Michael Schutzler, CEO of WTIA, opened  FullConTech 2018 on May 8 by telling participants, “Welcome to our experiment. We have no idea what the outcome today will be.”

What an experiment it was. In addition to the event’s signature Flash Talks and Invent Sessions, this year’s FullConTech offered two new session formats: peer consulting, during which participants asked for and offered help in specific areas, and an Open Space discussion, where people could propose their own topics for collaboration.

Peer consulting was a highlight for many participants, because it gave them a chance to interact in small groups, get feedback, and start building relationships. We also got great feedback on our speakers. As one participant told us, “I didn’t feel talked at, but engaged instead.”

Monica Bailey, Chief People Officer at GoDaddy, kicked off the opening of the event telling the audience about the challenge of evolving their company culture while bringing together two distinct employee groups: the hardworking, scrappy people in Arizona who founded the company, and the tech people from San Francisco and Seattle who joined later. “The key to our culture change,” she said, “is trying stuff that was different from what we were doing that wasn’t working.”

Monica then introduced our keynote speaker, Julio Portalatin, President and CEO of Mercer, who brought a lot of energy to the room and won a lot of fans. Many participants highlighted the keynote as the best part of the event. Mr. Portalatin talked about diversity and the workforce of the future, telling participants, “Change doesn’t come naturally…it requires commitment from the top.”

Following Mr. Portalatin, Cynthia Tee, a consultant with Diverse City, introduced the Flash Talks, which featured a diverse group of speakers:

• Len Jordan, Managing Director for Madrona Venture Group —  “Your culture is not what the sign says in your lobby. It’s who you reward, promote, and show the door.”
• Susan McNab, Acting Director, Seattle Department of Human Resource — “Sometimes the rules don’t apply. Proceed until apprehended.”
• Amy Lynch, Regional Vice President, Comcast — “We use our ERGs to solve business problems.”
• Ringo Nishioko. HR VP at MoxiWorks and blogger — “Make sure individuals know how what they do contributes to company success.”

Our final speaker was Jamila Conley, VP, IT Business Solutions Partner at F5 Networks, who talked about her and F5’s involvement with WTIA and FullConTech. Jamila also introduced the experts from the Invent Sessions to present the best ideas that came out of their discussions. The Invent Sessions took place after lunch and offered participants the opportunity to collaborate on building approaches to dealing with critical workplace challenges. Below are a few of the ideas that came out of the discussions:

Challenge	Possible Approach
Cultivating connections to community	Expand the definition of social responsibility and the role of CSR
Barriers to inclusive growth	Cross-team mentorship
Helping women thrive in the tech industry	Create a “brave space” vs a safe space (Brave space welcomes discomfort, experimentation, and challenging each other’s ideas.)
Recruiting with a diversity mandate	Using cross-partnerships between government, community, and private organizations to create access to jobs for underrepresented communities
Alternative pathways to a high tech career	Consolidated industry internship program where employers say what they’re looking for and interns ask for what they’re looking for

The Open Space discussion was included in this afternoon session, and a big idea that came out of this group, in the area of hiring diverse employees, was to set quotas for diverse representation in the hiring/interviewing teams.

Who attended this year’s FullConTech?

We had a full house, with just under 300 people participating in the event at the Microsoft Visitor Center in Redmond. Participants were diverse and represented both the public and private sectors, with a breakdown similar to those of last year’s events:

• 48% tech industry
• 20% Community/NGO
• 22% Educaton
• 10% Government

This representation across sectors continued to be one of the most popular aspects of FullConTech. As one participant noted, “FullConTech is a terrific opportunity to meet and greet people from across the spectrum.”

To find out more about FullConTech 2018 and the ideas discussed in the Invent Sessions, please watch for the release of the Playbook by June 22. You can also read an overview of the Invent Sessions in the Seattle Weekly.