Speaker Tips & Tricks

This guide is for anyone presenting, facilitating, or moderating sessions at the 2025 #F2i Summit. This toolkit was created by FINE to help you have the most successful session possible.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

As a speaker, you have a unique responsibility to create a safe, inclusive, equitable space for yourself and those attending your session. This includes but is certainly not limited to:

• Encourage self care and community care amongst attendees. Foster an environment that allows for bio-breaks, parental needs, health care needs, etc. 

• Offer space for attendees to share their pronouns and honor them throughout the session.

• Consider the needs of attendees who are visually or hearing impaired (e.g., use of Live Transcript, large fonts/visual slides, describe visuals shared, share slides in advance). 

• Acknowledge the power of language. Avoid gendered language like “thanks for coming, guys,” colonizer language like “founders/founding of nation,” and euro-white centered language like “traditional” (whose traditions?). Consider this food justice language guide from Slow Food USA for more language recommendations.

• Be willing to name racism and white supremacy culture in your session and the way these impacted and shaped your work in the food system. Decentering Whiteness & Racial Equity

• Understand and acknowledge the unique forms of privilege you bring to your session. Know that they influence the way you see the world and be open to feedback and opportunities to see something from someone else’s perspective. 

• Create space for attendees to provide feedback, challenge your assumptions, and share experiences. Prioritize hearing from those most impacted by the work. 

• Give credit where credit is due. Acknowledge contributions of organizations and BIPOC individuals by name. Consider the opportunities you have to acknowledge and engage the experience and wisdom of our elders, and to acknowledge and engage the contributions of our youth.

• Offer resources and examples of building multicultural relationships based on trust, understanding, shared leadership, and shared commitments (when possible).

• Observe the full community agreements found here. 

If you would like support in achieving these goals, FINE staff is here to help. Contact: Tania Taranovski, tania@farmtoinstitution.org or Britt Florio, Brittany@farmtoinstitution.org.

Let people know about your session - see our Media Toolkit for easy outreach suggestions!

Help!

Questions about your session’s content?

• Tania Taranovski, Director of Programs, tania@farmtoinstitution.org

Whova or technical questions?

• Sarah Lyman, Director of Communications, sarah@farmtoinstitution.org