Creating welcoming and inclusive communities: accessibility and inclusion at events

The Chamber is a vibrant community of interesting and dynamic businesses, social enterprises, and charities, and we connect like-minded people from across Brighton & Hove at hundreds of events every year.  

We want to create a community and event experience that is welcoming and inclusive for everyone.

If you're thinking about coming to a Chamber event and want to find out about what we’ve introduced to help make our events inclusive and accessible, then read on for insights from us and Chamber members too! 

Buddy up at events 

We know it’s not always easy entering into a buzzing room full of chatty people at a networking event so at large events like our Chamber Breakfasts we give new members, a buddy. This is where we partner members up with our friendly Chamber Ambassadors to welcome you into the Chamber network.  They help people settle in, usually introduce them to a few more people and are generally helpful and kind people who know the Chamber well.

We’re encouraging any member who would like a buddy at any of our events, whether you’re new to the Chamber, new to networking - or it may help you settle in at one of our events, to get in touch and the team will set one up for you.

Michelle Allen from Infinite Upstart came along to her first breakfast recently and told us all how she found having a buddy:  

"As someone who identifies as neurodivergent, being a participant in crowded places can be a little overwhelming at times. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve taught for years, spoken in front of tons of people, and even run my own networking and socials. Except, being a participant is a slightly different skill set. There’s a lot of information to process, and it can be hard to gauge what I ‘should’ be doing when I have no facilitator or leadership hat to wear.  

Brighton Chamber have pre-empted any first event nerves by introducing any new member to a ‘buddy’. It was so lovely to have someone have my back through those first networking moments, to keep the conversation flowing. That this buddy system is available as a matter of course, is such a great idea and one that increases inclusion for all.”  

Name, business name and pronouns   

Adding the option to include pronouns alongside name and business name on name badges is part of making our events more inclusive for everyone. We give people the option when they sign up to add their pronouns as an extra bit of information. Having pronouns on name badges can help people to use the correct pronouns. By sharing our pronouns, it makes it a more inclusive and welcoming space for others to do so too.

Mo Kanjilal from Watch This Sp_ce said “Making spaces inclusive for everyone requires thought, consideration, and openness. It’s great to see Brighton Chamber taking action to increase the inclusion and accessibility of their community, introducing pronouns as an option to add to badges for events, to help people to feel included.”  

How best can we support you?

 We’re committed to hosting inclusive, accessible events where everyone is welcome and able to fully engage. We ask anyone attending our events to let us know in advance about how best we can support them, before and on the day and we’ll do our best, where possible, to accommodate these.

You’ll find this question on all our event sign up forms and the team are always happy to chat about what we can do.   

A big thank you to the team at Diversity and Ability and Watch This Sp_ce for their valuable insight and support.

If you’d like to find out more about any of our events, head over to the Chamber events page.  

And, if you'd like to talk more about accessibility and inclusion at our events - or want a recommendation on what you might like to come to, get in touch with the Chamber team here. 

Header photography by Sarah Bennett Commercial Photography. 

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk