Planners Work to Fix the Event Industry’s Sexual Harassment Problem
Photo Credit: A cocktail party during an association event. Meeting planners are developing ways to limit sexual harassment at events. Flickr / International Transport Forum
Skift Take
Meetings represent a perfect storm for the kinds of incidents that sparked the #MeToo movement: Attendees gather in hotels and resorts and socialize at networking sessions fueled by alcohol. The industry is just now reacting with codes of conduct but that may not be nearly enough.
The meetings industry represents the perfect storm when it comes to the kind of sexual harassment that sparked the #MeToo movement.
Meetings and conventions bring together hundreds, if not thousands, of men and women who stay in hotels and socialize at receptions and networking sessions fueled by alcohol—lots of alcohol.
The possibilities for bad behavior are nearly endless.
As Annette Gregg, regional senior vice president for AlliedPRA and a member of Meeting Professionals International's board, put it, “We have a large female workforce, we produce thousands of events a year, you get open bars and people on the road.”
AlliedPRA has responded to #MeToo with a white paper aimed specifically at sexual harassment. Written some six months ago, it augments the company’s employee manual on discrimination and safe environments, Gregg said.
Meeting Professionals International's board of directors revised its Principles of Professionalism last Ja
