What to consider on the day

• Arrive in good time
  • Aim to arrive one hour ahead to check arrangement (especially if at an external location).
  • Have someone available to check that anyone arriving early can enter and be seated.
• Furniture layout allows suitable circulations for everyone
  • Ensure floor plan layouts facilitate wheelchair and mobility scooter circulation. Aisles should be 38 inches or 95cm or wider to facilitate wheelchair access.
• Communication support positions
  • Reserve or arrange places at the front of the room for BSL and ISL interpreters and lip speakers. Speech-to-text operators may prefer to be seated elsewhere so always check.
• Seats reserved for people using communication support and their providers
  • Have seating reserved for people who are:
    • hearing impaired to be near the interpreters
    • vision impaired
    • short statured
    • sign interpreters
    • wheelchair and mobility scooter users
    • people accompanied by guide or service animals.
• Ensure any seat reservations include carers or assistants, where applicable
  • Where  people have pre-book for support assistants or carers, reserve pairs of seats so that they can be seated together.
• Sufficient light levels
  • Lighting in venues can be important, for example for those that may lip read. Dimming lights can also cause problems for those with visual impairments.
  • Does the room have even lighting (without any flicker)?
• Roving microphones
  • Ensure a few microphones have been provided. Don't just rely on one as the battery may run low and it also wastes time walking around the room to the next speaker in the audience during a question and answer session.
• Accessibility support
  • Will there be a delegated member of staff available to help attendees with any access issues on the day?
• Feedback
  • Encourage feedback - how could future meetings and events be improved?