All you need to know about TrustCon (even if you're not going)
I'm Alice Hunsberger. Trust & Safety Insider is my weekly rundown on the topics, industry trends and workplace strategies that trust and safety professionals need to know about to do their job.
This week, we're talking all things TrustCon, the big annual conference for T&S professionals:
- How to make the most out of the conference (or really, any conference)
- What TrustCon tells us about where T&S is these days
- Where to find me (if you're there and interested, of course)
- And, as a bonus, the podcast where you can hear my embarrassing conference stories
Before we get into that though, two quick things. First, can we take a minute to talk about Grok? The X/Twitter AI model went completely off the rails, and started calling itself “MechaHitler” after its public guardrails were changed to "not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect." These changes were rolled back and the company apologised for "horrific behavior" but this just goes to show how critical it is to prioritise safety. I can't believe some companies still rank it so low on their list of priorities. Read this piece from tech journalist Max Read if you want to better understand why this happened.
Second, I usually bury links at the end, but I just wrote about moving away from a factory-work model of T&S with Chayeeta Sarkar, VP of Alorica, and want to especially highlight the playbook I created. It covers how to make the business case for specialist/expert teams in T&S, how to structure teams between in-house and vendors and more. I hope it's helpful.
As always, feel free to get in touch if you're going to TrustCon, or just want to say hi. Here we go! — Alice
T&S Insider from Everything in Moderation* reaches the people building the future of online safety.
From cutting-edge tools to essential research and events, sponsoring the newsletter puts your message directly in front of a highly engaged, decision-making audience — exactly when it matters most.
See your brand here and ecome part of the conversations shaping the next era of Trust & Safety.
What TrustCon tells us about T&S today
TrustCon is the Trust & Safety conference of the year, with the most attendees, sessions, and hype.
It's organised by the Trust & Safety Professional Organization, a nonprofit, and panels are approved by a diverse group of T&S community members. There are also thoughtful touches like a wellness room, fresh cookies in the afternoon right when your energy is flagging, and very on-brand merch with the "This Is Fine" dog meme and a cartoon dumpster fire.
That said, it's also very serious. There are panels by the most seasoned experts in the industry, hands-on workshops and roundtables, and organised networking and mentorship sessions.