How to Create More Welcoming Events
10/19/2018
In a Smart Monday session at IMEX 2018 named “Redesigning Inclusive and Welcoming Events by Overcoming Unconscious Bias,” presenters Mariela Mcilwraith, director, industry advancement, EIC and Tahira Endean, event producer, TahiraCreates, focused on ways planners can consider the perspectives and needs of potential participants to design events that are inclusive and accessible to all.
According to Endean, the goal for the interactive session was to understand that there is unconscious bias and how our perceptions affect our attitudes and behaviors toward individuals based on this.
Creating Inclusive Meetings for Everyone
Much of the dialogue among participants focused on catering to attendees with disabilities. The presenters shared the statistic that about 15 percent of the world’s population lives with some form of disability of whom 2-4 percent experience significant difficulties in functioning.
Some suggestions were shared on how to prepare for attendees with disabilities, starting with the attendee registration process. One participant proposed going beyond simply asking whether attendees have mobility issues during registration and asking more specific questions such as, are you mobile enough to take one or two steps onto a motor coach or other form of transportation being used?
Another participant noted that planners should budget for accommodating attendees. In her example, she didn’t account for someone who was hearing impaired, which added $10k to the budget.
https://www.imexamerica.com/whats-on/smart-monday
