When I arrived at the venue, a tall, well-dressed young woman accompanied me to the auditorium where the speeches took place. Once entering the hall I was quite surprised about the vast majority of men sitting there. Mostly around the age of 40+. At that time a men from V-Zug was holding a speech. The topic of the event was Digital Transformation. The CEO of V-Zug was well dressed and had put big gestures to the things he was saying. He was definitely not holding a speech for the first time. He walked around the stage to reach both sides of the audience while talking. Even tho I must say, mostly looking into the eyes of men. I mean, women were not really present anyways.
Afterwards a women entered the stage to announce the next speaker – a men again. Pretty much same image as the one before and same gestures. The women seem to have the role of a host or an assistant helping the speakers.
While I was listening to the second speaker I observed the audience. Pretty much all of them where dressing up in a suit, with their business bags and a notebook. Some seem very interested in the talks. Some seem to be absent. And some men were having a busy discussion, about the speeches? I do not know.
Also there was a male photographer capturing the event.
So after a while I recognise female speakers entering the stage as well, but they were part of a group of different speakers talking about one project. It still felt like, they took the part of an assisting member of the group rather than having their own presentation.
Over an hour later the female host announced a short break to grab some coffee, snacks and maybe to have a little chat chat among one another.
So there I was standing with my group of students – mostly female – observing the situation. The room was full of suited up men casually talking to men. Most of the time two to three people. I have not seen a bigger group of people interacting with each other. I would say that the little groups do not look very welcoming to someone who might want to join their conversation. And also some groups were quite quiet, looking around to catch one or anothers glance. And the few women I have seen there, were mostly staff members, serving coffee and water.
I think, in a „business“ situation with men in a suit, people do not look like they would like to casually start talking to you. Their hands are closer to their body, standing straight up and always trying to maintain a serious expression. The few people not wearing business outfits, seem to most likely be more talkative and not too stiff. We were also all wearing a name tag on us, so I had the feeling that people were first looking at the nametag + company and then into your eyes.
Nonetheless, I think the whole event was crowded with suited up men who were quite… quiet.
Really nice observations and good insights into human interaction:
„So there I was standing with my group of students – mostly female – observing the situation. The room was full of suited up men casually talking to men. Most of the time two to three people. I have not seen a bigger group of people interacting with each other. I would say that the little groups do not look very welcoming to someone who might want to join their conversation. And also some groups were quite quiet, looking around to catch one or anothers glance. And the few women I have seen there, were mostly staff members, serving coffee and water“
It is these insights that we need to be aware of and sensitive to when we are designing. How do we prevent for people to feel left out? How do we engage them? How doe we help people who do not even notice that they are acting exclusively to build bridges for others to join?