Inclusive Meeting Practices: Anticipating Accommodations for Inclusion
1. Advance Distribution
Distribute materials in advance to accommodate introverts and neurodiverse individuals. This provides more time to develop an understanding, thus better real time participation, American College of Education, 2024)
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2. Diversity in Speakers
Adopt an intentional commitment to diversity in speakers at meetings. This allows not only a diverse perspective but an environment of inclusion for diverse individuals in terms of representation (Wells et al., 2023).
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3. Inclusivity Style Guides
A style guide that is pre-distributed can demonstrate to participants how to use inclusive language and images that respect diversity in all forms (Wells et al., 2023.)
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4. Diverse Participation
Ensure that everyone in the room has an opportunity to participate, specifically in regards to gender diversity. Often, women are not heard during meetings (American College of Education, 2024.)
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5. Real Time Tech
Translation technology can provide real time closed captioning which benefits individuals who are hard of hearing, deaf or English language learners (Mowry, 2024).
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6. Tools for Understanding
Use colored cards for meeting participants to indicate they have heard and understood (green), they need the speaker to slow down (yellow) or they need clarification (green) (American College of Education, 2024).
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7. Time Zones
Show respect for participants joining from other countries by providing a variety of time options for recurring meetings in respect of time zones (American College of Education, 2024).
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8. Meeting Recordings
Link to meeting recordings afterwards so that everyone gets the opportunity to revisit the meeting discussion or watch if they were unable to attend (Section508.gov, 2023).
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References
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American College of Education. (2024). DIV5003 Diversity and inclusion in the workplace: Module 5 [Part 1 through 4 presentations]. Canvas. https://lnkd.in/gikDVyzi
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Mowry, M. J. (2024). Making meetings accessible and inclusive. Business NH Magazine, 41(2), 52–55.
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Section508.gov. (2023, July). Www.section508.Gov.?
https://lnkd.in/giKzRsh6?
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Wells Ajinkya, A., Gladfelter Graham, K., Meadows, A., Mehmani, B., Mukhopadhyay, R., & Stanton, M. (2023). Implementing a diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility strategy: Lessons learned at five scholarly communications organizations. Learned Publishing, 36(1), 119–123. https://lnkd.in/g-JnJY7S?
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