Today’s meeting industry professionals are responsible for more than assuring all is aligned for each new meeting and event.
Clients and attendees now have high expectations that meetings will be inclusive for ALL who participate — whether it be on-site or virtually.
As a meetings industry disability inclusion expert, I’m here to help.
"I cannot speak highly enough of the experience I had working with Rosemarie as our accessibility consultant for 9 months in 2023. Working with, and most importantly learning from, Rosemarie has opened my eyes and my mind to planning and executing conferences that are truly inclusive and accessible to our attendees. I very much appreciate Rosemarie's ability to share her lived experiences and professional expertise with our meetings department, host city partners, and me as we started the journey to elevate our awareness and ability to provide accommodations to meeting attendees. Rosemarie's extensive experience combined with effective communication, a great sense of humor, enthusiasm for the work and a desire to have all of us succeed are some of the many reasons why I have enjoyed working with and getting to know her.
Over the course of our 9-month engagement, Rosemarie worked with our team as we made significant and impactful decisions to improve the meeting experience for attendees who need accommodations. Highlights of our efforts included: revamping the registration experience, enhancing the meeting website and app to better communicate the services to be provided, conducting a site visit to our host city and venues, developing the role of an accessibility ambassador as a first point of contact for each meeting, and reserved seats in meeting rooms for those in wheelchairs or scooters. We also brought Rosemarie into our office building to evaluate our in-house conference center and provide training to our meetings team, giving them more knowledge and confidence when engaging with attendees in need of accommodations. Lastly, we had Rosemarie join us onsite for our annual meeting to provide feedback on our efforts, help with course correction in the moment for things that could be changed onsite, and to engage with the attendees and association staff to collect feedback for our final report summarizing our efforts over the course of the contract.
Thanks to the tremendous guidance provided by Rosemarie the feedback from those attendees who utilized one or more of the services provided has been very positive and our constituents are pleased to see our efforts to welcome and support attendees across our meeting portfolio (1 annual meeting and 75 smaller meetings). The impact of Rosemarie's work will continue to flourish as we expand our efforts beyond our annual meeting to the rest of our portfolio. While the goal for our engagement was to improve the attendee experience at our meetings. I will also share that personally and professionally the time I spent with Rosemarie was a gift in terms of expanding my perspective and abilities regarding inclusive meetings, educating me on the small and big things that can be done to support our attendees, and revitalized my enthusiasm for my profession as we design and execute meetings for ALL of our constituents.
Thank you Rosemarie for your passion, expertise and partnership on our journey."
Having been paralyzed from the waist down with a spinal cord injury, my experience in a wheelchair has taught me about accessibility. I know what needs to be arranged to accommodate people with various disabilities including limitations with mobility, sight, and hearing.
I am an expert in the Americans with Disabilities Act and other accessibility standards as well as universal design practices. I am highly experienced in evaluating hotels, convention centers, and other meeting spaces.
Accommodation Defined
There is a difference between accessible design and universal design. Accessible design is more than just code compliance. Its major emphasis is on usability. Good accessible design includes usability and equity as a goal. Thus, the end result is the optimization of the human experience.
Universal design goes above compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, which are viewed as minimum standards. Universal design is a framework or philosophy benefitting people of all sizes, ages, and abilities. The people attending your events!
What are the Problems that Rossetti Solves?
CHALLENGES related to ...
Exclusion
The unique needs of people with disabilities that are not taken into account when planning meetings and events.
Unfamiliarity
A lack of awareness about the needs of people with disabilities when planning meetings and events.
Poor Outcomes
Failure to pre-plan leads to stress, costly makeshift solutions and unsatisfactory results. People with disabilities are not accommodated at meetings and events.
Value Proposition Advantages
Business Culture
- Reduce unconscious bias.
- Gain engagement confidence.
- Social participation improves.
- Maximize the power of inclusion.
- Create an environment of inclusion for the health, wellness, and safety of all.
Improved Perception
- Creates a welcoming and inclusive environment for meetings and events.
- Improved social media response by participants.
- Enhances Public Relations outreach and outcomes.
Proactive
- Addresses crucial points to anticipate challenges.
- Assures a more smooth, gracious, and respectful experience for every participant, including people with disabilities.
