Core principles of inclusive speaking

Over the last few months running this blog, we’ve set the stage (no pun intended!) to better understand a few of the reasons why inclusion considerations definitely matter to your audience. And assuming that you’re someone who makes a living monetizing the spoken word, why these people should also matter to you and your business.

We’ve established that people with disabilities are far more than the negligible minority demographic we often picture them to be. That while they are mostly ignored, these folks can easily make for up to a quarter of any given audience that we appear in front of. With 80% of people living with invisible disabilities, it becomes even easier to forget that these people are a part of our audience in the first place.

We’ve also defined that since our goal as professional communicators is to engage with as many people as possible from the platform, it is our responsibility to acknowledge that this same audience will be composed of people whose needs and expectations will possibly be very different from our own.

Below is what I consider to be the top 3 core principles of inclusive speaking when it comes to being mindful of the diversity of perspectives in our audience. They matter because, without a clear plan for mindful inclusion, those same audience members are likely to disengage from us and our content. And off they go, with a one-way ticket to Fadeout Town.

1. Your audience is not an extension of yourself

One of the most common mistakes for speakers, and especially the most experienced ones, is to assume that what they themselves feel works best in terms of content delivery strategies will also work best for everyone else. Everyone being different, there’s a very high likelihood that this isn’t the case.

In order to make sure that the greatest portion of your audience naturally feels drawn to you as a speaker, you first need to acknowledge a wide variety of preferences, biases and expectations. This begins by stepping out of your own comfort zone, in order to think about how others might prefer to experience your content.

Your own preferences, biases, and expectations do matter as a starting point, but they can never be the be-all-end-all of your approach to delivering content. That would be a surefire way to guarantee some of your audience members completely disengage from you and your content, thereby leading to our second core principle, people fading out from our presentations.

2. People will fade out if you give them a reason to

The vast majority of the people with disabilities I’ve spoken to over the years agree that the main reason why they might disengage from a speaker is not so much because of the content itself, but rather because of the way in which that content is delivered and the way the speaker makes them feel.

Clumsily fail to include some people in the audience once or twice, and they may still forgive you. Systematically fail to include them regularly in the way that you deliver your content, and you can be sure that they will quickly fade in front of your very eyes. Remember, the devil is in the details. Referring to content in your slides using words like “as you can see here” and not describing what the audience is supposed to be seeing is a recipe for disengagement for anyone who struggles with poor eyesight.

Likewise, foregoing the microphone and making assumptions about how much your voice carries without considering that some people’s hearing in the audience might be impaired is another example of a recipe for disaster. As fade-outs are typically associated with frustration, winning those audience members back after having failed them is like showing up at the plate with three fouls and two strikes against you. You can still strike a wishful home run, but the odds are stacked pretty darn high against you.

3. One-size-fits-all presentations never truly do

Given the incredible diversity of disabilities out there and how prevalent these conditions are in society, relying on a single delivery approach meant to please everyone is another root cause of people fading out from your audience. To be inclusive as a speaker, personalization is absolutely key. The old adage of “one size does not fit all” has perhaps never been truer than when it comes to being on the receiving end of a speaking engagement, whether it be a presentation, a keynote, a training session, a workshop, etc.

If you happen to know a thing or two about the psychology of learning and how people learn, you understand that people do so in different ways. That acknowledgment implicitly means that one approach to sharing content cannot and will not work for everyone. It will work for some, but it will not work for all.

Even before we start factoring in considerations such as disabilities and ageing, as you recognize that there is more than one way of learning, then you have to come to terms with the fact that a one-size-fits-all content delivery system is doomed to fail parts of your audience who don’t happen to fit the mold of your preferred learning style or presentation style. Disabilities and ageing only make this fact that much more painfully obvious.

Hopefully by now, reading this, you’re more on board and excited than ever about the possibilities an inclusive approach to speaking can bring to further the reach of your message, so more people can truly connect with your brand.

In future blog posts, we’ll dive deeper into how inclusive speaking strategies can also do wonders for you and your business. We’ll explore some of the ways in which not paying attention to inclusion might already affecting your bottom line, and some of the easy changes you can make to switch that around.