Looking ahead to our exciting product launch at Confex 2024
Imagine spending all that time and money planning an event, only to turn away a quarter of the people who want to attend. You wouldn't do that, right?
Well, that's exactly what you're doing if you don't consider the accessibility needs of disabled people. In the UK, there are 16 million disabled people, almost one in four people of working age*. That means that if you don't make your event accessible, you're excluding a significant portion of your potential audience.
Making events accessible
At Attendable, we’ve been banging the drum about the need to make events more inclusive and accessible, since we were established in 2020. We saw the rush online at the start of the first COVID pandemic lockdown and knew that people with disabilities were being excluded by poor tech and inaccessible online event platforms, and we knew we could do something about it.
It has now turned into a bit of a mission and, as well as designing and delivering events for our clients, we are passionate advocates for accessibility and inclusion in the events industry. Whether it’s solving the challenges of creating accessible events, creating a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere and environment for all attendees, or thinking about clear and concise communication about accessibility features and services: accessibility needs to encompass every element of an event.
Using tech to help solve the accessibility problem
Using the right tech, which is accessible, is often part of the process.
But we sometimes come across challenges where there isn’t an existing tech solution, and so we develop our own.
A couple of years’ ago we were looking at swag bag options for an event we were running. These are a staple of the event and conference world, often filled with merchandise and promotional products, and more recently branded cotton tote bags and recycled pens to try and up reusability and reduce waste.
We wanted a solution that worked for the online events we were running, were accessible, ticked the environmental box, but also wondered if we could make swag bags more effective for the modern world. But we couldn’t find anything that did the job - so we have developed our own!
Our exciting launch at Confex 2024
With that in mind, we are looking forward to launching a new product at Confex 2024. A bit of tech that every event organiser can use to help reward delegates and deliver engagement for sponsors and to make their event more memorable, valuable and effective.
We're excited to see you at Excel at stand B7C and speaking on the tech stage in February! Be sure to come by and say hello. And if you can't wait until then, get in touch for a preview or visit our website for more information.
Catherine Grinyer, Managing Director at Attendable
*Scope disability stats https://www.scope.org.uk/media/disability-facts-figures/