Two of Forbes’ large international events, the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi and the Forbes Under 30 Africa Summit in Botswana utilized local planners, businesses and resources to ensure that the culture was woven into different parts of each event’s agenda. Photo by Colin Baldwin for Forbes / Courtesy of Leann Bonnano

It’s never been more essential to build a supportive and inclusive workforce. Corporations and companies of all sizes nationwide are focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and multiculturalism. In the meetings industry today, events professionals know that building an inclusive culture leads to higher attendee interest and team engagement. But how can they effectively integrate DEI initiatives in their events planning?

Organizations understand that diversity means more than race, ethnicity, language, class and gender. For that reason, they are not only proactively creating meeting environments where a variety of different voices are encouraged and heard, but considering the full breadth of diversity within the meetings and events space. This include, thinking style, generation, disability, personality type and sexual orientation.

Workplace behavior, including at corporate meetings, is rapidly changing to become more inclusive and diverse than a few years ago. Part of this change is a result of a fear of lawsuits, but another part of this shift is the natural result of having a more diverse workforce and roster of attendees, presenters and vendors.

Sandie Briscoe, MBA, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, chief executive officer at The HR Initiative in West Palm Beach, FL, said that, in recent years, the focus on DEI within the corporate sector has grown substantially. Previously, DEI was often seen as “check the box,” primarily for compliance.

“Today, however, there’s a growing understanding of the intrinsic value that diverse perspectives bring to problem-solving, innovation and decision-making,” Briscoe said. “Furthermore, with increased visibility and a more vocal workforce, organizations are recognizing that fostering an inclusive environment is not just the right thing to do, but is also vital for attracting and retaining top talent, and even for driving profitability.”

A study by McKinsey Global Institute, a global company providing a fact base to aid decision making on the economic and business issues most critical to the world’s companies and policy leaders, found that “nearly 40% of respondents say they have turned down or chosen not to pursue a job because of a perceived lack of inclusion at the organization.”

As Briscoe explained, meetings and events are a great opportunity to showcase a company’s commitment to DEI, as corporate gatherings are a direct reflection of a company’s values, culture and brand.

“By prioritizing DEI in these settings, corporations can ensure diverse perspectives are heard and reinforce their commitment to these principles to both employees and customers,” Briscoe said. “Additionally, diverse representation in events often leads to richer discussions, better outcomes and more innovative solutions.”

The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), as well as Charles Schwab conferences, do a remarkable job of having a diverse panel of speakers. More conferences have expanded their panels to be more inclusive. Briscoe has seen companies make sure that their meeting venues are accessible to people with disabilities. “While onstage, we have always tried to have diversity,” said Leann Bonnano, senior vice president of ForbesLive & Marketing in Boston, MA. “Pre-pandemic, it was difficult to find vendors who also reflected that. While not impossible, it made the process more difficult and required more research. Post-pandemic, there has been a large shift, not only in terms of intentionality of the entire industry to ensure we’re using diverse vendors, but planners are also connecting with and sharing those vendors across different platforms.”

Bonnano further stressed that, in the events space specifically, DEI is not just “nice to have,” but rather a crucial component to achieving success in both a company’s event and organization as a whole.

“That said, there can’t be a disconnect between your event and the values that you represent as a company. DEI is important across all facets of an organization,” Bonnano said. “As planners, we have many people to serve, but the core is our audience whom we provide with relevant content and impactful experiences.”

Forbes has taken strides in this space with the launch of ForbesBLK which works to champion and amplify the voices of black professionals, leaders and creators.

“Our audience development team works diligently to ensure that the events we host have a representative audience across the board, and our programming teams apply a DEI lens to discussion to both speaker recruitment and topics when developing agendas,” Bonnano said.

The ForbesLive team, which executes all of Forbes’ events, has worked to ensure that DEI is deeply ingrained in the ethos and core values of all of the events they execute. Their programming team works in tandem with editorial to ensure that they have diversity of thought and speakers on stage, while their logistics team is committed to hiring vendors that are minority owned, as well as ensuring that their venues can accommodate differently-abled attendees — whether that’s by providing sign language interpreters or special seating.

It’s important to note that often companies approach diversity in a reactive sense. They think about it once there’s been an adverse event. Instead, today’s companies should think ahead to the kind of attendees they want to attract to corporate meetings, and consider things like where the event is located, the presenters who will be included, and what kind of accessibility needs are being met so those with disabilities, sensory challenges, etc. will be able to attend a corporate event with little or no apprehension. Recruiting, selection and support systems should be built into a corporate meeting to enable the populations identified to attend.

