Equality of experience

For TechNExt 2023 we created the Good Festival Ambition, to ensure that everyone felt happy and confident to enjoy and participate in the full events programme. This ‘Good Festival Ambition’ has now been used as good practice for other events in our portfolio, focusing on inclusivity, diversity, accessibility, and sustainability, protecting our planet and creating a welcoming experience for all. We know that making sure that our spaces give an equitable experience to every guest is important so we wanted to speak to an expert on what that means in practice.

Catherine Grinyer, Managing Director at Attendable, a specialist consultant in making events more accessible shared her thoughts on how our sector can create truly equitable events in 2024. Catherine said, “I think it is our job as experts in the event industry to make sure that everyone has a good time, everyone can turn up and be themselves and participate fully. That means making sure that there are no barriers to accessing the content being discussed, to other people, or the perks being offered.

“I think most people go into this with good intentions, but if you think about something as simple as switching from a guest speaker to break-out groups, there are lots of things to consider. More sharing of information and collaboration on best practices is really important to move the industry forward. You need a push and a pull, as event planners we need to be having conversations about accessibility and inclusion with our clients, with venues, with suppliers, and with attendees. All of these components need to work in harmony to make lasting change and to ensure that every event is open to everyone.

“If you make an event inclusive you make it better for everyone, because every delegate will get more out of it, not just the people who are directly impacted.”

So, how can you start to take a meaningful action to focus on accessibility and inclusion at your events?

1. Build equity and diversity into your planning

Start thinking about DEI right at the beginning of the event planning process. At BeaconHouse we begin every new project by thinking about why you are doing this event in the first place, and once we have worked with the client to agree on the purpose, that’s when we can start to plan how people from different groups and communities participate, and what we need to know to establish how they might need to access things a little differently. DEI isn’t a quick-fix add-on, it should be a holistic part of your event strategy from day one.

Considering the individual needs of your guests in advance can impact other areas of the planning process too, like your emergency evacuation planning. If you are organising a large-scale event, or it’s outside or in a high-rise building, understanding who is there and what their accessibility needs are will help you to plan for every eventuality. You can be confident that everybody knows their role and what might be required.

2. Think about how to make your event barrier-free to attend and participate in

While you might think having captions or a BSL signer is enough, it is important to consider how the logistics of your event may impact how people can take part. Consider a scenario where your delegates move from watching a keynote speaker to small group discussions – a blind or hearing-impaired guest suddenly has to navigate switching tables, background noise, or multiple conversations at once which could be a barrier to how meaningfully they can participate. There are some quite easy workarounds to navigate through each situation, it just takes a bit of thoughtful planning. Whether it is thinking about the height of the microphones for people who are of smaller stature or in a wheelchair, or making sure gangways are clear of clutter. Often it isn’t about reinventing the wheel. Still, by focusing on the smaller details and speaking to people impacted rather than taking a broad-brush approach, we can move the needle and make events truly accessible.

3. Consider pre and post-event communications

Making an event barrier-free includes all of the marketing and communications that surround an event. A good example of this would be how your registration form is designed and whether you have considered whether the event management system is visually accessible. For many years people with additional needs were too frightened to voice what support they might need because it may mean being excluded entirely. With each event, we make a conscious effort to let people know what we have already put in place to create an inclusive environment, in the hope that it will encourage others to tell us more. By sending out accessibility information for the venue and any pertinent information in advance to all delegates you’re empowering them to feel fully prepared as well as not adding to the mental load by asking them to consider and plan things that other guests simply don’t have to think about. This could be a little video of the venue which shows transport routes, multiple entrances, bathrooms, and quiet spaces and while this might seem like a lot of work, it pays huge dividends as everyone there can now fully relax, enjoy the event, and have meaningful input.

4. It’s ok to ask questions

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, ultimately an individual is experiencing your event, and that experience will be nuanced. It is common practice to ask people what their dietary requirements are in the lead-up to an event, but far less common to only consider physical access needs rather than a wide range of accessibility requirements. Instead of simply telling people “This is what we have done to make our event barrier-free” we should also be asking “What else can we do to support you and your individual needs?”. Events are all about people, community, and bringing people together. By asking the in-depth questions to really understands each individuals needs you can adapt to the real people who are attending not just a theory of what a person with neurodivergence or a physical disability may need.

5. Train your front-of-house teams on best practice

Once you have asked questions and established what your audience needs, it’s time to put that information into practice. Has your front-of-house team been trained to understand and adapt to people who have different or additional needs? Issues can be easily avoided by briefing teams on details such as alternative entrances and extra support so they are equipped to confidently help everyone equally when they first enter the space.

Alongside training our team so they are confident and comfortable supporting all delegates, we also work with venues to support their internal staff to prepare for a wide range of delegate requirements. Recently we have put a buddy system in place for anyone nervous about attending on their own so they can access additional support while on site.

6. Focus on structure

The word ‘networking’ can strike fear in a lot of people, but if you are neurodivergent there may be an extra layer of uncertainty when it comes to the less structured moments in the schedule. While event planners might think that it is a nice break from a packed schedule, for some people this might be overwhelming if they have to navigate having to approach new people or start conversations cold. Neurodivergence is a broad spectrum so this of course doesn’t apply to everyone, but these are some of the internal barriers that a neurodivergent person might have.

One way of mitigating this is by communicating specific tasks or talking points that can be used throughout the session; both are ways of making sure that everyone can fully participate, add their ideas and expertise to conversations, and make meaningful connections.

While there have been improvements in the sector, DEI still tends to sit in silo, rather than holistically being part of the event planning process. At BeaconHouse we are committed to learning from experts in the field of accessibility and diversity and from the communities that take part in our events to continuously learn, improve, and share best practices.

To speak to the team at BeaconHouse Events about your event ambitions for 2024/25 email info@beaconhouse-events.com or call 0191 691 3456.