Diversity


Below is our guidelines on how we ensure that we get the required level of diversity attending our events

Diversity is part of Our Mission

Gender Diversity

There are strides to be made within the tech industry when it comes to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This is especially so for Hardware, and to support this mission we want to launch a series of focused events. In 2024 we ran our first “Women in Hardware” event that highlighted the experiences of women in the hardware and engineering fields. It included introductions, personal stories, and professional journeys of various speakers, alongside panel discussions, Q&A sessions, and pitches.

Check out the event recap here.

We are committed to running at least one “Women in Hardware” event each year.

supplier/service providers

One aspect of diversity is the right balance between engineers, product developers, entrepreneurs and people working within product companies, and external supplier/service providers.

We define a Supplier/Service Provider as an organisation that provides services/supplies to companies building products, eg: mechanical, electronics, software, marketing, IP, Legal, component supplier, etc.

Supplier/service providers are a vital component of the hardware ecosystem, but at our events, we have experienced supplier/service providers making up to 70% of the registrations, even after limiting tickets to 2 people per organisation.

This is an example of the typical feedback we have received from attendees:

 
“My main driver for going to the meetups was to learn about what was happening in the hardware space in Auckland, but mostly I wanted to meet other makers working on hardstuff stuff in the hardware community. I thought it would be great to talk to other builders who were going through the same experiences, get some inspiration from others, networking, help if I could and generally wanting to be part of the community. The speakers at each of the events were great, and I learned a lot. But I found when mingling and eating pizza, most people I started up conversations with were people from service providers - IP lawyers, design firms, software coders looking for work etc. I’ve only been to about 4 or 5 meetups (2021-2023), but I think I only ever spoke once to someone in the audience like me who was building hardware (this may have just been bad luck). I think the meetups would be a lot more addictive if I had some cool conversations with others who were building hardware.”
— Entrepreneur Event Attendee
 

In order to address this, we want to be totally transparent about the guidelines we will be implementing and using:

  1. We already provide opportunities for supplier/service providers to be represented at our events as sponsors, which come with a number of benefits of being a sponsor. Please contact us if you would like to apply to be a sponsor for an event.

  2. We will attempt to allocate a maximum of 30% of the available tickets to supplier/service providers.

  3. There will be a ticket type of Supplier/Service Provider, which will be waitlisted - supplier/service providers should request tickets (up to 2 tickets per organisation).

  4. Supplier/service providers may not purchase non-Supplier/Service Provider tickets. We kindly request that Supplier/Service Providers comply with these guidelines. The tickets will be monitored and Hardware Meetup NZ reserves the right to cancel tickets if we determine that the ticket purchaser is a Supplier/Service Provider. Repeat non-compliance with these guidelines may result in exclusion of any employee or representation from that Supplier/Service Provider from our events for 6 months.

  5. 2 weeks before the event, we will review the waitlist for Supplier/Service Providers and select a range of service providers to fill up the allocated tickets:

    • Different areas, eg: mechanical, electronics, software, marketing, IP, Legal, component supplier

    • Supplier/Service Providers that haven’t been represented at past events

Pitch Time

Our pitching time is a very special part of our events. The purpose is for someone looking for some help, not an advertising slot for a supplier/service provider attending the event. For example

  • Someone looking for a job or needing specific help for new idea they are testing out

  • Someone looking for a connection in a specific industry

  • Someone providing an opportunity for a job

  • Or just someone just sharing a cool project they are working on.

In past events, we have experienced where our pitching time become more like an advertising opportunity than a “sharing community”.

It also is unfair that our sponsors are paying for their opportunity to sponsor the event.

A large portion of our event is left for networking, where everyone is able to pitch their services to individuals. Again, if a company would like more advertising from Hardware Meetup NZ, then they can become one of our sponsors.

NOTE: These guidelines are subject to change and we will happily take feedback to ensure that they meet our intent and are fair for those involved. But ultimately, it is up to the Hardware Meetup NZ Committee that will review any feedback and make the appropriate changes if agreed.