Oddity Events has launched a guide for improving the
attendee experience for people with disabilities.
Inclusive Event Design for People with Disabilities: A
Playbook for Corporate Event Managers aims to raise awareness of the issue and
help corporate event teams start their journey to making events more accessible
and inclusive.
The guide was launched on Purple Tuesday, a global social
movement with a mission to improve the customer experience for disabled people
and their families, which takes place on the first Tuesday of November.
Last year, Oddity founder and director Lizzy Eaton
attended the launch of Purple Tuesday 2022 at Piccadilly Circus, hosted by
Landsec. Eaton then committed to training her team on inclusivity and
accessibility, with a view to improving the experience of people with
disabilities at corporate events.
Eaton said: “Inclusive and accessible event design is not
a choice, it’s a responsibility. By championing inclusive event design, we
create spaces where individuals feel welcome, valued and respected, and we
enrich the overall event experience. Our Playbook offers simple, effective
strategies that all event professionals can adopt. It is an in-depth,
research-based asset which will be a point of reference for event professionals
at every stage of their career, but it will also build a community of people
who want to drive positive change in the industry”.
Oddity conducted an events-specific, qualitative survey
on the experience of people with visible and hidden disabilities
Of the 31 respondents, 88 per cent said they feel more
confident about attending an event if they receive detailed information about
the venue and event layout in advance. More than half (55 per cent) of respondents
said they always research the accessibility of an event venue before deciding
to attend, while 50 per cent said they had had to leave an event because it was
inaccessible to them.
The virtual launch event took place on Tuesday 7 November,
with content including:
• An
interview with Purple Tuesday ambassadors Isaac Harvey MBE and Tom Ryan-Elliott
talking about their experiences as event contributors and attendees.
• A
discussion led by Diversity Ally founder Gabrielle Austen-Browne FRSA (she/her)
on how event teams can start their inclusion journey, secure senior stakeholder
buy-in, and trailblaze for positive change within their organisation.
• Amy
Phillips from ICC Wales on how the venue is delivering best practice in
inclusion and accessibility and how other venues can implement some quick wins
to improve the disabled customer experience.
You can download the
Playbook here.