Bringing diversity policies into every single step of the event planning is crucial. And, it’s not only about how you showcase diversity externally, but about power in the decision-making process internally. In light of that, today’s corporate meeting planners should focus on generational diversity and dynamics within the corporate meeting setting.

In fact, at many companies, generational diversity is a new, permanent and large component of diversity training, and because many employers are just now awakening to it, such inclusive strategies within corporate meetings are surging.

As Bonnano explained, having a DEI footprint is also hugely important, and it also means giving back to the community by driving and celebrating business success among the local population where an event takes place. Two of Forbes’ large international events, the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi and the Forbes Under 30 Africa Summit in Botswana utilized local planners, businesses and resources to ensure that the culture was woven into different parts of each event’s agenda.

In addition to hosting events specifically targeted for underrepresented groups, it is important for Forbes as an organization to incorporate DEI as a horizontal strategy across all 100+ events that the company produces each year. For example, in its upcoming Sustainability Summit, Forbes will be hosting a conversation around how businesses can build resilience for people and the planet.

“The conversation will explore the responsibility to provide access to a living wage, supporting inclusive and diverse suppliers, among other relevant topics,” Bonnano said. “We have also greatly revamped and amplified our virtual offering in order to serve our audiences that are unable to attend events in-person.”

Embracing Challenges

DEI within the meetings and events environment is a relatively new concept. As a result, planners may face some unique challenges, resulting in some unavoidable mistakes when orchestrating a DEI-focused event.

In fact, a common mistake the Forbes’ meetings and events team sees is when DEI is not authentically integrated into the event with real purpose that ties back to the mission of the event.

“In addition, make sure that your event’s website, marketing and graphics showcase inclusive images. If the audiences you are marketing to do not see themselves in the event line-up, they will be less likely to get engaged and participate,” Bonnano said.

Being myopic when it comes to DEI is also a big mistake. There are plenty of examples where an event will focus on diversity in one aspect and fail in so many others. “DEI should be a part of the planning process from inception to execution,” Bonnano said. “For example, while we aren’t involved in the events of Fashion Week, it is a great source of inspiration and ideas. However, the conversation around lack of diversity from makeup artists to models has continued throughout the years. At some point, either a goal is created or a consultant must be brought in.”

One of the greatest challenges Bonnano faces when incorporating DEI in events is ensuring authenticity to the subject, community or audience, and making sure there is collective buy-in from all stakeholders that are involved in the planning so everything is aligned in accomplishing the same goal.

“Another challenge planners face is ensuring that your company stays committed and incorporates measurable goals for DEI,” Bonnano said. “We see that during times of economic uncertainty, DEI initiatives can slow down; however, we need leaders to stand by their commitments.”

Identifying diverse vendors in legacy parts of the business is not easy. Audiovisual (AV) is a prime example of this, particularly if you’re not in a large venue or hiring your own freelance crew. For instance, it’s tough finding a female who does AV.

Based on her expertise of incorporating DEI initiatives within the corporate sector, Briscoe said there are two common mistakes she sees event planners make as it relates to DEI within the corporate meetings environment. These include not continuously soliciting and acting on feedback from diverse attendees to ensure inclusivity measures are effective and tokenism, or including diverse individuals merely for appearances or to check the DEI box without valuing their input or giving them genuine responsibilities.

In that light, it’s imperative that planners receive the appropriate coaching and training on how to be an inclusive meeting planner. Corporate executives, business owners and leaders with a meetings and events department should also receive coaching on how to be an inclusive leader. Together, planners and their team members, including management level staff, can share best practices and help create ongoing DEI strategies for future corporate events.

Down the Road

Diversity and inclusion are topics that should be front and center of your events planning team. It should start behind the scenes, where the people making important event planning decisions are diverse. Building a team that brings together different backgrounds, networks and points of view will contribute to a richer a event.

“In terms of evolution,” Bonnano said, “the conversation around belonging is going to get louder and really push all planners to think about DEI on a broader scale.”

As society continues to evolve and interconnect,  her hope is for companies to move from just representation to ensuring deep-rooted equity and genuine inclusion. “This could involve more sophisticated training, advanced technologies to aid in inclusion, and a more holistic integration of DEI principles into every facet of corporate operations, including meetings and events,” Briscoe said. “Furthermore, feedback mechanisms will become more robust, and corporations will employ data analytics to measure and enhance their DEI initiatives.”

In the end, the more diverse a company is, the more diversity you will find in the venues, suppliers, speakers and content topics featured at the events. C&IT