Industry Insights: The Importance Of Inclusive Scheduling When Planning Events

Good morning!

I’m headed to Atlantic City for Taste of Nobu in a few hours (so excited, maybe I’ll run into some of you there? at the very least I hope to run into a fair amount of spicy tuna with crispy rice while I’m there), and it’s sort of going to my last culinary hurrah before hunkering down for Passover for all of next week.

Now, mind you, I’ll absolutely still be working next week — I actually have a PACKED schedule of deadlines, consulting sessions, and even have scheduled a few podcast recordings and a big virtual panel — but, I’ll be doing this all from home. As it is Passover, it is pretty prohibitive to attend any events, cocktail parties, or dinners — the reason being, how can one go if they can’t eat or drink when they are there?

This is especially problematic if your beat necessitates that most of your events are pretty food/bev-centric…

I bring this up because I’ve had a lot of emails pop into my inbox that mention trips, events, and dinners that overlap with the upcoming holiday.

And while I understand there’s many people this holiday does not impact, of course, and a fair amount of people it does impact that are less observant of the holiday’s dietary guidelines, having events, trips, and dinners and cocktail parties during those days has ramifications that can’t be ignored: It excludes the people who may have otherwise wanted to attend and now cannot.

I’ll be honest: I’m generally not very religious or observant - I don’t keep a kosher home personally, and eat oysters and cheeseburgers like it’s my job — but I keep the big holidays to the letter.

So much so that I relocate to my parents’ (VERY very kosher home) for the week of Passover so I can properly maintain the dietary laws in a kosher for Passover home (not the same as a regular old kosher home), so it’d be antithetical to undo that to attend a lipstick party during Pesach and eat some passed crab cakes. Or passed anything.

This issue is nothing new, and has happened for years, and has resulted in everything from me not being able to cover NYFW (back when NYFW was something I covered, that is!), to me having to pass on dinners during Passover (for obvious reasons!).

But I think it is something that goes way beyond Jewish holidays (which I reference specifically only because those are the ones personally impact me), but any time that an event or a trip is scheduled to overlap with any religious or cultural events or holidays, you are excluding anyone who celebrates those holidays from participating in, attending, or even being able to cover your event or news. Which, very often, is something they actually would really want to cover or attend.

When scheduling any event, it's important to consider public and legal holidays, as well as holy days of any religions to make sure you are not excluding any attendees who celebrate them.  As these holidays often happen on different calendar days each year, it's just a good idea to do your research before proceeding with scheduling an event -- it's simply as easy as Googling!

(I myself do this all the time when maintaining my own schedule!)

Yes, it's true there's tons of variations and interpretations around ritual observance in every faith. But it's important when organizing an event to organize the event in a way that everyone who you invite has the option to attend. Holding your eevnt on a religious holiday removes that choice for many people. It's about sensitivity and being inclusive, but it's also about you and your client, and making sure your event is as successful as possible.

Considering religious and cultural aspects is one way to be inclusive when scheduling events — but not the only way. Here’s some other important considerations when planning your events if you want to be inclusive and accessible to those attending…