Version reviewed: https://www.w3.org/Consortium/cepc/cepc-20200716/

In section 3.2 (Unacceptable behavior), this bit of guidance I believe is overstated to the point of being harmful:

Assuming without asking that particular people or groups need concepts defined or explained to them. It’s great to be sensitive to the fact that people may not be familiar with technical terms you use every day, but assuming that people are uninformed can come across as patronizing.

Based on my own experience of 30+ years of presentations in Computer Science, I would say that that guidance is exactly wrong. If you are not CERTAIN that your audience already knows your jargon and the context of your presentation, you should ALWAYS define your terms and clearly set the context. Failing to do so unnecessarily obscures your message and creates an environment in which an "in crowd" knows your jargon and context, and all others are excluded. That is the OPPOSITE of what we should be trying to do.

Certainly if the WHOLE audience already knows your jargon and the context of your topic, then it would be pointless to waste their time by reviewing it. But in over 30 years, I have VERY rarely seen that happen. On the other hand, the opposite happens FREQUENTLY: a speaker does not define terms, and many in the audience are lost but afraid to speak up. That is harmful and counterproductive.

Furthermore, in my experience it does not work well to ask the audience if they are already familiar with your jargon. Usually they either assume that they are -- even if they're wrong -- or they are afraid to sound ignorant by admitting that they aren't. Either way, it works MUCH better to simply be inclusive from the start, by defining your terms and setting the context.

The golden guidance I learned from one of my esteemed professors years ago was to assume that the audience is "intelligent but uninformed". I think he nailed it.

I suggest changing the above-reference paragraph to something along these lines:

Do not make assumptions about people's knowledge or skill based on their physical appearance, gender identity or other irrelevant characteristics.