8.7 Sustainability and Inclusivity

Sustainability and inclusivity are two filters that should color every aspect of event planning. Although events can have a wide range of goals overall, they should not do any harm to the environment, the local community, or the guests. Sustainability in event planning means creating events that reduce the negative environmental impact and support the responsible use of all resources. Good planners should take a step back from decisions and ask themselves if this is the best use of that resource. The greater good of the environment should outweigh the needs of the event. Finding sustainable options throughout the whole planning process will ensure that the event is as green as possible and that the best use of resources is being managed at every turn.

The Benefits to Inclusivity

Creating events that are inclusive means that no harm should come to any guests. Events should be warm, welcoming, and inviting. Thinking through how a guest will “feel” at each stage of the event, from invitation to travel, to check in, through the programming, and even after they leave the event, will help the planner to make the best decisions. Ultimately, if guests don’t feel like they belong at the event, they won’t buy a ticket, they won’t attend, and they may not engage with the brand/company in the future. Knowing the intended demographics and designing the event to their needs to be the first step to each individual planning decision.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Events must also align with the corporate social responsibility of the client. The corporate social responsibility, or CSR, of a client is its moral or ethical beliefs. Clients may be passionate about ethical labor laws, animal rights, or climate change, for example. All planners must adhere to laws that govern ethics, such as paying minimum wage or hiring vendors that have the correct permits and licenses to work in their industry. CRS takes those laws one step further. If, for instance, your client was passionate about animal rights, a portion of the ticket sales may go to the local animal shelter, the meals may be vegetarian, and an “adopt-a-kitten” booth may be set up in the lobby area. CRS may also be more subtle and cumulative over time. Major brands are leaning towards being carbon-neutral by a certain time. A longer-term end goal in a CRS plan will give planners a goal to work towards when creating events. The CRS of a client should also align with the CRS of the intended event attendee demographic. If these align well and are incorporated in various aspects of the event, the attendees can be more likely to attend, participate, purchase secondary products, donate funds, or attend future events as repeat guests. It is important for a planner to fully understand the unique corporate social responsibility standards of a client before planning their event so that as many aspects of the event as possible can reflect these standards.

Green Events

Green events are loosely defined as events that have a focus on being environmentally friendly. Green practices can range from recycling to energy efficiency to reducing the carbon footprint of the event. Any good event should look at its environmental impact. Green events take that assessment one step further and run each event’s logistics through an environmental screening process. Planners of green events sometimes have KPIs (key performance indicators). KPIs for green events could be to only use 100% recyclable products, to encourage bottle filling station use for 70% of their guests, to be carbon neutral, or to reduce their carbon footprint by a certain percentage each year. Having KPIs associated with green initiatives is a good way to track progress and identify success. Green events can even hold green certification levels. There are several state and local agencies that have green certification standards. If an event meets those standards, it can be “certified” as a green event. This certification designation may align with the client’s CRS standards, be a KPI goal of the event, or may resonate with the intended demographic. Events can be resource-heavy for power consumption, carbon emissions created in guest travel, and waste created with leftover catering items, program printing, and unused swag. All events should work hard to reduce their resource usage and to make as little impact on the environment as possible.

Accessibility and ADA Compliance

Accessibility and ADA compliance are not only factors that affect event planning decisions, but they also hold legal ramifications for some events. Accessibility is a broad term used to describe how comfortable a wide range of attendees would be at and traveling to the event. Examples of this would be if the wheelchair venue is accessible or there are several stairs to the entryway. How difficult is it to hear in the space? Are there a lot of echoes or background noise? Is the event located in an area where guests would have to park a long distance away and walk? Are the doorways, seats, or alleyways abnormally narrow? These are some of the factors that may make attending the event limiting or uncomfortable for some guests. Creating legal standards around these accessibility questions is what is included in the ADA Compliance Standards, also known as the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA Act [KT] was established in 1990 to protect Americans from discrimination against a disability. The law also mandates that anyone with disabilities has equal rights to employment, transportation, and public accommodations. The full law can be viewed at the ADA website. The ADA law has also been updated to reflect accessibility standards in a digital space. This is important for virtual or hybrid events. It may also affect events that have online registration portals, event websites, or event apps. Digital accessibility standards include items like easy-to-read text colors, alternative text for photos, subtitles, and hierarchy accessibility structure for websites. The purpose of including the digital space in accessibility standards is to accommodate individuals were vision, hand dexterity, or cognition affects their ability to navigate a digital world. For instance, visually impaired individuals sometimes use a website reader program that will verbalize the text and images on a website. If an event website embedded a graphic that has key information like a discount code in it that has not included alternative text to the meta data in the image the text reader cannot read it, and the guest then does not have access to the same level of information and access as a guest that does not need to use a website reader. In this instance, the event planner can be at fault for inaccessibility and in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Severe violations can result in legal action being taken against the planner or client. Knowing accessibility standards and the laws within the ADA Act is the responsibility of the planner and the planner’s team.

Attributions

1. Figure 8.11: Earth Day, by Berea College, is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
2. Figure 8.12: First Disability Pride Parade in New York City, by Devra Berkowitz, is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.