A wave of #MeToo stories about abusive behavior at professional conferences has swept across LinkedIn.
The accusations center around a legal tech conference, and began with an alarming incident that took place in January at Legalweek in NYC, per NPR.
What happened?
Shimmy Messing, co-founder of SaaS company Altorney, posted on LinkedIn about how he had been at a bar near the conference hotel with friends, including Stefanie Bier, director of security platform experience at Microsoft.
Messing said a man began aggressively hitting on Bier, wouldn’t listen when she told him to stop, and threatened Messing with a knife when he intervened.
The man, Robert Cruz, was later arrested and fired from Reveal, the tech company he worked at. Reveal also noted he was not an official attendee of the conference.
Then…
… several other legal tech employees began detailing harassment and assault they’d also endured during Legalweek and other legal tech conferences, both at official and outside events.
And then there came other stories from other conferences. Deeanna Fleener, a VP at Deloitte, shared several.
But it’s not just legal tech…
… nor is it new.
Other women have been talking about conference harassment for years, spanning industries including financial services, science, and tech — where 39% of women keynote speakers reported some kind of harassment.
Another woman noted it didn’t just happen surrounding conferences, but at business meals, meetings, and even over social media.
What can be done?
Apart from everyone just behaving? Some have suggested limiting alcohol, increasing security, and revamping behavior policies.
Legalweek’s organizers, ALM, have since issued a statement saying they condemn such behavior and will take steps to prevent it, including building an app where attendees can anonymously report incidents.
And if you see something, don’t be shy. In an interview with Harvard Business Review, employment attorney Asha Santos, who specializes in bystander training, said research shows a “helping effect” occurs when one person speaks out, prompting others to join in.
Point of clarification: There is a reference above to a tech company named Reveal, but there are actually two different SaaS businesses named Reveal. The one found at Reveal.co was not involved in this story in any way.