"No pronouns please" was the first line in the academic's bio after their name—it was included in an invitation to attend their presentation. No other data.
What if you slipped and used a pronoun when you were addressing them? How could you handle it?
It turned out after the event that the person self-identifies as non-binary.
First, saying “no pronouns please” is such a vague request that I wouldn’t even know how to begin to comply with it. So I wouldn’t worry much about “slipping”. I respect people’s wishes when they make requests of me about how to refer to them, but I need to understand the request first in order to comply.
Second, based on your clarification, what I’m guessing happened here* is that the academic was filling a web form in which they entered their presentation details (title, abstract and so forth), in response to a request from a seminar organizer. That web form has fields to fill for a name, bio, and apparently pronouns as well. The academic didn’t know what to write in the pronouns field, or perhaps is opposed to the inclusion of pronouns as part of one’s description of who they are, or simply misunderstood the question, so they wrote “no pronouns please”. This ended up through some automated process as an event listing (sent as an email or displayed on a departmental seminars web page) that shows “no pronouns please” appearing after the academic’s name, with no context to indicate what that’s supposed to mean.
To summarize, this seems to be nothing more than a small misunderstanding. I would treat this person as I treat any other person who hasn’t expressed a special wish to be referred to in some specific way, and not spend time worrying about it.
* Edit: My guesses turned out to be wrong. Oh well, it happens. Whether that means the above answer is worthless or still interesting is in the eye of the beholder. Feel free to vote according to your opinion on this issue.
As a non-binary person (albeit one who does use pronouns - they/them), this is not a common choice, but neither is it terribly unusual (it's probably about as common as someone requesting the pronoun it, and both are much less common than a non-binary person requesting they/them pronouns, one of the more common sets of neo-pronouns, or a mix of pronouns).
In such situations it would generally be preferred to choose your phrasing so as to avoid the necessity of third person pronouns, or to use the person's name. This of course does not come naturally to many people, and it usually takes a lot of practice before people can do so without slipping up fairly often.
Regardless of what specific pronouns (or lack thereof) a person has requested, best practice if you make a mistake is usually to simply correct yourself and continue. Making a big apology, either at the time or afterwards can draw attention to the mistake that third parties might otherwise have missed, or feel like you're putting pressure on them to assuage your guilt.
As this is an especially uncommon request, the person who made it will doubtless be used to people slipping up, and will be aware that this will happen more often than with someone making a more common one.
All reasonable non-binary and trans people I know do not generally begrudge the mistakes of people who make a good-faith effort to use our pronouns, and so you likely have nothing to worry about if you do make a good effort to avoid pronouns even if you do occasionally slip up.
There are not that many reasons why guests or listeners to a seminar or other presentation would actually talk about the presenter using pronouns with the presenter themselves. It would be more relevant to the chair introducing the speaker who might deliver a short bio overview and then the "no pronouns please" would mean to say "John (Doe) received the PhD degree at ...: instead of "He received his PhD degree at..." or "They received their PhD degree at...".
Should the name be repeated too much, one can mix in neutral noun expressions such as "our guest", "today's speaker" or similar.
Of course, when the attendees discuss the presentation among themselves, they face the same issue. Did they like "his talk", "their talk" or "John Doe's" talk? If they are aware of the "no pronouns please" request, they should use the third option.
If you just want to have a talk with the presenter, there is not that much risk of doing anything wrong if you just call John Doe as John or as John Doe or perhaps prof. Doe and use the "you" pronoun to address this person directly.
I do agree that likely this information was directly received from some form the speaker filled, but I do not think it is wrong. If we want our speakers to be able to state their pronouns, they should also be free to say "no pronouns please", it is their choice. Also, it is not that complicated to follow that request. It does not really matter whether they are cis or trans.
Without knowing that the person identifies as non-binary, I would have been at a loss to understand the request.
Having that information, the request can most likely be taken by its literal meaning. The person asks the attendees to refer to them by their name only, without pronouns. For example: "As John was saying..." rather than "as he was saying..."
It's tricky. I just used "them", because pronouns can be hard to avoid, but of course the polite thing to do is to honour the request. When directly interacting with the person, it's probably easier. If you accidentally slipped a pronoun, most likely it's no big deal. If the person takes offense, just say "sorry", and that's it.
It's becoming more and more common in bios and other places to see people specifying the pronouns you should use to refer to them:
(The format sometimes varies but two pronouns separated by a slash is the most common way to see it written.)
In the context of this developing culture, where more and more people identify as something other than their birth sex, "no pronouns" is unambiguous. It means that the person doesn't want to be referred to with any of the pronouns above. The reason for that will vary from individual to individual, but shouldn't ultimately matter. Try to respect the request, as for some people it is very important.
Instead of using "he", "she", etc., use the person's name, nickname, or a noun phrase like "my colleague" (as appropriate).
If you mess up, that's understandable because of how English is. According to what I've heard, you shouldn't make such a big deal out of it: just correct yourself and continue. It's certainly not easy, but you can make it a little easier for yourself by practicing not using pronouns ahead of time.
To clarify, you will still address a person like this as "you" when in person, "we" if you're collaborating together, or even "they" when it's a group including that person and others. It's just that you should avoid using 3rd person singular pronouns (or singular they) for such a person. (It also indirectly means you shouldn't use gendered nouns either such as "woman", "son", and so on.)
See also What do you do when someone doesn’t use any pronouns?
Ask your professor. This is a life skill you should master. Speculating and asking other people what someone means--rather than directly asking them yourself--is inefficient and ineffective. It demonstrates a lack of candor and professional skills in dealing with others.
Based on present cultural context, presumably this academic does not literally mean that you need to avoid using pronouns --- presumably he just means that he does not like it when speakers "state their pronouns" when they introduce themselves and so he is choosing not to in his bio. There is nothing you have to do about this, other than being aware that this person is one of the many dissenters against the practice of stating one's pronouns in introductions and biographical information. Honestly, the kind of obtuseness required to pretend that this is all a mystery ---that this academic literally wants you to avoid all pronouns--- strikes me as part of the orthodoxy. It is what Orwell referred to as "Crimestop" or "protective stupidity".
Just apologize. Send them a note and tell them that you realize you made a mistake on their pronouns since they asked you not to use them, that you are sorry and you'll do better in the future.
How do others refer to them in third person? Do they not go by "they"? I find this a little confusing, so if you are also confused, you could take the opportunity to clarify how they prefer to be referred to in third person, so you can avoid another mistake.
Misgendering someone or otherwise flubbing pronouns is embarrassing, but it means a lot to people when you take the opportunity to recognize the wrongdoing and apologize. It signals that you take the matter seriously and you respect their wishes. What you definitely do not want to do is behave as if their transgender status is something to be hush hush about or as if pronouns cannot be discussed openly.
