Having seen others call out such behaviour publicly, Dan decided to use his privilege as a white male to do something about it. He says: “I need to help be part of that change, rather than just supporting those that are calling it out, so I made a short post saying I received this invitation, and I declined it because of lack of representation.

“In 2022 this shouldn’t be the case and especially in our profession it definitely shouldn’t be the case anymore.”

Dan was pleased to see in the comments so many displays of allyship, but that quickly turned to dismay that this lack of representation keeps happening. Still, he thinks approaching organisers should be the first step as some protected characteristics aren’t displayed in headshots.

He suggests looking at the organiser’s past events: “I appreciate not every event you’re going to be able to cover every aspect of society.”

Doing an appeal for speakers and being open to suggestions are two of the ways organisers can ensure representation, with Asif citing a #CommsHero example where someone got in touch after noticing a gap in speakers with disabilities.

Dan acknowledges that he hasn’t always been aware of the issue in the past: “I was mortified that it took someone else to point out to me a couple of years ago; I could have helped sort that if I’d thought about that myself.

“I’m hopefully now more conscious, being part of things like CIPR Inside where we’ve got a global committee now.

“It’s great because we’ve got people that can help; no one person is going to have the solution, but we are a powerful network that you know someone will know someone. And that’s the key.

“It’s not hard. It shouldn’t be hard for someone to put a post out around whatever the subject may be saying: we are keen to get speakers that are representative of the society that we live in.”

Dan thinks it’s all about providing support to each other. He says: “If we take representation as an example of the steps that an individual can take, maybe for some people the small step of before booking that ticket, looking and making a conscious decision at that point. It doesn’t need to be a public call out, but could be the feedback that the content is really great, however unfortunately for me it doesn’t feel right for me to attend because I don’t feel your panel’s lining up as representative.

“I think that we’ll start to get organisers thinking this isn’t just one person calling it out, we’re seeing more and more people.

“I’ve had one or two people approach me to speak, and as much as I would like to, there’s other voices in our profession that aren’t heard as often, but can add equal value, or even more value in some aspects.

“A pretty simple Google search will find people, but also if you’re in the world of event planning then you have to keep abreast of who’s on the speaker circuit.

“There’s so much content available from people posting on Twitter or LinkedIn so there’s certainly the channels available to be able to give that advice or find the information about people. Refer organisations on to other speakers that may not have been first considered or aren’t there in the limelight etc.”

As a long time supporter of #CommsHero, Dan loves the sense of community. He says: “you’re not on your own no matter what.

“If I need a bit of help and guidance, #CommsHero is there and I think that’s the beauty of the network.”