Policy on Respectful Dialogue

The 6^th International Barcode of Life Conference welcomed a wide diversity of researchers as well as policy makers and industry leaders. Participants were encouraged to keep criticism constructive, and avoid personal attacks. Debate of ideas was encouraged, allowing delegates to enjoy a lively and stimulating conference.

Policy on Social Media Use

We encouraged the use of social media before, during, and after the conference in order to share information and to network with others. However, we asked all conference participants to adhere to the following social media guidelines:

• Blog or tweet about what you are hearing and learning, but refrain from sharing information when the speaker explicitly requests this. Talks are tweetable and shareable by default, but speakers can request that specific details or slides not be shared.
• Whenever possible, use the hashtag #dnabarcodes2015 to discuss the conference.
• Converse and network with other attendees before, during, and after the conference.
• Provide feedback to the conference committees, we encourage participants to post and discuss topics of interest as well as ideas for future meetings.
• Communicate with respect and consideration for others, keeping criticism constructive.
• Do not engage in rudeness or personal attacks.

Policy on Gender Equality

The 6^th International Barcode of Life Conference strived to achieve gender representation in line with the gender balance in our research community at varying career stages. The conference aimed to achieve this by gender balance on its Operating and Scientific Organizing Committees, its session chairs,  abstracts selected for oral presentation, and through invitations to plenary speakers.

This 6^th International Barcode of Life Conference was the first in this series to present a gender policy and to collate information on gender balance. Therefore, we requested that delegates voluntarily disclose their gender and career stage at the time of abstract submission. This provided important information for tracking and for improving gender equality over time. The conference advanced the position that research excellence in our discipline requires acknowledging achievements of all genders as well as encouraging and inspiring future research leaders of all genders.

Gender Statistics Summary

2015	Male	Female
Operating Committee	75% (3)	25% (1)
Scientific Committee	84% (16)	16% (3)
Speakers – Plenary	77% (23)	23% (7)
Session Chairs	TBA	TBA
Speakers – Contributed Sessions	TBA	TBA
All Delegates	TBA	TBA

Refund Policy

Cancellations received by email by noon EST on August 7, 2015 were be refunded in full. No refunds were issued for cancellations received after this date. Only cancellations received by email were processed. On-line registration closed at the end of the business day (4:30 pm Eastern) on August 14, 2015. All registrations after this date were processed at the on-site registration fee.