About the event

A meeting of a working group.

Date

23 and 24 October 2024

Location

Cobalt Studios, Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne

Organising committee

ess Adams, Emma Beavis, Natasha Mauthner, and other members of the Reimagining Leadership project.

Questions and Answers

What aspects of accessibility did you focus on at this conference/event, and why?

After colleagues from this project helpfully advised us that it wasn’t best practice to simply ask for accessibility requests, our focus was on was providing people with as much information as possible about the event in advance – we discuss this in more detail below.

Our other big focus was on making the programme as accessible as possible. We are working with a transdisciplinary group from a range of backgrounds and wanted to make sure that the content could be engaged with in a meaningful way by everyone.

How did you ensure that the conference/event venue was physically accessible?

We visited the venue multiple times before the event. We did walkthroughs of all the different spaces and took photographs so that people could review accessibility based on their individual requirements and hopefully be reassured about what was available.

What communication about accessibility did you provide leading up to and during the conference/event? Were any changes made to the online registration process (inc. asking about accessibility needs)?

We provided a full accessibility briefing to attendees which included physical access to the building and such things as quiet spaces, and space for nursing or for prayer. We tried to be as comprehensive as possible and read some articles that were recommended which had good lists of requirements. We recognise that for some others it's difficult to include every potential accessibility requirement, but we hope that we made things a little bit easier for people attending the retreat.

In our post-event debriefing, and following some advice we received, we decided to present the information slightly differently next time, so that people can have, for example, links within a document so they can read the information which is relevant to them, rather than being faced with a massive document with loads of information.

What adjustments did you make when arranging catering, to aid inclusion and accessibility?

We had lunch at a café so we checked with the café in advance that they would be able to cater for all the additional dietary requirements colleagues had told us about. Our venue did provide us with drinks and snacks throughout the day and they were very conscious to make sure that alternatives were available, like a range of different milks. We forgot to ask them about providing decaffeinated black tea for a colleague who is breastfeeding but remembered for future events!

Did you provide any additional signage during the conference/event?

We printed out some ‘Room in Use’ signs so that if people wanted to use the designated quiet space, they could pop that on the door and be comfortable that they wouldn't be interrupted. While we did provide a lot of information in advance, it probably would have been good to have a few more signs on the day. But one of the first things we did was introduce members of the core team. We made people aware of who had knowledge of the venue (and who the welfare contacts for the day were), so there were plenty of people to ask, including venue staff themselves, if someone wasn't sure where they could go to carry out a certain activity.

Were any accessibility adjustments made during sessions?

As well as the welfare contacts, we had accessibility contacts listed so that if people found that there was anything that they were struggling with during the two days, or anything that could be better, we tried to be very open in asking them to come and speak to us.

For example, some people found the lighting in the room a little bit dark at first, so we were able to ask the venue to adjust that immediately to make a difference there. We also struggled to get the sound levels right, and it was helpful when colleagues told us to just keep the music off – there was enough chatter from attendees to ensure that the event had some atmosphere.

Was the conference/event online, in person, or hybrid?

We were really committed to having a good hybrid offering. It wasn't perfect at first on the first morning and we had to make some quick adjustments during a break. However we're comfortable that we tried to make the best use of what we had and we did get feedback that people who joined us for hybrid sessions were able to engage in a variety of sessions, including the small group work.

We thought it was important to have a hybrid facilitator for every session throughout the two days. This role was shared among members of the core team and they were briefed in advance. Their role was to ensure that anyone joining online was able to see and hear the content and also be able to post questions and engage. We also made it clear that how they wished to engage was their preference. So for example, if they wanted to ask a question, the hybrid facilitator could ask it on their behalf or arrange for the laptop to be taken off silent so that they were able to ask the question themselves or make a comment.

We received advice from a member of staff who was going to join the event online. She recommended that prior to the event we went to the venue and tested the sound. That advice was invaluable because we ended up with quite a complicated audio set up, but one that worked. If we hadn't tested that in advance, we would have really struggled on the day to connect those people who were online.

Did you provide any additional accessibility support, such as a sensory room or childcare, or by signposting to central NU services like prayer rooms, quiet rooms, nursing rooms?

We weren’t on campus so couldn’t signpost central NU services – instead we identified spaces in the building for additional components.

Were there any barriers to accessibility that arose during the conference/event?

We’re not sure it’s possible to organise an event that has zero barriers to accessibility, so there are a few we can think of! We’ve already mentioned initial challenges in terms of hybrid events, and issues with the lighting and noise. We also had some challenges within our team in terms of finding the resources for some of this work – but now that we have the systems in place, it is much easier to do it again.

Final reflections: Is there anything you would do different next time?

Some of this work might feel overwhelming at first but for any future events we will just build on what we’ve done and adapt. We basically think we’ve done the bulk of the work. Hopefully it's something that we can keep improving on through the life of our project.

We also think that we got a lot more out of people who felt comfortable and prepared. We got some really positive feedback about their ability to engage because we had done that preparation work. Even though there was a bit of preparation for us to do, the benefits massively outweighed this, because it enabled people to engage confidently and be comfortable to attend knowing that they could contribute in a way that worked for them.

One thing we would consider for future events is maybe investing in some equipment, for example an integrated camera microphone that can sit in the middle of a of a venue, rather than having something on the edge. Hopefully if we're able to use our accessibility budget for that, it will be something that can be used not just within our team, but for other people through the university.

What is your message for other conference/event organisers about accessibility?

This work takes a little bit of time, but it’s not difficult. So even if you can’t do everything, you can definitely make some tweaks for your next event, and then some more for the one after that...