The IRREC community has for more than seven decades honored diversity, equality, and inclusion. This month, Linda Seals helped us increase this tradition. In her role as Community Resource Development Regional Specialized Agent, Linda Seals provided a presentation on strategies for reaching diverse audiences and creating inclusive workspaces. Her major points were:
1. We need to become more efficient in reaching diverse audiences as Florida’s population becomes more diverse.
2. Learn to recognize your own biases, which will help you be more effective when working with diverse audiences.
3. Connect and build authentic relationships:
- Ask the audience to share their names and pronouns
- Understand the power of individual stories
- Use different speakers with different presentation styles
- Make it fun
- Encourage audience participation
- Use images that include people who look like your audience
- Listen empathically
- Use creative methods for evaluating
Linda Seals is a resource for UF/IFAS faculty and staff members. She invites us to reach out to her as we prepare to work with a diverse audience. You may reach Linda by email: lseals@ufl.edu
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