The EventBuzz podcast
The EventBuzz podcast
#51 - A Discussion on Creating Accessible Events
Award-winning speaker and advocate for mental health and invisible disabilities, Kristin Light, joins the show to help navigate mental illnesses and events. Topics include creating an accessible registration page, event website and marketing campaigns as well as different types of disabilities to consider.
Savannah (Purplepass):
On this week's episode of The EventBuzz podcast we will be talking with event marketing specialists Kristen light, co founder of Refvik and Light Productions in Toronto, Canada. Her company manage and maximize the potential for distinctly unique event spaces prior to the pandemic. She is now an award winning speaker and published author who speaks out to provide real insight and practical strategies that demystify the facts surrounding mental illness, and neurodiversity using inspirational and often hilarious stories from her own personal and professional life.
So let's welcome to the show. Kristen light. Hi Kristen, thanks for coming onto the show. We are excited to have you. How are you doing this morning?
Kristin Light:
I'm great. Thank you so much for inviting me on this is fabulous.
Savannah:
Yes. So I went ahead and let the listeners know a little bit about you. But I wanted to ask you personally how you got your start in this space and becoming this expert in mental health and invisible disabilities that we're going to talk about later?
Kristin:
Sure, I sort of came at this particular topic from two completely opposite directions. I was enjoying and pursuing and growing and events career at the same time as desperately hiding my own invisible disabilities throughout the process. And the two came to a bit of a head in 2017. When I had a new events, business, everything was great. We were growing fast getting tons of bookings in this venue that I was managing. And yeah, I suffered a complete mental breakdown and ended up hospitalized for five weeks initially. And then they brought me back for an additional three weeks after that.
And sorry to throw it out there so blunt everyone, but yeah, it was not a great time and got the scars to prove it. And it took I took about six months off work because I had to, which was of course financially horrible. And I remember the first event I came back to was a New Year's Eve wedding, which is probably anyone that works in events knows that's probably the most boisterous, large, loud noises that you could ossibly come back to. And it was, I barely made it through the ceremony before I had to I had to get out of there. So over the last couple of years, this having come out the other side of it, I feel it's important to talk about these issues, especially in what I call invisible disabilities of the mind.
So anything under the Mental Health or neurodiversity categories, as well as some of the invisible physical disabilities, because we're not petri dishes, right? These things overlap in a lot of us and I think especially in entertainment and service based industries. I think there's a lot of fear. There's a lot of fear on the part of us as the individuals to admit when we're struggling. And there's a lot of fear misunderstood and misunderstanding, misinformation on the event side of things as well, in terms of how to make an environment that is welcoming for folks without forcing them to disclose.
Savannah:
Yeah, yeah. And I, I like the term invisible disabilities, because that's what, that's what it is. I mean, of course, we have the physical ones, but there are so many ones we don't see. Especially, you would never know. Yeah. And people hide it really well. And a lot of times people don't even realize that they're dealing with it. You know what I mean? So...
Kristin:
Oh yeah, we hide from ourselves very well sometimes.
Savannah:
Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes I'm like, What was that just came out? Yeah. Yeah. So that leads into my next question is talking about these disabilities in the event space? When we hear disabilities, what usually comes to mind, like we said, when planning events, especially, is creating dedicated wheelchair spaces, you know, mobility spaces, maybe spots their aids, just all the physical things we see. And it tends to stop there. So I wanted to talk to you about the invisible disabilities that are often that you think are often overlooked at events and show how these planners can kind of negate that.
Kristin:
Well, first, I want to say that obviously having this discussion about the visible disabilities doesn't negate the importance of accommodating those the visible ones. As well, 00% site visits for mobility for rural with the aides for whether or not service animals can be in that these are all extremely important as well. We are not by any means, negating those.
In terms of the invisible, though, gets little more complicated because there are 1000s of disabilities that fall into the invisible category. In fact, 96% of disabilities fall under the invisible category, which is insane, we've only been preparing for 4% which is nuts. So and yay for those 4%, I'm glad we're doing that there's still more to do in that area. But when you get into the invisible, I made a long list of things that folks with various invisible disabilities will have to consider when looking at an event and whether or not to even attend it. And on the physical side of invisible disabilities, physical side, we could be looking at anything from rheumatoid arthritis to M.S., Crohns, chronic pain conditions, diabetes, and they could still be looking at mobility for themselves availability of seating. Is it general seating?
Is it reserved?
Can they bring a support worker in free?
Is there going, ae there enough restrooms?
Where are the restrooms?
How big are the restrooms? Are they private?
Type of lighting that's going to be there?
Is there an ability to exit on a moment's notice if you have a medical emergency or a panic overload?
Or the charging stations for devices.
I'm just listing off a ton of stuff here. And when we get into the mental and neurological side even more things like audience participation requirements, is there a social networking in person or afterwards or before are there requirements for networking? Background noise color, this one's super interesting, whether it's white noise, brown noise, green noise, pink noise, different people will respond differently. And for some, it may only be a minor inconvenience for others who can actually cause physical pain.
