Transgender learning event invitation needs

June 3, 2019 2:33 PM

I'm hosting a panel discussion for Pride month on how to be supportive when a coworker, friend, or family members comes out as transgender. Please suggest ways to build attendance through branding.

Here is some event information:

• Summary: We will host a panel discussion on the topic of what to do when a friend, family member, or coworker comes out as transgender.
• Purpose: By raising visibility and awareness, we will increase acceptance. By engaging in dialogue and sharing stories, we will increase people’s comfort level. These will enable (company) employees to be good advocates and allies for current and future transgender employees.
• Topics: Our discussion will focus on the information and behavior that drives best practices.
• a. Behaviors – how do you help someone when you don’t know what they’re going through?
• b. Information – What is happening when someone is transgender? What is the context?
• Panel "experts" include a husband of a trans man, a father of a trans man, a manager of a recently-transitioned employee, and an external expert from a local transgender foundation.

I want the title of the event to:
- Make it clear that this event is for everyone, not only people who "are lgbtq+"
- Look business-y, so people don't feel like they are "taking time off work" to attend.
- Not drive anyone away who might not be comfortable being seen (throuugh Outlook Calendars) to attend an LGBTQ+ event.

Your suggestions will be very helpful! Thank you in advance!

posted by rebent to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Based on combining business-y words from your post, something like "Best practices for inclusion and allyship"?

Also, is there any reason not to also include, e.g. the recently-transitioned employee on this panel? Having an event on trans inclusion with, as I understand it, majority cis participants, is definitely something that'd be pretty concerning for me, as a trans person who's done a lot of work to navigate around cis people's weird ideas in the workplace and elsewhere.
posted by ITheCosmos at 3:46 PM on June 3, 2019 [7 favorites]

What I'm getting out of your current framing is you have trans employees and zero of them are willing to do this. Maybe that's an unfortunate coincidence that just looks bad.

Your org almost certainly has internal culture and may have back-channels. What would need to be true about this for the trans people who work there to participate, attend, or talk it up to their colleagues? I ask because I feel like "branding" qua branding has a much tougher time than "branding" in the form of people communicating in ways that feel genuine and enthusiastic.
posted by bagel at 4:31 PM on June 3, 2019 [5 favorites]

I’d think about titling it something like Peer and Manager Support Best Practices (/Strategies?) for Transgender Colleagues. The family and friends pieces can be in the description, but this keeps it business focused and the title is long enough that the lgbtq stuff won’t be obvious in most views in Outlook. I would probably try to throw the words leadership development in there too, but whether that will fly depends on whether your org has a formal program for leadership development.

I hear what others are saying about including trans people on the panel, but I also know that it isn’t trans people's job to educate us and sometimes people don’t have the energy to sit on a panel for whatever reason or don’t want to be out in that way at work. I feel like there is a role for cis people to take on the burden of some of this 101 education of other cis people.

It would be good if this has the support of transgender employees. Support from influential cis employees who don’t have an obvious reason to be supportive can also be powerful I’m driving attendance.

Sounds interesting. Good luck!
posted by jeoc at 6:14 PM on June 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

It sounds like you’re concerned about reaching people who would not normally be interested in learning about LGBTQ+ folks?

Here are a few that tend toward extreme business-y with a distinct whiff of “mostly for cis attendees”:

Best Practices: Supporting Your Trans Employees and Colleagues

What Your Trans Employees and Colleagues Want You to Know

Creating an Inclusive Environment for Trans Team Members
posted by Tiny Bungalow at 6:17 AM on June 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

AAM's DEAI resources might have some thought starters for you
posted by TravellingCari at 10:19 AM on June 4, 2019

You might market it specifically to allies. I had a similar training at my work and I (a trans person) attended, and it was SUPER uncomfortable for me and everyone else to have me in the room. Sometimes the cis folks need a place to process their shitty feelings together in privacy.
posted by libraritarian at 8:43 AM on June 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Hi folks, here is how we titled the event -

Manager, Peer, And Parent - Best Practices For Supporting Transgender People In Your Life


(summary line) Join this panel discussion to learn what to do when a coworker, direct report, friend, or family member comes out to you as transgender.

How do you respond when someone shares unexpected news? If you don't understand what they are telling you, it might be with confusion! Let's learn together in a judgement-free environment about what happens when someone transitions, and what kind of support will help create a culture of inclusion.

Our panel will include employees who have transgender spouses, children, and direct reports, as well as the Executive Director of the (local city) Trans Foundation. The discussion will suggest ways to be supportive without telling you what to think:

Behaviors – how do you help someone when you don’t know what they’re going through?
Information – What is happening when someone is transgender? What is the context?
Empathy – what have been the panelists' experiences in knowing and working with someone who is transgender?

Please submit your questions to the panel in this anonymous survey
posted by rebent at 5:33 AM on June 10, 2019