are not expected to remember every detail of an incident you have not necessarily witnessed. You’ll be surprised how helpful notes can be for review, especially if other EOT members are involved in the process of handling a situation. You don’t need to take notes the very moment the reporter has approached you (as you may need to take immediate actions once you are aware of the details), but making a record of the report while memory is still fresh is important. It also helps reassure the reporter that their report is taken seriously.
• Stay calm, think rationally. Being overtaken by emotions is okay for the reporter but not very helpful for the person expected to deal with the issue.
• Be ready to react. In some cases team’s timely intervention may be necessary. It may be that you have request further support or inform venue security of a situation that calls for their action.
• In a medical situation, ensure the victim(s) receives medical care. If the report comes from the person immediately affected, you may need to make sure they receive appropriate medical attention, if they’ve been physically hurt, and may need to accompany them to the nearest hospital.
• Help the victim consider actions. Depending on the severity of the incident, it may be appropriate to help or encourage the victim think about their immediate and long term options that may help them recover (for example, the immediate collection of medical evidence in the case of a rape, can make future reporting or other actions possible).

During the event: Dealing with incident reporters with invalid or malicious reports

Not always is a report valid. Sometimes people enjoy attention or may be reporting non-issues. Other times, reports may be intended to intimidate another attendee. Here are some tips that may help you recognize invalid reports:

• Stay informed. You are not expected to know the background behind every interaction between participants, but awareness of long-standing conflicts or differences of opinion, may provide additional context that you can consider while determining the validity of a report and may help you better prepare.
• Separate the fact from the emotion. While emotion should be acknowledged, focus on the facts reported or presented by the reporter and don't be swayed away by the emotion.
• Do the math. Is what the reporter making sense? Does what they say add up? Are you aware of information that outright proves ones report as invalid? Consider it in your deliberations.

If you realise that this is the case with the person reporting:

• Be patient. You may have to spend some time explaining errors or misunderstandings to the reporter, but not dealing with them at all is not an option.

During the event: Dealing with the subjects of reports

Whether a report is valid or not, the subject of the report may still experience frustration and/or anger. It is therefore important that you:

• Stay calm. The subject of the report may be upset that they were reported, and they’d need you to not be emotional, so that you can help them calm down.

Valid reports

• Make sure you are not alone. Handling the subject of a valid report may be a tense process. It’s good to have another person with you to help, if they have to, while you do what needs to be done. Having witnesses while you proceed can also protect you against future claims on inappropriate handling.
• De-escalate.
• Remove the subject. You may not always be required to take such drastic action as a removal, but be prepared to do so should the situation require it.
• Make sure you are always polite to the subject, even if what they did is unacceptable. Two wrongs don’t make one right and there is no justification for treating one badly.
• Ask for help if the subject refuses to comply with your request. This can be venue security, venue management or even local law enforcement.
• Report out. Let the rest of EOT or assigned person in charge that the issue has been handled as per applicable policies and protocols and the person causing issues has been successfully removed. Keeping people updated allows them to address further concerns that may be brought to them regarding the incident or the people involved in it and prevent panic from spreading to other event participants.

Invalid reports

Be fair and understanding. Nobody enjoys being accused unfairly. The subject may be upset and you may be called to calm them down and reassure them that there was false alarm. It helps letting them know if there is recourse for the reporter and what this may be (as and when applicable).

What would you do?: Dealing with the public

Your relatively small-scale event is taking place in a conference venue with multiple spaces, that can be made available to different conferences at any given time. While your event is ongoing, there is also a large-scale event hosted in one of the venue’s spaces, adjacent to the one yours is hosted. During breaks participants of both events are able to wander through communal spaces of the venue.

You are notified by one of your event participants (person A) that they met another person attending the other conference (person B) when they hang out at the communal spaces with other participants of your conference. Since then, person A has been receiving unwanted invitations to hang out by person B, despite politely declining them and explicitly stating they are not interested. Those invitations never happen when other participants of your event are present; only when person A is at relative distance from others.

If you were in this situation... what would you do?

After the event: Report to the Wikimedia Foundation

If there was a harassment incident that took place during your event, especially one where things escalated, this should be reported (by the EOT) to the Foundation's Support & Safety team, for their records. They can be reached at ca@wikimedia.org. It may be that they follow up with further actions or, simply consider the reported incident in the future, should they receive other reports about the same perpetrator.

