The Event Service Professionals Association (ESPA) has introduced a new accessibility toolkit for meetings and events. The free downloadable resource guide was created to help hotels, convention centers, destinations, and venues be more inclusive and accessible.
ESPA sought input from meeting planners and its 500 members from throughout the country to create the toolkit, which will be a living document that evolves over time. The toolkit is designed sequentially, starting from an attendee’s arrival at a destination airport to ground transportation, lodging, meeting venues, and off-site venues, tours, and attractions. The guide also includes a resource list that can be customized.
The association developed its first accessibility resource, “Project Access: Accessible Meetings FAQs,” in 2018 to help event service professionals provide more guidance to meeting planners.
Former ESPA President Denise Suttle, CMP, fast-tracked the Project Access initiative after her team at Visit Albuquerque noticed an increase in the number of questions that event planners were asking about accessibility.
“As event service professionals, we are the ones who find the answers that ensure successful events for all attendees,” says Denise Reid, current ESPA president and event planning manager at Hyatt Centric French Quarter New Orleans. “We must be at the forefront of accommodating people with varying abilities—some of which are invisible to others—and communicate options to meeting planners in advance.”
Earlier in 2023, prior to introducing a new accessibility toolkit for meetings and events, ESPA launched a downloadable DEI guide to help members infuse the spirit of diversity, equity, and inclusion at events. The guide focuses on three areas: education, inclusive marketing, and supplier diversity.
ESPA is dedicated to elevating the event and convention services profession and to preparing members through education and networking for their role in innovative and successful event execution.