So these are things to consider overall noise volume, is it harsh or low lighting? Some conditions come with photophobia, which certain types of lighting can cause again, actual pain.
Are there quiet breaks spaces where they can be some people can escape if they just need to recharge the batteries themselves for a few minutes?
I can go on for hours on this. I know we'll be here forever, but it's just a lot of things that people will need to consider. And when you're building your registration page, for your event, you can you can head up a lot of these things simply with information.
Savannah:
That's a good idea so that they can be prepared.
Kristin:
Exactly. And they can each individual attendee can make this an informed decision on whether or not this event is going to be within their abilities and beneficial or comfortable, or if they need to request additional accommodations.
And on that topic, having multiple ways that they can contact the organizers is brilliant. Traditionally, we've had phone numbers, and then we replaced phone numbers with emails. But depending on your particular set of circumstances, one or the other one will be great. And the other will be your personal health. So it's great to have both for sure.
Savannah:
Yeah, some people do texting now even like yeah.
Kristin:
So I love live chat myself, espeically if they do a text over live chat, especially anonymous. Personally I deal with major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety is suicidal ideations and chronic pain condition as well. And if I can get an answer immediately without having to disclose my phone number cool.
Savannah:
Yeah, no, I love live chat, too. Hey, that is a great idea, because I was going to ask you about making the registration process more accessible. And I'd even think about because it is overwhelming, especially as event planner that does want to make sure they accommodate for everyone is it's hard to do that. Like you said, there's a list a mile long. So adding, that's a really good idea and it's super simple, but that's a really good idea to kind of add this descriptive list of the event and what they can expect and, and like you said...
Kristin:
Well the good thing about a lot of these accommodations that we'll talk about is they may be essential for someone with disabilities, but there's still going to be nice bonuses for everyone else. So on your registration page, for example, we all love teasers and being able to roll information out gradually and that's all great, but it's not great if you're trying to plan around specific requirements.
So the soonest you can put out a full schedule, the better. Even if you don't have let's say all of your speakers planned or all the specifics. If the sooner you can put that schedule out the better that shows what like timer doors versus when is the event itself? One are the networking breaks? Because for some folks, it's a case of managing energy throughout the day as well. Mental energy, physical energy and knowing how many breaks there are in a day, or what is the walking to trade show for part of it. That can be helpful.
A venue map. It's amazing how many events don't release a menu maps. You see it for trade shows. But beyond that, not very often. And again, for some folks, knowing where the washrooms are knowing where the benches receding are, knowing where quiet spaces, might be if they have support animals, where they can take them because they gotta pee, too. So knowing where to go during the event, where the drop off, is outside for transit, as well as parking. These are all things to keep in mind.
And then they just want to throw out a couple of quickies here. When you're building let's see a website, to for your events to put as much of the text as you can, which I hope is all of it in actual text, so not flattened into an image. And the reason for that is for screen readers. And for anyone that may be visually impaired. The screen readers are really great nowadays, but they're not as consistent with picking texts up that's been flattened into a JPEG. So if you have this great JPEG of an event flyer, and you just stick that on your registration page and call it done. That's not going to be very accessible.
And the other big tip I give people in terms of very varying degrees of visual challenges, color blindness, etc. Can your images be printed in black and white and still be discerned? Your you know, your whole there's a you can find charts that say what color text over what color background, etc, etc. And that gets really annoying. Just print that sucker.
Savannah:
That's a good idea. It's a good point.
Kristin:
It's a totally late 90s trick, but it works. If you print it and the color depths are such that it all blends together, then somebody with visual impairment is gonna have a lot of trouble with that.
Savannah:
So many little things that you just don't, don't realize or think about. And then you're like, it's easy to do and include, but you just don't think about it.
Kristin:
Well, and that's okay, because we're all learning here. I mean, I, even while making this list, me as an event planner, I made mistakes, oh my goodness, I made events that were inaccessible to myself, which is when you hear about it now, but we're all learning and there's been huge progress in the last, you know, 10 years and even during the pandemic, in terms of virtual events. We made leaps and bounds of progress.
Savannah:
Oh, yeah. And that was the other thing I was going to ask you about what you feel what your opinion is on virtual or hybrid events, if you recommend them for your accessibility?
Kristin:
Absolutely. If possible, I mean, it obviously depends on the type of event you're doing. If it's a, you know, restaurant tasting, it's going to be not as exciting actually. But it's still important to have that option where possible. And I'm sure you've you can have all kinds of wonderful virtual and hybrid event experts that can say how to make them, the experience is a little more equal in terms of excitement.
One of my favorite virtual tips, is, if you have speakers, we usually have keynote speakers as part of events that's very common, rather than having them do PowerPoint slides, in which they share their screen and the speaker space disappears. And now all you see is a big PowerPoint screen, use a system like Ecamm, for example, that does text overlay on your image so what will happen then is your you reposition your cameras, your like a newscaster your faces along one side, and then your slide is along the other side. So people that are reading lips, for example, can still do so, there's still place for closed captioning. And for some it's even with varying degrees of neurodiversity, it can be helpful to see the face of the speaker and see the information alongside.
