Planning for Larger Attendees
recently, I was tasked with coming up with a comfort plan to accommodate larger attendees, in terms of both girth and height. Instinctively, the fi rst things that came to mind were to provide larger chairs and to account for less participants per table to allow for more elbow room. However, the intricacies and implications of providing a comfort plan are far greater.
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First let us take a look at the reasoning behind establishing and incorporating a comfort plan for all of your attendees, not exclu- sively for the larger participants. Although body size is not con- sidered a protected status under anti-discrimination law, creat- ing an atmosphere of comfort is about more than just obliging your attendees; it is about maximizing the return on investment (ROI) by creating an environment that is conducive for partici- pants to be attentive and engaged.
by Rachael Alford
If your participants are uncomfortable, watching the clock and waiting for the session to end just so that they may stretch their legs - they are not engaged. Conversely, it is distracting to all in attendance when others are vis- ibly uncomfortable. Attendees that are in a physically comfortable environment will be more likely to actively participate, retain the presented information, rate the meeting more enjoyable when completing post event surveys and be more apt to attend reoc- curring meetings in the future. This translates into a win-win situa- tion with increased ROI for your client as well as increased participant satisfaction.
If developing a comfort plan for your attendees appears daunting 44 MIDWEST MEETINGS SPRING 2013
ypically when meeting planners talk about accom- modating attendees, they are speaking about provid- ing accessibility for participants with a disability. But
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