Workflow Efficiency
- Eliminates the struggle of planning inclusive meetings and events.
- Helps meeting professionals gain confidence and save time.
- Guides meeting professionals to anticipate and provide for the participant’s needs for successful inclusive meetings.
Business Cost Control
- Unexpected expenses are reduced and/or eliminated.
- Reduced legal liability exposure.
Profitability
- More attendees at your event.
- Heightened attendee appreciation and satisfaction.
"Rosemarie was a vital part of our team as we planned for our 2022 annual meeting. She joined us in meetings with our venues and pushed them to make accessibility accommodations that we hadn't thought of.
Rosemarie's expertise in accessibility solutions is evident, and her attention to the smallest details is impressive.
She provides very useful documentation that will help you make your event the most accessible that it can be."
What Can You Expect from Rossetti as your Disability Inclusion Consultant?
Information Capture & Appraisal
- Work with website designers to suggest changes for the meeting or event registration section including marketing that is targeted to people with disabilities.
- Identify people who register that have a disability and what accommodations they will need.
- Assure the website can be fully accessed by a person who uses assistive technology and not a computer mouse.
- Enable registrants to pay online easily with assistive technology. WCAG 2.1A compliance. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/
On-site Inspection
- In-person site visit to all venues for the meeting or event including field trips and off-site locations.
- Evaluate hotel rooms, hotel parking, hotel lobby, registration area, ballroom, breakout rooms, restrooms.
- Meet with the hotel managers and catering/food staff. Discuss the menu and need to accommodate special diets. Discuss networking set up, table set up, buffet set up.
- Work with the company representatives who will be responsible for the virtual portion of the hybrid meeting. Discuss closed captioning and Sign Language Interpreters for the on-site and virtual audiences.
- Utilizes various universal design and accessible design checklists to evaluate the venue.
- Create an in-depth report noting the findings, suggestions, recommendations, and advice. This report will highlight the problems, solutions, and changes needed to improve the venues.
Create Appropriate Communication Strategies
- Work with the team of meeting professionals to assist in creating a master guide to use for accommodating people with disabilities.
- Assist in creating the questions on the evaluation survey for the attendees.
- Assist in creating the interview questions as people with disabilities register.
- Assist in creating the questions to be asked during the event to get feedback from people with disabilities.
- Assist in training meeting professionals and volunteers.
- Suggest resources and vendors to support the meeting and event.
Meeting Day:
Immersive Experiental Learning
Planning intentional inclusive events and experiences for people with disabilities requires empathy and education. Let Rosemarie guide you through a behind-the-scenes tour of your event space with your event participants. Understand how to better collaborate with your venue and supplier partners to design an inclusive meeting and event environment.
- Recognize what’s essential when designing events from a disabled person’s perspective.
- Identify the questions to ask your venue and supplier partners upfront to be prepared for every eventuality.
- Design your event environment to provide physical and psychological safety.
Concierge Service
- Be present at the meeting and event serving as a liaison to consult, advise and direct staff and suggest adjustments.
Benefits of Working with Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D.
She will ...
- Identify meeting and event challenges that people with disabilities may experience at the venue.
- Help meeting professionals avoid serious problems that people with disabilities may experience at the venue.
- Develop solutions to serious problems that people with disabilities may experience at the venue.
- Make recommendations so her clients are more compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Make recommendations so her clients avoid a judgment against their corporation or organization from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Why Rossetti is the Right Choice
- Knows from personal experience as a woman who has used a wheelchair since June 1998 how the built environment can either restrict or enable independence.
- Since 1997 she has been an international speaker at various venues, knowing firsthand the potential problems and challenges people with disabilities face.
- Has extensively traveled throughout the United States to access built environments.
- Delivered presentations in-person and virtually on the topic of disability inclusion.
- Wrote on the topic of disability inclusion in publications.
- Interviewed on podcasts on the topic of disability inclusion.
- Is a master communicator and consummate professional.
- In the know as a leading expert on the topics of disability inclusion, universal design, and accessible design.
How to make the most of working with Your Event Planning Partner: Rosemarie Rossetti!
Invite Rosemarie to join you at meetings in upcoming venues to step up and identify areas that demand attention. She will ...
- Uncover avoidable challenges that can be addressed in advance.
