Earlier today Laura Chernikoff made this tweet

Which prompted this conversation

And that got me interested in working out what the demographics have been for the Special Guests (as listed on their websites) of the past four major YouTube events. I feel like we’re all generally aware that women and people of color are underrepresented at these things, but when you look at the numbers it becomes embarrassingly clear how ridiculous this disparity is.

The highest percentage of female Special Guests at any of these events was 32% at Summer in the City. LESS THAN 1/3.

The highest percentage of Special Guests of color* at any of these events is 16% at the current Buffer Festival. LESS THAN 1/6. (And SitC only had ONE PoC on their Special Guest list this year, which is fucking absurd.)

I don’t want to rant about this too much, I just sort of want to make these numbers known because I find them maddening. And if you guys do too, I encourage you to message the organizers of these events, let them know your thoughts, and maybe recommend them some of the incredible prominent women and PoC we have in this community.

Playlist Live: http://www.playlist-live.com/contact/

VidCon: info@vidcon.com

Summer in the City: support@sitc-event.co.uk

Buffer Festival: support@bufferfestival.com (Corey contacted me not too long ago about female representation at Buffer and I gave him a ton of names, but I don’t know if he had time to take any of those suggestions on board in time for the event. Hopefully it’s something he and the team are genuinely serious about and that next year will be better on that).

C'mon YouTube events. I love you, but you seriously need to get your shit together.

*Note that my count is based primarily on looks and the people whose races I know for sure. If I made a mistake and missed anyone who’s white passing, let me know.