Is Your Event ADA-Compliant?

Tips to Ensure Your Event is Accessible - Both Online and In-Person

Event planners have a long list of responsibilities: choosing a venue, finding hotel accommodations, booking speakers, and scheduling workshops and panels—all while trying to make the experience engaging for attendees. However, in the hubbub of planning an event, it’s easy to forget about accessibility.

With  1.3 billion people—or 16% of the world’s population—facing significant disability in their lifetime, today’s events and platforms must be ADA-accessible to ensure all attendees have a positive experience.

I. Making Your In-person Events Inclusive

With the new focus on the digital experience, it’s easy to forget that in-person events must also be inclusive. And while making your venue ADA-compliant helps attendees with disabilities feel cared for, it can also improve the overall quality for everyone in your audience. Here are four tips to consider for your in-person events:

1. Captioning and Language
To ensure guests with hearing impairments and speakers of different languages are not left out, use live transcriptions as a visual aid. This means all presenters should have open captions transcribing their words in real-time—whether via human “captioners” or AI speech recognition (which often functions better than human translators). Guests can read these captions on monitors, television screens, and projectors throughout the event.

2. Create Presentations and Coach Speakers
Everyone learns differently. Proper visual aids, combined with the guidance of an experienced speaker, help deliver the message to an audience of diverse learners. Send your speakers branding guidelines beforehand and assist them in crafting visually compelling presentations. Before the event occurs, guarantee that graphic and video content can be supported by the venue’s technology. Finally, offer coaching and feedback to your speakers so they can perform at their very best.

With 1.3 billion people—or 16% of the world’s population—facing significant disability in their lifetime, today’s events and platforms must be ADA-accessible to ensure all attendees can have a positive experience.

3. Accommodations and Restaurants
For a venue to be ADA-compliant, all transportation, hotel, restaurant, and event accommodations must be accessible. Worried your accommodations don’t meet ADA requirements? Ensure they match the criteria by following the ADA compliance checklist.

4. Activities
When considering activities for your event, remember to include easily accessible options for people with disabilities. For example, if you’re hosting a conference in Las Vegas and you plan a hiking trip to visit the Grand Canyon, set up a simultaneous option to see a comedy show so that nobody feels excluded. A variety of options will benefit everyone.

2. Ensuring Your Online Platform is Accessible

Post-pandemic, the global virtual events industry is poised to grow substantially. Valued at more than $114 billion in 2021, the market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.4% from 2022 to 2030, according to recent research. Bottom line? Online events are here to stay, and event planners must ensure that the at-home experience is accessible to everyone.

According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), there are three levels of compliance: A, AA, and AAA. Most organizations strive to meet AA compliance, a requirement for all government platforms. What does it take to achieve an AA ranking? Here are three things to look for:

1. Visual and Auditory Assistance 

Dictation. For the visually impaired, AA compliance means the platform can “speak” to the user using screen readers, allowing attendees to navigate the software without seeing it. A website that meets these requirements also supports photo descriptions—allowing users to hear narrated depictions of visual content.

Video Relay Services. For those with hearing impairments, a Video Relay Service (VRS) facilitates communication via ASL, delivered via video. Many providers offer this service with different types of sign language, if necessary.

Captions. For speakers of a different language, live content should offer close captioning, while on-demand videos should provide transcriptions.

2. Website Design

Formatting. To ensure the website is easy to read, AA compliance requires there to be a significant contrast in lettering. The text also should be large enough to be read from certain distances.

Color and design elements. Verify that all “clickable” aspects of the platform are apparent. There should be clear distinctions between font, color, and size so that the text easily guides users to different parts of the website.

While making your venue ADA-compliant helps attendees with disabilities feel cared for, accessibility also improves the overall quality for everyone in your audience.

3. Technology Elements

Mobile and tablet usability. Chances are that many members of your audience will not be using large monitors or laptops. Ensuring your content can be consumed on multiple device-types expands accessibility to more attendees.

Add new technology. Including the latest tech can make a virtual experience more enjoyable – while positioning your company as forward-thinking. Event planners should consider how accessible new technologies – like virtual reality and artificial intelligence (AI) – are before moving forward.

Wondering if your platform is accessible? An easy way to check is by entering your URL into a free validator tool, which will flag spots that are less accessible or don’t meet the criteria.

Accessibility Protects Everyone

Making your events ADA-compliant is not only the right thing to do—it can also help your company avoid legal problems. In 2021, more than 11,400 accessibility-related lawsuits were filed against companies in the US, according to the Society for Human Resource Management—a 320% increase from 2013. Partnering with a knowledgeable event production company to ensure ASA compliance is met removes this worry from your list of uncertainties. This ensures everyone in your audience is taken care of while also eliminating any distractions from the important message of your event.

Worried about staying compliant? With nearly 50 years of experience helping companies plan and produce large events, Stagedge has you covered. Check out our website for more information.