- Make recommendations about details that have been otherwise overlooked.
- Use her experience and expertise to suggest solutions geared to save both time and expenses before the need arises.
- Provide valuable insights that are documented so mistakes won't be repeated.
With Rosemarie's guidance you can create the most accessible and successful event ever -- while building goodwill and positive future connections for everyone on your team!
Make an intentional choicerather than riskunintentional embarrassmentor harm.
Contact Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D. today and put her on your planning team.
Educational Programs
Accommodating People with Disabilities at Meetings and Events
Click to Get
Your Free Guide of the
"5 Meeting Professional Musts to Include
People with Disabilities!"
It’s a legal, social, and professional responsibility to adapt your meeting venue to accommodate speakers and attendees with disabilities.
Having been paralyzed from the waist down with a spinal cord injury, Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D. speaks from her wheelchair sharing her own dramatic personal story. She presents to audiences throughout the U.S. and beyond as a recognized expert on inclusive design. She has also earned recognition for her home that is the top-rated universal design home in North America.
In this presentation, Rossetti addresses crucial points you need to know to anticipate challenges in order to achieve a smooth, gracious, and respectful event experience for every participant. She will focus on: why disability inclusivity is so important, how to set up your meeting rooms, how to remove dining and networking challenges, how to accommodate speakers and guests with wheelchairs, and important resources designed to ease your way as a successful meeting professional.
This presentation to MPI chapter members can be approved by the Events Industry Council for continuing education credit.
Rosemarie has taken the Meeting Professionals International Inclusive Event Designer course.
Benefits & Learner Outcomes
- Identify problems and challenges that people with disabilities experience at meetings and events.
- Develop solutions to solve problems and challenges that people with disabilities experience at meetings and events.
- Create an inclusive, easy access environment for people who use wheelchairs and scooters in and around meeting and dining rooms including layout, aisle width, easy access, table heights, and more.
Multimedia
The presentation is enhanced with a handout and high quality graphic slides which serve to illustrate the main points. Audiences are better able to retain the core messages by having visual illustrations.
Making Virtual Meetings Inclusive
Takeaways
- Communication strategies to accommodate people with disabilities at virtual meetings.
- Be able to implement technologies to enable people who are deaf, blind, or have learning disabilities to fully participate.
- Know how to work with a presenter in advance of a virtual meeting to obtain supportive materials for the participants with disabilities.
- Source suppliers that provide technology services to make your virtual meetings inclusive.
Multimedia
The presentation is enhanced with a handout and high quality graphic slides which serve to illustrate the main points. Audiences are better able to retain the core messages by having visual illustrations.
Rosemarie is the RIGHT Choice for Your Next Event!
A proven (40+ year) success record in corporate & organizational settings, speaking to groups from 10 to 10,000.
Stellar evaluations from both participants & meeting planners, time after time.
A skilled, approachable, ethical professional industry expert you can count on.
Captivating, engaging, well researched, high content / high value presentations.
Pre-program interviews with persons you select allows Rosemarie to dig deep to customize programs tailored to your organization's desired outcomes. You will experience enterprise-wide satisfaction and measurable success.
Credit-ready programs encourage attendance.
Attentive, organized, upbeat and easy to work with.
Media / Articles — click / tap to view
Skift Meetings New!
Critical Accessibility Gaps Exist in Business Events
Genesis Exhibits
The Mercuro Event Industry Interview Series: Understanding Disability Inclusion
Keep Leading!® Live Podcast
Leadership by Design
Something to Say Podcast
The Benefits of Disability Inclusion
The Association 100 Podcast
Empowering Accessibility in Associations
Radio LoRa (Zurich, Switzerland) with Alex Nae
Tour The Venue In A Wheelchair
The Association Podcast
Ensuring ADA Compliance and Accessibility at Conferences and Events with Dr. Rosemarie Rossetti
Projection
Project Your Voice: Talking About Planning for Accessibility with Rosemarie Rossetti
Professional Convention Management Association - Convene Magazine
Navigating Your Event on Two Wheels
Skift Meetings
Top Tips on Creating Accessible Event Environments
Professional Convention Management Association
Making Your Meeting More Accessible
Association Conventions and Facilities Magazine
All Access - Going Beyond ADA Compliance
Meetings Today
3 Resorts With Commitments to Accessibility
Travelability Insider
Roll Play: Wheelchair User Shows PCMA Meeting Planners how Columbus Convention Center can be more Inclusive
Skift Meetings
Are Your Business Meetings Truly Accessible?
