Don’t leave the ageing workforce behind

They say that growing old is a privilege denied to many. Wiser words have rarely been spoken. But for those of us fortunate enough to realize and enjoy our senior years, ageing can present a whole new set of challenges that younger professional speakers rarely get to think about until they, too, start experiencing their first few wrinkles.

Statistics Canada estimates that as of July 2021, approximately 18.5% of Canadians were 65 or older. We all know that this trend will only keep going up in the foreseeable future. Now, you might be thinking “well, old people don’t attend my presentations anyway, I speak or train working-age adults, not seniors”… But did you know that in 2015, almost 20% of Canadians aged 65 and older, or nearly 1.1 million seniors, worked at some point during the year, including 5.9% who did so full year, full time?

What this means is, whether you realize it or not, that some seniors are still active in the workplace. And that yes, some of them actually do attend our sessions. They, too, make up for a certain percentage of our audiences. Just like audience members with disabilities. Ant both groups have a lot in common.

Recognize that many people are professionally active for much longer than they used to be. Good health and a passion for their work keep many people in their jobs beyond the “age of retirement”. The government, as an example, keeps pushing back the retirement age every so often. Another reason may be that financial constraints keep people in the workforce longer than they had planned to be.

Are you even considering those people, when you think about your audience?

Assuming you can acknowledge that a part of your audience members are likely to be in their late fifties, their sixties, and sometimes even older, and that these same audience members will likely be experiencing a certain decline in their senses (sight and hearing, just to name a few), then the question becomes, “what are you typically doing to make sure these attendees are also being cared for”?

Simply put, as professional communicators who care about creating inclusive experiences for all of our audience members, we have to gear our materials to this demographic as much as we would any other. As the population continues to grow older, you might come to notice that number increasing over time in your own audiences as well. Be sure to keep them in mind when creating your materials.

How does ageing affect one’s experience, while attending a keynote, a webinar, a workshop, or a training session?

Ageing, and our audience’s declining senses

Vision might be the most obvious. As we age, most of us experience changes in our eyesight. Every couple of years we make that much-needed trip to the eye doctor to get our prescription renewed. You all know how great that feeling is when we put on those new glasses for the first time. There’s that “eureka moment” where everything looks so crisp again, and we reconnect with what it once meant to see clearly as before! But alas, without those brand new glasses, we’d be lost.

Thankfully, corrective lenses are readily available and do the job for most of us. But we should always keep in mind that it’s not only our eyesight that is affected with age, but it’s also our hearing, mobility and cognitive abilities that are all subject to waning as years go by…

Hearing deficiencies are also quite common as we age, but not everyone is ready or willing to accept that they can’t hear as well as they once could. To help those who experience an auditory decline, you’ll always want to use a microphone, regardless of the size of your audience. If someone won’t admit to themselves that they need a hearing solution, they certainly aren’t going to single themselves out by admitting out loud that they can’t hear what you’re presenting.

Another common aspect of getting older relates to a certain loss of mobility. As we age, osteoarthritis and arthritis can start to creep in, and limit our ability to actively take part in physical activities. Likewise, using a mouse, keyboard, and even writing notes might become more difficult for some.

Providing your attendees with pre-printed notes in larger, easy-to-read fonts, or an accessible digital format goes a long way to ensuring that your information can be taken in by those who may not have the ability to write for long periods. This also helps those who can’t see or hear as well as they once did more efficiently process your valuable information.

Finally, our cognitive abilities also diminish as we get older. We tire more quickly as we age, and keeping sustained focus over long periods of time can prove challenging. This cognitive decline can hamper one’s capacity to keep up with a quickly moving presentation. Try to move at a pace that allows all audience members to take in and process your ideas, so they stand a better chance of retaining the data and facts that you are laying out before them.

Be kind. Care. Give a damn. Don’t force anyone into a situation where they might feel diminished. You might be surprised to find out that it will help a lot more people than just those in the audience who are older.

Taking these factors into account and planning ahead to ensure that the ageing members of your audience feel included will keep them from taking the dreaded exit ramp to Fadeout Town!

If you can accomplish that, you’re well on your way to creating a room full of potential new clients or raving fans. At the end of the day, isn’t it ultimately our goal to keep everyone engaged, involved, and interested throughout our entire presentation?