How to increase diversity within the events industry.

I became familiar with the hospitality and events industry a few years ago through my work as founder of Good Soil Leaders, an inclusion work culture and leadership development company. Part of our work is hosting events and workshops, and through my interaction with venues, organisers and suppliers, and I began to see that the event industry seemed to be wrestling with particular challenges around the lack of diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI). 

The willingness and desire for change was there, but the time and opportunity to come together and make a change was scarce. I began reaching out to forums and associations, and through the AEV I made contact with the Event Industry HR Working Group three years ago. Since then we have been working together on the specific challenges the industry is facing, with regular DEI workshops as the main focus of our activity.

Workshops only work if the people in the room have the facts in front of them, so every workshop I hold starts with data. Bringing 15-20 decision-makers together in a room to make a change, means their decisions must be rooted in reality, and for the last DEI workshop, we started by looking at survey insights, to see if we could identify simple changes to make workplaces and roles more appealing. The facts are concerning, and the risks of failing to implement effective DEI policies are substantial, not least a growing problem with recruitment. The industry must find ways to recruit a greater diversity of talent now because, while people may be leaving the industry after years of disruption and uncertainty, there is a mass of talent and new thinking just waiting to get in. 

There’s nothing more satisfying to me than guiding a workshop of professionals and HR practitioners from competing organisations toward solutions that will change the industry for the better. With the time and space to put their heads together and approach the challenges as a whole, great results are possible.