Try to get as much of the incident in written form by the reporter. If you cannot, transcribe it yourself as it was told to you. The important information to gather include the following:

 - Identifying information (name/badge number) of the participant doing the harassing

 - The behavior that was in violation

 - The approximate time of the behavior (if different than the time the report was made)

 - The circumstances surrounding the incident

 - Other people involved in the incident

Prepare an initial response to the incident. This initial response is very important and will set the tone for North Bay Python. Depending on the severity/details of the incident, please follow these guidelines:

 - If there is any general threat to attendees or the safety of anyone including conference staff is in doubt, summon security or police

- Banning the harasser from future events (either indefinitely or for a certain time period)

- Removing a harasser from membership of relevant organizations

- Publishing an account of the harassment and calling for the resignation of the harasser from their responsibilities (usually pursued by people without formal authority: may be called for if the harasser is the event leader, or refuses to stand aside from the conflict of interest, or similar, typically event staff have sufficient governing rights over their space that this isn't as useful)

Give accused attendees a place to appeal to if there is one, but in the meantime the report stands. Keep in mind that it is not a good idea to encourage an apology from the harasser.

It is very important how we deal with the incident publicly. Our policy is to make sure that everyone aware of the initial incident is also made aware that it is not according to policy and that official action has been taken - while still respecting the privacy of individual attendees.  When speaking to individuals (those who are aware of the incident, but were not involved with the incident) about the incident it is a good idea to keep the details out.

Depending on the incident, the conference chair, or designate, may decide to make one or more public announcements. If necessary, this will be done with a short announcement either during the plenary and/or through other channels. No one other than the conference chair or someone delegated authority from the conference chair should make any announcements. No personal information about either party will be disclosed as part of this process.

If some attendees were angered by the incident, it is best to apologize to them that the incident occurred to begin with.  If there are residual hard feelings, suggest to them to write an email to the conference chair or to the event coordinator. It will be dealt with accordingly.