Be Heard Day

What the day is

Be Heard Day is observed on March 7. It encourages people to speak up, which is useful advice that puts the burden in the wrong place if nobody is listening.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented. What is documented is the distribution of airtime.

Studies of group discussion consistently find talking time is not evenly shared, and that the imbalance tracks status rather than expertise. Observational work on meetings and on courtroom argument has repeatedly found women interrupted more often than men, and interrupted more often by men than by other women. Junior staff are talked over by senior ones. People speaking a second language get less floor time regardless of what they know. None of this depends on anyone intending it.

There is a related effect on credit. Ideas raised by lower-status members are more likely to be ignored and then attributed to a higher-status person who repeats them minutes later, which the first speaker notices and the room generally does not.

The remedies that work are structural rather than exhortations to be confident. Going round the table in order removes the need to compete for a gap. Asking for written input before discussion captures views from people who think before speaking. Explicitly handing credit back, by naming who said it first, costs nothing and is rarely done. And a chair who notices interruptions and returns the floor is doing the single most effective thing available.

The advice to speak up remains fair enough, but telling quiet people to assert themselves in a room that talks over them is asking them to solve somebody else's problem.

How to take part

• Notice who has not spoken, and ask them directly.
• Return the floor when someone is interrupted, which the chair should do explicitly.
• Name who raised an idea first when it comes round again.
• Collect written input before the meeting rather than only during it.
• If you talk a lot, count your own airtime once. The result is usually surprising.