You can never really tell who you shut out

In a previous post, we discussed various ways through which audience members could find themselves feeling excluded from the experience you provide on the stage. So what might exclusion from the physical stage or the virtual platform look like? Let’s look at a few examples today.

Picture yourself in front of an audience of about 100 people, delivering your typical content (a keynote, a training session, a workshop, etc.). Out of everyone who shows up to hear you speak that day, can you ever tell:

• How many people are mainly visual learners, auditory learners or kinesthetic learners?
• How many are colourblind, and generally struggle with colour perception?
• How many are dyslexic and struggle with the written words on your slides?
• How many have vision or hearing issues, and struggle with perceiving your content?
• How many have attention deficit disorders and are easily distracted by the environment?
• How many have cognitive challenges that make it harder for them to understand you?
• How many are non-native speakers struggling with the words or metaphors you use?

Are you consciously paying attention to all of those things? Of course, you don’t. Can you ever tell who might struggle with what? Of course, you can’t! There’s no way for you to tell how many people in your audience might be impacted by any of the situations depicted above, or any other situation for that matter. There’s no way you could ever tell who in your audience is impacted in any such ways by disabling circumstances.

Those who hide in plain sight

Wouldn’t you agree that all these situations, and more, are likely to have an impact on their experience, listening to you speak that day? Out of 100 people in that audience, how many may be dealing with one or more of these conditions? What if these conditions, which are really just the tip of the inclusive speaking iceberg, were directly getting in the way of you successfully reaching out and truly connecting with them?

Visual learners, auditory learners or kinesthetic learners
Are you consciously tapping into what makes the audience tick when you share your ideas, so your message feels appealing in a way that resonates with everyone and maps to the way their brains work? If not, how many of these people are you losing, just because of the way in which you bring up your content and ideas?

Colourblindness and general colour perception struggles
Are you consciously using colour schemes that offer strong contrast, so that even in poor lighting conditions, the information conveyed on your slides comes across clearly for those in your audience who have a hard time perceiving colours? If not, how many audience members are you losing, just because of the fact that you may be relying on colour as the only way to convey information?

Dyslexia and other processing issues with the written words
Are you consciously paying attention to limiting the number of words used on each slide so that the content doesn’t appear as off-putting walls of text? If not, how many people from your audience are you losing, just because all of their energy is now spent trying to read through your content, instead of listening to your words and stories?

Visual and auditory issues, and struggle with perceiving information
Are you making sure that any piece of shared information that relies mainly on sight or hearing is supported in other modalities so that anyone who struggles with either sensory characteristic can still follow along? If not, how many audience members are you losing, just because they can’t quite hear that video you shared, or can’t perceive the details in that graph you showed?

Attention deficit disorders and distractions from the environment
Are you purposefully paying attention to the room layout and controlling surrounding distractions so that folks who struggle with maintaining their attention for longer periods of time can more successfully keep their focus on you, and not be distracted by their surroundings? If not, how many audience members are you losing, just because you are unknowingly fighting a losing battle against a myriad of distractions coming from the room, the screen position on the stage, the lighting, etc.

Cognitive challenges that make it harder to understand concepts
Are you actively working towards presenting your ideas in logical sequences that are both intuitive and predictable, supported by a clear content structure, so the audience can better understand the ideas you’re sharing? If not, how many people in the audience are you losing, just because they end up burning most of their energy simply trying to follow your train of thoughts, as opposed to focusing on your ideas?

Non-native speakers struggling with words or metaphors
Are you mindfully avoiding complex idioms, metaphors, or figures of speech that can be confusing or misleading for some of your audience members? If not, how many people are you losing, just because they end up spending more time trying to process that thing you said, rather than feeding on the ideas you shared?

Because beyond blindness, wheelchairs, and a few other easily noticeable hints such as a service animal or an unusual piece of technology that might give it away, most disabilities people have are actually invisible to the eye. Remember, 74% of people who have disabilities out there have disabilities you would never know about unless these people told you about them. Especially when we’re looking at a homogeneous, anonymous group of people such as a blended audience, instead of a series of known individuals, like a group of friends and colleagues.

In the midst of all the orchestrated chaos that typically comes with standing in front of an audience to deliver a message, we just don’t think about these considerations. Therefore we can’t tell how many people we lose to situations such as the ones presented above. It’s a classic case of out of sight, out of mind. And that’s precisely my point.

Why? Because you already have so much to manage and think about when you’re right there in the moment, you’re also likely not paying attention to those situations much either. If at all.

Out of those who will end up fading out and disconnecting from you, how many could have become your next greatest client, your next raving fan, your next passionate ambassador, or your next network opportunity that might have led you to more business, or to the next great lead? I guess we’ll never know.

Any of the seven broad scenarios above, as well as countless others, offer just as many potential exit ramps or opportunities for your audience members to fade out from the experience you provide and head out straight to Fadeout Town. One thing you can bank on, however, is that at least some of these scenarios will likely happen every single time you walk up on a stage or into a virtual conference room. And so the question becomes… what are you going to do about it?