After the event: Follow up

It's good practice to follow up with reporters who were immediately affected by a harassment incident. You are not expected to provide care or counseling, but there may be important developments between the people involved, post-event, that may be worth recording, reporting or considering for your future events. You can also consider following up with reporters who were not immediately affected, as a matter of courtesy, though there is no obligation or expectation to do so. If you chose to follow up with them, you should make sure not to disclose private details regarding the incident or the people involved.

After the event: Get self-care

Even though those situations may be rare, handling an incident of harassment can feel overwhelming for somebody who doesn't do this for living and they may be subject to secondary trauma. Whether through a professional/counseling format (hotlines?) or through an informal discussion session where EOT members have a sit-down and talk about their experience, sharing the emotional burden associated with handling high-stress situations can be beneficial.

After the event: Conduct a post-incident review

Review. Once the event has concluded, it is important for the RT to conduct a post-incident review. Were you able to handle the reported situation effectively? Are there things that could have been done better? Are there things that you did that worked? Are there important lessons learnt that you could even share with the community in some way or form? Is there a need to follow up with any of the people involved in the incident such as the reporter, the person reported, other volunteers, participants or attendees? Answers to these questions can help you assess your performance individually or as a team, identify possible gaps where you can improve, especially if you are often organising events in your area, and see to any items still pending action. It is up to the RT team what set-up they use for their review: it can be an in-person meeting, a phone conference or even notes in a collaboratively produced document.

Document. Once your review is completed, you should produce a report. The report's format is up to you, though it should be produced with the view that it will be shared at later date, so chose whichever format offers most flexibility. They key contents of the report should be:

• identifying the issues or bottlenecks that you faced
• describing how those issuew were hanled (if at all)
• sharing lessons learnt in the process
• making suggestions for improving or mitigating those issues moving forward

Disseminate. Your report should not be used as an opportunity to point fingers at specidic individuals, rather it should be seen as an opportunity to communicate issues you experienced, help create processes where there is a lack thereof, help improve existing processes and disseminate the new knowledge gained. As your report will be shared with the EOT, it should be anonymised to ensure that no private information is shared and confidentiality is not breached. The EOT should then publish the report through appropriate channels, either as part of their own overall event report or separately, to ensure other EOTs in the Wikimedia movement can access and benefit from it.

Things to think about: Affiliates & long term groups

When a harassment incident involves an Affiliate member, apart from following standard process and protocol for handling it in-situ, the issue should also be communicated to the Foundation as well as the respective Affiliate. Although the Foundation may review the situation, responsibility for taking further actions (if necessary) may fall on the Affiliate, subject to the nature of the incident and specific details.

If both/all people involved in the incident are Affiliate members, the incident should be communicated to the Affiliations Committee (AffCom) as well as the Foundation, on top of following standard protocols for handling it on site. Similarly, the Foundation or AffCom may take further actions, if needed, subject to specifics.

What would you do?: User group members

This module will periodically present you with "what would you do?" scenarios - hypothetical accounts of difficult situations. The goal in these sections is not to test whether you arrive at an objectively "correct" single answer, but rather to give you a chance to think about the different types of situations you may encounter, and the many issues and decision points that affect any eventual outcome you settle on.

On the first day of your event, you receive an in-person report from User A, detailing a heated debate between them and User B that took place while both users where on the same train, traveling to your event. The two users happen to be also booked in the same shared accommodation for the duration of the event. User A is very upset and insists that they were harassed. Both users are members of a User Group; not the same User Group but they are both in the same language project.

If you were in this situation... what would you do?

What would you do?: Board member behavior

Some time after the end of an event, User A reports having received repeated unwanted attention from User B, who breached the boundaries of their personal space and made them feel uncomfortable. User A is a community member, who has frequently brought in accusations of harassment against other contributors. User B is a board member of a User group and does not have a history of being sanctioned for misbehavior at events.

If you were in this situation... what would you do?

Things to think about: Limits of your ability

You need to remember that you may not always be able to resolve a situation to everybody’s satisfaction. Sometimes the information you have may not lead to any actions other than filing it and or informing other parties, as per protocol, yet you may still have to let the reporter know about the outcome.