It's just a little thing that is ridiculously inexpensive to do. That can just help make things that little bit more generally accessible.
Savannah:
Yeah, and it will go a long way and people will appreciate it just like anything in events. It's the little details that people really pick up up and appreciate and I think remember.
Kristin:
Yeah, it's fascinating. You'll sometimes leave an event knowing you had a great time, but you won't be able to identify why.
Savannah:
Yeah. Yeah. Just general feeling. Yeah. Yeah. But then there's like also a little thing that's, that will stick in your brain, you'll be like, well, this event like, they are amazing, because they did this one small thing. And yeah. That's a great tip. Because I like virtual hybrid events, I think they are great. Just for it just for reaching more people and having more people involved. And I think like, even for education, long distance families, I can't be there. So I think they are amazing.
Kristin:
And it sets you up for having a available replays of the talks, which, especially for people with disabilities, having the ability to replay during times when you're feeling better, and better able to absorb the information. Really helpful enough, is not restricted to people with disabilities. Everybody goes through fluctuating degrees of mental health and attention during the days. It's just great to have the options.
Savannah:
Yeah. And do you have any other any tips that might carry also over to the marketing side of things to reach people? Even like making your marketing accessible?
Kristin:
Yes, please use Sans Serif fonts. Oh, my goodness. It's very popular the last few years to use calligraphy styles. There's a modern calligraphy style. Very, you'll see it on every wedding invitation you've probably been to in the last five years. It's beautiful. And it's really difficult to read if you have any visual impairment, or dyslexia of any kind, it even dyspraxia can have trouble with it. Yes, it's beautiful, but good ol Arial and Verdana gets it done. Yeah, it really does.
And when you're marketing your event, first of all, I'm going to I'm going to drop a website here, I have nothing to do with this website it's just really great.
Savannah:
Oh, yeah. And I'll link it below to whatever you're suggestion.
Kristin:
Great, accessible dash social.com. Okay, this is a fabulous website full of really practical tips for your social media marketing, in terms of how to tweak things to be more accessible in terms of which trends you can do and still be accessible and which ones really don't work. With screenwriting, reading visual impairment, and it's not just alt tags, I mean, alt tags are great alt text is brilliant. Things like your hashtags, typing them out in camel case, which means every word is capitalized. That first screen reader makes the difference between absolute gobbly gook and knowing what it's saying. And there's two classic examples of screaming leaders having too much fun with hashtags and one is with the Super Bowl every year.
Hashtag superb owl trends every year right around the Superbowl. Because depending on which letter you capitalize, you get super bowl or super vowel and the other famous one from quite quite a few years ago, but it's still hilarious. was when America's Got Talent, I believe contestant Susan Doyle had her first album release party.
Savannah:
Oh, I remember her.
Kristin:
Yeah, yeah. And the hashtag was Susan album party. But they didn't capitalize it. So screen readers read it out as soon Sus-Anal-Bum party. Which is hilarious still 10 years later? And is the classic example that we use for the camel case in hashtags.
Savannah:
Okay. Yeah, I'll definitely link that and share because that seems really helpful. Because social medias is a big chunk of marketing.
Kristin:
It's huge.
Savannah:
So that makes sense.
Kristin:
Well, a lot of things are changing. Even with social you can do closed captioning. You can request closed captioning on an Instagram real even if the Creator didn't put it there. \
Savannah:
That's cool.
Kristin:
Yeah, there's been even in the last week and a half there's been some pretty big TikTok and Instagram are really upping the good game. It's great.
Savannah:
Oh, yeah, cuz you have and there's so many platforms to video. So. Yeah. Again, you don't think about you don't think about all this stuff. But I agree with you. I think we're, we're we've come a long way with. Yeah, acknowledging and talking about mental health, which is so important. But we have a long way to go. So but, but it's people like you and that are out there making a difference making, spreading awareness. And it's, it's really important. So before, before we go, I did want to let you mention how people could reach out to you or what you do for people.
Kristin:
Sure, Great. Yeah, I'm at Kristin Light.ca which I'm sure will be linked somewhere.
Savannah:
Yes I will link it.
Kristin:
Thank you, Kristin with an in. There's about 50 ways to spell it, of course. So I do speak publicly on mental illness and neurodiversity in particular, and I work with corporations on how to adjust their workplaces in particular, to be more inclusive for everyone. I use a choose your own adventure policies. So rather than having each person with their disabilities come and sit down with HR, and disclose their needs, rather to set it up in a way that people can pick and choose what they need on their own. And I think that that works with events so brilliantly as well.
Savannah:
Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you again for coming onto the show. I am so excited to share this episode because we haven't really talked about this yet. And I think it's necessary and important to talk about and hopefully will help our event planners change up their registration pages ...
Kristin:
The little tweaks
Savannah:
Yeah, the little tweaks.