The Montreal AI Symposium (“MAIS”) is committed to providing a welcoming and harassment-free environment for participants of all races, religious affiliations, ethnicities, gender and trans statuses, sexual orientations, physical and neuro-abilities, physical appearances, and beliefs.
We’ve written this code of conduct not because we expect bad behavior from our community—which, in our experience, is overwhelmingly kind and civil—but because we believe a clear code of conduct is a necessary part of building a community space that fosters the open exchange of ideas and respectful scientific debate.
The code of conduct applies to MAIS sponsors and participants both during the event and on official communication channels, including social media.
MAIS participants agree to:
- Be considerate in speech and actions, and actively seek to acknowledge and respect the boundaries of fellow attendees.
- Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech. Harassment includes, but is not limited to: deliberate intimidation; stalking; unwanted photography or recording; sustained or willful disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact; use of sexual or discriminatory imagery, comments, or jokes; and unwelcome sexual attention. If you feel that someone has harassed you or otherwise treated you inappropriately, please alert any member of the conference team in person or via email.
- Take care of each other. Alert a member of the conference team if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this code of conduct, even if they seem inconsequential.
In addition to the above, MAIS sponsors agree to:
- Refrain from using images, activities, or other materials that are of a sexual, racist, or otherwise offensive nature.
- Booth staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualized environment.
This code applies both to official sponsors as well as any organization that uses the conference name as branding as part of its activities at or around the conference.
How to reach us? Email the Diversity and Inclusion co-chairs, Tess Berthier and Prudencio Tossou, at mais2020.dc@gmail.com.
Complaints and violations will be handled at the discretion of the Diversity & Inclusion co-chairs and the program chairs. Reports made during the conference will be responded to immediately; those made at other times in less than two weeks. We are prepared and eager to help participants contact relevant help services, to escort them to a safe location, or to otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We gratefully accept feedback from the community on policy and actions; please contact us.
If any attendee engages in harassing behavior, the conference organizers (comprised of the MAIS programming committee) may take any lawful action we deem appropriate, including but not limited to warning the offender, expulsion from the conference with no refund, reporting the incident to the offender’s local institution or funding agencies, or reporting the incident to local law enforcement. (If you feel you have been unfairly accused of violating this code of conduct, you should contact the conference team with a concise description of your grievance; any grievances filed will be considered by the conference organizers.)
We welcome your feedback on this and every other aspect of MAIS, and we thank you for working with us to make it a safe, enjoyable, and friendly experience for everyone who participates.
Above text is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Credit to Erin Kissane, Citizen Code of Conduct, the Django Project’s code of conduct, Theorizing the Web code of conduct, and Rosenfeld Media’s code of conduct from which we’ve extensively borrowed, with general thanks to the Ada Initiative’s “how to design a code of conduct for your community.”
Montreal AI Symposium / Symposium IA Montréal 