Cut it out
Posted: 27th May 2018
There's been a new round of Bullshit non-apologies from a conference & a speaker here's what they should have said. For context, see the sidebar.
Here's what I think ThinkingDigital/Herb Kim should have said:
We're sorry. A series of screw-ups came together which resulted in a speaker (Paul Irwin) giving their talk in something that was wholly inappropriate and that made many people uncomfortable. We will be reviewing our Code of Conduct & speaker communications to make it clear that this is not what we want at our event.
We're also aware of the conversation and various tweets that took place when concerns were brought to Paul. We have raised our concerns about the aggressiveness of his response with Paul and await his reply. We will also be reviewing how we gather feedback so that it can be given quickly and anonymously.
We would like to thank those who brought this to our attention and, again, apologise sincerely that this happened. We will do all we can to make sure it doesn't happen again.
And what Paul Irwin should have said:
I'm sorry. Both for my aggressive responses to a valid criticism and for not thinking about the message my t-shirt would send in the first place.
I will try to be more aware of the messages I'm sending.
Again, I am sorry.