Skift Meetings
PCMA Convening Leaders Takes Over Columbus, Ohio
Mélange Accessible Journeys Magazine
Cruising on Wonder of the Seas
Experience Columbus
2022 Holiday Performances in Accessible Columbus Theaters
Experience Columbus
Accessible Parks in Columbus
Experience Columbus
Where to Find Accessible Transportation in Columbus
Experience Columbus
Tips for Planning an Accessible Meeting in Columbus
Experience Columbus
Accessible Outdoor Dining in Columbus
Experience Columbus
2022 Summer Ambassador Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D.
Skift Meetings
What Makes Events Truly Accessible
Goverment Connections
Steps to Make Virtual Meetings Accessible
AARP Travel
How to Find the Best Hotels for Wheelchair Users
ASAE Blog Article
First Steps Toward Virtual Meeting Accessibility
Meet Pittsburgh Blog Article
Executing Hybrid Events in Pittsburgh
HUBB Webinar On Demand
What We Talk About When We Talk About Inclusion at Events
HUBB Blog Article
Accommodating People with Disabilities at Hybrid Meetings and Events
ASAE Blog Article
How to Better Accommodate People with Disabilities at Meetings and Events
MPI Blog Article
Tips to Help Meeting Professionals Plan Inclusive Meetings and Events
Northstar Meetings Group
How to Create Accessible Digital Events (Podcast)
Special Events Galore
Adapt to Dining and Networking Challenges
MPI Blog Article
How to Provide a Ramp and Stage for Speakers
Northstar Meetings Group
How to Assist and Best Communicate With People With Disabilities at Your Events
PUSHLiving Magazine
The Gift of Inclusive Design (Podcast)
Northstar Meetings Group
How to Plan Truly Accessible Meetings and Events (Podcast)
MPI Blog Article
Tips to Accommodate Participants with Disabilities
MPI Foundation Research Report
The State of Inclusion in Meetings & Events
Smart Meetings Online
How To Accommodate People with Disabilities at Meetings
Downloads
Partial Client List
- Alliance of Independent Meeting Professionals
- American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
- American Association of Geographers [Multiple Engagements]
- American Society of Association Executives
- Disability Training Alliance
- Experience Columbus
- Hubb
- IMEX America
- Land Trust Alliance
- Loudoun Convention & Visitors Association
- Meeting Professionals International World Education Congress
- Meeting Professionals International - Michigan Chapter
- Meeting Professionals International - Mid America Conference
- Meeting Professionals International - Middle Pennsylvania Chapter
- Meeting Professionals International - North Florida Chapter
- Meeting Professionals International - Ohio Chapter
- Meeting Professionals International - Philadelphia Chapter
- Meeting Professionals International - Pittsburgh Chapter
- MeetingsNet
- National Diversity Council
- National Speakers Association [Multiple Engagements]
- National Speakers Association - Ohio Chapter [Multiple Engagements
- Northstar Meetings Group Independent Planners Education Conference
- Ohio Society of Association Executives [Multiple Engagements]
- Professional Convention Management Association
- Society of Government Meeting Professionals [Multiple Engagements]
What Clients Say
"Rosemarie's session at our meeting on being inclusive when planning meetings was a hit! In-person and virtual participants rated our speaker a 4.86 out of 5 which is outstanding!
Her willingness to tailor her program to our audience was so appreciated and gave the attendees usable takeaways. She is definitely an expert in this field and an asset to any event."
"I am continually impressed with Rosemarie's passion and insight around designing inclusive events. Rosemarie joined Hubb for a panel on inclusive hybrid event design and her depth of knowledge, powerful personal story, and masterful speaking blew our audience away. We had one of our highest net promoter scores and received glowing reviews from our audience.
Rosemarie can introduce new ideas and actionable strategies in a way that is easy to understand and connect with. I highly recommend to any meeting planner to invite Rosemarie to be a part of your event or to use her extensive knowledge on inclusive design thinking at your next meeting."