Guide to Planning Inclusive Meetings

When you plan a meeting, make sure you give participants the opportunity to identify their accommodation needs early in the process. You can do this in your initial notice or invitation, which will support an inclusive environment from the beginning of the planning and set the tone for the meeting.

Appendix B contains a sample registration form that you can use to request accommodation information from participants.

Invite participants well before the meeting date so that you have time to arrange for appropriate accommodation requests.

The earlier you receive accommodation requests, the easier it will be to keep expenses to a minimum—you will pay only for the services that you need, and you will avoid extra charges for last-minute requests. Arranging accommodations in advance is particularly important when the number of requests for a service could outstrip the availability of a single accommodation service provider.

When you plan, make sure you allow sufficient time to:

• give participants enough time to arrange their transportation
• request sign language interpreters and real-time captioning for people who are deaf or deafened and amplification systems for people who are hard of hearing
• arrange for conversion of conventional print material to alternative formats such as Braille, DAISY, audio, large print or plain language and offer them before the meeting
• provide meeting materials in advance for those who need more time or quiet to gain better comprehension

It is important to include accommodation costs in your planning. Your initial budget should allow for potential costs of accommodation services or products that you might need. Chapter 4 covers the most common requests. Some of the items you budget for may not be needed or affordable, but starting the process with a firm idea of possible costs is an important step for any successful meeting.

Estimating costs for services can be difficult, since they vary based on time, location, availability of service providers and the type of service required. Costs for accommodation services vary depending on the length and location of your meeting. Costs for alternative formats will also depend on the time allowed for completing the work. It is important that you call service providers as early as possible and get estimates based on your actual needs. The list of resources in chapter 5 contains many useful links to organizations that either provide services themselves or can quickly direct you to those that do. If you work in the federal public service, first contact your financial branch to see if there are any existing contracts with service providers.

Call local service providers to obtain quotes during the planning process to help you project your budget. National organizations such as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and the Canadian Hearing Society (CHS) can help you locate service organizations through their local offices.

Services are not always easy to get—remember to be creative and involve your participants to find available solutions.

Wherever you plan to hold your meeting, it is important to do a thorough check of the physical site before booking the location. While facility owners or managers often promote their sites as accessible, interpretations of accessibility vary. An accessible entrance does not necessarily mean access throughout the facility. Visit the site to assess whether a facility will meet the needs of all participants.

Whether your meeting is held in your office building or off-site, use the Accessibility Checklist for Planners, in Appendix A, during the initial planning stages to conduct a site assessment. The checklist is not exhaustive, but it has useful information that you can expand upon according to the needs of the participants.

An accessibility assessment should include the meeting space and the facility in general.

Examples of physical features of an accessible facility include:

• automatic doors and obstacle-free pathways for people who use mobility aids such as wheelchairs
• doorways to meeting rooms that are about one metre wide to allow easy access
• tactile signage such as Braille for people who have a visual impairment
• access to the outdoors to allow people to walk their guide or service dogs during meal and health breaks
• meeting rooms with layouts that allow ample space for participants to move around freely
• meeting rooms that are large enough to accommodate assistive listening systems, translation booths and seating for sign language interpreters
• restrooms that meet or exceed Canadian Standards Association (CSA) accessibility standards, including doors that allow easy access, and at least one stall that is configured to accommodate mobility aids (you can find more information on the CSA in chapter 5)
• restrooms on the same floor as the meeting area
• lever door knobs instead of the “globe” or round kind

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If you identify barriers in your facility that are not covered by building access standards, talk to the facilities manager. The manager may be in a position to help remove them.

People with disabilities have a wealth of knowledge and experience in accommodation, so consult them if you can when you begin to organize your meeting. This can lead to creative solutions, based on past experiences with similar situations. For example:

• Noises from ventilation systems can make it difficult for people who use assistive listening devices to participate in dialogue. Verify sound quality in the meeting room before the event, and ask the facilities manager to turn down the ventilation fan during the meeting. Ask the participants if this accommodation is satisfactory and invite suggestions.
• The quality of the lighting in the room may affect people with different disabilities. Those with visual impairments may require higher or lower levels of light, while those who have photosensitive epilepsy may have difficulty with poor-quality fluorescent lights, which flicker at a slower rate and can sometimes induce seizures. Verify lighting quality in the meeting room beforehand, and if possible, select a room that offers non-fluorescent lighting.
• People who are blind or have a visual impairment may have difficulty navigating in unfamiliar environments. Audio floor-level indicators in public elevators and tactile signage to help find restrooms and meeting rooms may not be available. If not, volunteer assistance may be required. Again, ask the participants if this accommodation is satisfactory and invite suggestions.

If there is some uncertainty about the chosen location, you may want to hire a company to walk through the site with you to help identify possible problem areas. Companies that do accessibility audits can be found throughout Canada. Contact local offices of organizations such as the CNIB or CHS and ask them if they know of any in your area. You can also find a list of accommodations consultants on the Web site of Industry Canada’s Assistive Devices Industry Office; the address is in chapter 5.

Whether your meeting is on-site or off-site, it is important to ensure that all participants know how to evacuate safely if an emergency occurs. Discuss evacuation plans and procedures with the facilities manager in the early planning stages.

Invite meeting participants to identify ahead of time their particular evacuation needs when they confirm attendance. Provide the facilities manager with a list of participants who will need assistance if there is an emergency evacuation.

At the beginning of the meeting, tell participants where the nearest emergency exits are located.

To help make a possible evacuation quick and efficient, arrange for volunteers to help people who have identified a need for assistance.