Our Code of Conduct

It’s extremely important to us that our members feel safe and respected at our events. If you have an issue with someone’s behavior at a Techlahoma Foundation event, please let us know.

Our Code of Conduct, Anti-Harassment and Alcohol Policy

All attendees of in-person events and online gatherings are expected to follow our Code of Conduct, which includes our anti-harassment policy. The Code of Conduct holds attendees to regard themselves in a professional and collaborative manner while engaging in any Techlahoma activity. If you need help with a Code of Conduct violation or require any immediate assistance, consider following any of these steps below:

  1. Contact police, if needed

  2. Contact your event organizers right away

  3. Fill out an incident report form to have your issue reviewed immediately.

  4. Join and post in the public Techlahoma Slack channel #ask-a-mod to contact all admins

  5. Contact all Slack admins in any channel by typing @admins

  6. Contact all Conduct Committee representatives by typing @conduct

  7. Send an email at info@techlahoma.org to the Techlahoma organizer team

Techlahoma leadership is here to support safe, fun, educational, professional and friendly events. If you or someone else needs help, don’t hesitate to contact us. We can help you file a police report if that situation is needed, escort you to your vehicle, stay with you for the duration of an event, remove threatening/Code of Conduct-violating individuals, refund your ticket, and more to help you feel recognized and accommodated. It’s our responsibility to take your safety concerns seriously.

Code of Conduct

We expect all participants will be considerate, respectful, and collaborative at all community events. The Code of Conduct applies to all participants. Participants include attendees, speakers, organizers, volunteers, sponsors, vendors and staff. The Code of Conduct applies at all official and unofficial events. Unofficial events include any location where attendees may be congregating.

About our Community Code of Conduct: Current Techlahoma Event Code of Conduct based on our friends in OKCrb, Burlington Ruby, and JS Conf/Ada Initiative. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Anti-Harassment Policy
  • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability, body size, physical appearance, immigrant status or country of origin
  • Sexual or otherwise inappropriate images and hateful speech/jokes (including in presentations)
  • Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
  • Harassing photography or recording
  • Inappropriate or otherwise unwelcome physical contact or sexual attention (including unwanted hugs, touches or touching pregnant bellies)
  • Sustained disruption of talks or events
  • Harassing, abusive, discriminatory or derogatory conduct

At all community and social events we expect everyone will:

  • Be considerate, respectful, and collaborative
  • Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech
  • Act and engage in an authentic, thoughtful, and empathetic way to help to foster our community
  • Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants
  • Alert meeting organizers and volunteers if you notice Code of Conduct violations, someone in distress or a dangerous situation

Event organizers will:

  • Uphold the Code of Conduct and be excellent examples of personal and professional conduct
  • Attempt to prevent potential Code of Conduct violations and keep vigilant in watching for persons in need of help
  • Contact local law enforcement or venue security
  • Provide escorts to anyone requesting safety and security
  • Assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the event
  • The event organizers will take appropriate action against unacceptable behavior. Organizers may expel participants from the event without warning or refund.

Sponsors (otherwise known as vendors, booth staff) and other staff are subject to the anti-harassment policy. Sponsors and staff agree to the following:

  • No Inappropriate and offensive material
  • No sexualized images or activities
  • No sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes

Alcohol Policy

Passed by the Techlahoma Board on September 21st, 2021

Alcohol will only be paid for/provided by Techlahoma at Techlahoma board organized events.

User groups may have alcohol at events, but:

  • Alcohol may not be purchased with Techlahoma funds.
  • A sponsor can be used to pay for alcohol.
  • All meetups with alcohol must be held at locations licensed to serve alcohol with a licensed bartender, such as a brewery or coffee/wine bar.
  • All rules and regulations in accordance with local, state, and federal laws must be followed.

Slack Policies

The Techlahoma Code of Conduct applies to our Slack community as well. By joining the Techlahoma Slack, you are agreeing to exhibit professional and courteous behavior, as well as follow its anti-harassment policy. This ensures that Techlahoma’s good reputation is upheld and creates an open, collaborative and inclusive community where members feel valued and respected. Please review the Techlahoma Code of Conduct above, upon joining. 

Anyone in Techlahoma Slack must abide by not only the code of conduct, but the additional rules outlined below.

  • Spamming- Messaging the exact same post on more than two-three channels is considered spamming, and you run the risk of being removed from the Slack community. Direct messaging individuals without their consent, in an effort to promote a sales project, your company, etc, is also considered to be unwanted spam.
  • Job Postings- All job postings posted in the #Jobs channel must be either remote or located within Oklahoma. This includes B2B transactions. We appreciate that there are additional great job listings outside of Oklahoma, we want to keep our Techlahomans around in this awesome state!
  • Searching for Jobs- If you are located in Oklahoma, search away! If you aren’t, but plan to move to Oklahoma, then you are also feel free to look! If you are not located in Oklahoma, you are welcome in any slack channels for chatting/questions, but cannot post looking for jobs. 
  • Additional rules may come up as issues arise. The best way to tell if your post is within the guidelines is to ask in #Ask-A-Mod before posting
  • If you are in Oklahoma and run a business, teach a class, etc and you think your business would be beneficial to the Techlahoma community, you are allowed three posts about an event in the #tech-talk channel. 1 post announcing the event, 1 reminding about the event, and 1 last chance to register for the event. If you have any other questions about this, please contact #Ask-A-Mod

What's The Difference between The Conduct Committee And Slack Moderators?

Conduct Committee Slack Moderators
Moderate all aspects of Techlahoma, including, but not limited to, Slack, user groups, conferences, partner events, etc. Moderate the use of Techlahoma's Slack
Meet confidentially to cover any violations, and may consider taking action on any violations, including banning members from Slack, Techlahoma events, conferences, etc. Only cover violations related to Slack, including banning, but may delegate to Conduct if the issue is not resolved by removal of the violator from Slack.
@Conduct or Techlahoma Code of Conduct @Mods or #Ask-A-Mod

How Can I Be A Slack Moderator?

All you need to be a Slack moderator is a reference from 2 good-standing community members. If you have that, please message @EmilyH or @Board on Techlahoma Slack and you can receive Admin privileges to help us keep our moderators active. You can also apply to become a Slack moderator using the button below.

Moderators must be active, and upon 6 months of non-activity, they will be removed from the Mods channel as well as lose their admin ability.

Become A Moderator

About The Conduct Committee

The Conduct Committee (listed below) receives all issue reports filed through this form immediately via email and Slack notification. If you prefer to reach out to someone directly, you may contact the current chair of the Conduct Committee or the current sitting president. For general inquiries, please use the contact form or message us directly via #ask-a-mod on Slack. Do not use this form to report threats of physical violence, call law enforcement immediately if you feel physically unsafe.

The following information is extremely helpful when reviewing your report:

  • Identifying information about the party being filed against

  • The behavior that was in violation

  • The time and date of the incident

  • The circumstances surrounding the incident

  • Other people involved in the incident

Our Conduct Committee

The Conduct Committee who will review your report consists of the following 6 individuals. If you are uncomfortable with any of these people handling your incident report, please use one of the email addresses and contact a conduct committee member directly:

For legal reasons, the acting president of the Techlahoma Foundation also has access to all submitted Incident Reports.  If the report is against not just one individual, but a company or organization, the issue may be brought to the entire Board of Directors.

Submit Incident Report