Accessibility and codes of conduct

Accessibility gets decided at two points: when the venue contract is signed and when the programme is built. By the time someone reviews the finished event for compliance, the decisions that matter most, room layout, session length, who can physically get to the stage, have already been made and are expensive to unpick.

What to check before signing a venue contract

Ask for the accessible route from the main entrance to the stage, the breakout rooms and the toilets. A venue with a step-free front door and three steps into the main hall is not step-free. Check lift capacity against your delegate numbers at peak changeover, the number and location of accessible toilets, whether a hearing loop or induction loop is already fitted or has to be hired in, and whether there is a room that can be set aside as quiet space away from the main noise. None of this shows up on a standard capacity sheet, so it has to be asked for directly.

Designing sessions that work for more people

Session format is an accessibility decision as much as a content one. A panel with no fixed running order is harder to follow for anyone relying on captions, because captioners work from a script or at least a topic order. Fixed breaks between sessions matter for anyone with mobility, chronic pain or sensory needs. Ask speakers for slides in advance so captions and large-print handouts can be prepared, and set a minimum font size and colour contrast expectation in the speaker brief.

The provisions that matter most

Three provisions cover most of the practical need at a general conference: captioning (CART, Communication Access Realtime Translation, a live transcript displayed on screen), a quiet room that is genuinely quiet and signed clearly enough to find under pressure, and step-free access to every space a delegate might need to reach, including the stage if audience members are speaking or receiving an award. Large print programmes, a hearing loop at the registration desk as well as in the main hall, and clear written communication of dietary options ahead of the event close most of the remaining gap. None of these are expensive to add if they are specified at the venue-booking stage; several of them are difficult and costly to retrofit once the room layout is fixed.

The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on organisers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled attendees, staff and speakers. What counts as reasonable depends on the size of the event and the practicability of the adjustment, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission publishes worked examples that apply directly to public events. For the cost implications of the venue decisions above, see Venues, Catering and the Costs Nobody Budgets For, and for how session format and scheduling choices affect delegates more broadly, see Designing a Conference Programme.

A code of conduct is a document that sets out what behaviour is acceptable at your event and what happens when someone breaches it. Whether it is worth having depends on whether it can be enforced on the day. A code that exists only as a page nobody has read, with nobody briefed to act on it, protects nobody and leaves the organiser exposed when something goes wrong.

What it needs to cover

The document should name the behaviour it prohibits. Harassment, including harassment related to a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, needs its own line. So does unwanted photography or recording, disruptive behaviour at official social events, and any expectation around alcohol at sponsored receptions. The scope should state where the code applies: the venue, official evening events, and, for a hybrid event, the online chat and video spaces as well.

• A definition of unacceptable behaviour specific enough that a delegate would recognise it in the moment
• Where the code applies: venue, official social events, and any online spaces for a hybrid event
• How to report a breach, and to whom
• What happens after a report, from investigation to possible consequences including removal from the event

How it's written

Plain language works better than legal drafting. "Do not touch, follow or photograph anyone without their consent" tells a delegate what to avoid; "conduct yourself with professionalism at all times" tells them nothing they did not already believe about themselves. Examples do more work than categories, because most people who cause harm at events don't think of themselves as the kind of person a code of conduct is aimed at.

Where it's published

It needs to be visible before someone buys a ticket. Publish it on the ticket page, repeat it in the confirmation email, and include it in the printed programme or app. A line on the lanyard or badge with the reporting contact means a delegate doesn't need to go looking for it at the moment they need it most.

Who staffs it

Name at least two people on the day who can receive a report, and make sure neither is the person most delegates would identify as "in charge" if the report concerns that person or someone close to them. Give a phone number or a discreet way to flag someone at the registration desk. Brief speakers, volunteers and stewards on who these people are before doors open.

How enforcement actually works, including the hard decisions

The test of a code of conduct is what happens when the person reported is a keynote speaker, a sponsor's representative, or someone whose ticket funded a meaningful share of the budget. A code that only ever gets applied to junior delegates isn't functioning; it's decoration. Decide in advance whether removal from the event is on the table regardless of who the person is, and who has the authority to make that call without convening a committee first.

Keep a brief record of what was reported and what was done about it, because a pattern across events only becomes visible if someone kept a note. Follow through matters too: a warning with no change in access at the next event tells everyone watching that the code is a formality. None of this needs a large team. It needs the hard cases decided before they arrive.

For the wider set of decisions around speaker behaviour and briefing, see Finding, Choosing and Looking After Speakers. For where this sits inside the rest of the planning timeline, see Organising a Conference.

The legal duty behind accessibility decisions

The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on service providers, which includes conference organisers, to make reasonable adjustments for disabled attendees, speakers and staff. What counts as reasonable depends on the size of the event and how practicable the adjustment is, so a two-hundred-person conference in a hired venue faces a different test from a five-person meeting in your own office. The Equality and Human Rights Commission publishes guidance and worked examples on what reasonable adjustments look like in practice, and it is the first place to check before assuming a provision is optional or a cost is unavoidable.

This is a legal duty. Where a decision is contested, whether a particular adjustment is proportionate for your event, for instance, that is a question for the EHRC's published guidance or a solicitor familiar with the Act.

BSI and ISO standards for the venue and the website

Two separate sets of standards cover the physical event and the digital one. BS 8300, the British Standard for the design of an accessible and inclusive built environment, sets out what step-free routes, accessible toilets and clear signage should look like in a venue. It is worth asking a venue whether it was designed or refitted against this standard. For the event website, registration form and any digital materials, WCAG 2.1 AA (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, level AA) is the standard that most public sector and many private sector accessibility audits are measured against, covering colour contrast, keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility.

Who to ask when the guidance runs out

Where the standards leave a judgement call, an access consultant registered with the National Register of Access Consultants can carry out an accessibility audit of a venue before you sign a contract. That is a smaller cost early than a problem discovered on the day. On the event industry side, the Association of Event Organisers (AEO) and the Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA) both publish member guidance touching accessibility and welfare at events, and are a reasonable starting point if you want a second opinion beyond a single supplier's word.

None of this replaces reading the contract or asking the venue directly what its "accessible" claim is actually measured against. For the programme decisions this guidance affects, see Organising a Conference and the worked examples at Worked Examples and Templates.