Breaking barriers: navigating inclusivity in event planning 

Events include so much communication, from registration through to onsite signage and everything in between. The thought of reviewing every element to accommodate all audiences can be daunting, so where do we begin? 

JENNA: The key is considering inclusivity at the first stage of the planning process. Making your event accessible shouldn't be considered a compromise, but a way to enhance the overall experience for all delegates. 

ORLA: In the first stages of planning, you need to budget for accessibility. There’s a myth that accessibility is expensive, but it’s not. With compromise and creativity, there’s no compromise if accessibility is planned into everything from the beginning. Compromise happens when you’re trying to incorporate accessibility into an event that’s days away and not designed for access. 

JENNA: We must accept that, from the statistics, there are disabled people attending every event. Captions are huge - Netflix reports 63 per cent of their audiences have captions on all the time, and people with hearing loss, neurodiverse people, and those with English as a second language, plus younger audiences, all expect captions to be available. 

ORLA: Accessibility starts before your event. Your registration site needs to be simple for those with mobility impairment, or people using screen readers, and we should be testing our registration systems before publishing them. 

JENNA: I also think it’s testing them with these audiences in mind, not just looking for grammatical or copywriting errors or technical bugs. That’s going to need to be a mindset shift for our industry. 

ORLA: The question I see on registration sites is: Do you have any access requirements? Instead, we should ask: Is there anything we can provide to help you engage in this event, such as captions, a sign language interpreter, a quiet room, or copies of presentations before or after the event? This is a much more inviting question and likely to attract groups who would not think to ask for such provisions. Incorporating accessibility features from the start negates the question. Instead, you can share your inclusive features, showcasing that you’re thinking about all delegates. 

What do you think the biggest challenge for clients is when it comes to making events more inclusive? 

JENNA: One of the main challenges for clients is fear of getting it wrong or using the wrong language and offending someone. I think that a lot of eventprofs have the right intentions but don't know where to start or aren't confident communicating about this topic. Asking delegates what would help them, rather than making assumptions is very important. 

ORLA: We all know language changes all the time and it’s the same in this sector. We’re always learning and looking to describe people in ways that they are comfortable with. If you’re unsure of how to help, ask. Don’t assume you know best, it’s ok not to know. 

Other than the obvious reason of doing the right thing, are there any other benefits to having more accessible events? 

ORLA: Accessibility benefits everyone. For example, at an event using headphones for talks recently, one was full and there were no headsets left. But because we had live captioning, people were able to access it and stand outside the area; all commented on the accuracy and the usefulness of it. 

JENNA: What I’ve found is that making events accessible has been thought-provoking for the organisations we work with and led to change in their workplaces outside of their events, when they think about internal communications and the office environment.