Who is your test person?

I led two refresher trainings for wonderful groups in Illinois and Colorado recently.

I heard great responses to the question, "What has changed since your initial training 2 months ago?" They said they are: 

- More confident speaking about their program to diverse audiences at events.

- Using AI more effectively for grant writing, strategic planning, and more. 

- Saving time because all communication from colleagues is now concise and clear.

- Making communication easier to translate. 

- Testing communication with a family member or friend before sharing it widely. 

I love that last one.

My mom helps me. She's super smart and brutally honest. I send her drafts of my newsletters and she tells me if something isn't clear to her. If it isn't clear to her, it's probably unclear for others within the broad audience I write to. 

I forget that people who aren't in my world of language access can be confused by terms like "language access". Many of us forget. 

Who do you count on to test the understandability of your communication? 

And if this newsletter is unclear, it's because my mom is on vacation!