Prepare Now for a New Event DEI Balancing Act

January 10, 2025

As corporate rollbacks in DEI policies begin to trickle down to meetings and events, planners may find themselves looking for new ways to ensure their events are inclusive and welcoming to all.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives took a beating last year — and many believe that was just a tip of the iceberg that may emerge in 2025 and beyond. As businesses scale back their DEI initiatives, meeting and event planners should brace themselves for a corresponding shift in meetings and events.

This week, McDonald’s announced it was sunsetting some of its DEI goals, though it did so as a “refining our language to better capture McDonald’s commitment to inclusion,” not an indication that it was changing its corporate diversity goals, according to a statement. Before McDonald’s, several major companies already had announced they were rolling back their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Most recently, Walmart in November said it would stop using terms such as “DEI” in its formal communications, as well as discontinuing its Racial Equity Center. Earlier in the year, Ford Motor Company announced it would no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index.

Several others, including Molson Coors and whiskey-maker Brown-Forman, abandoned their supplier diversity efforts. Some, including Tractor Supply Company, specifically said they were going to stop sponsoring and participating in events related to diversity, such as LGBTQ+-friendly Pride festivals.

However, like so much else these days, there is not a lot of consensus on corporate DEI initiatives. Yes, the above companies have taken a step back, but, according to an i4cp report released in December, more than half (57%) of chief diversity officers said their DEI budgets would stay the same in 2025. Another 29% anticipate that their DEI budgets will increase.

Like so many things in today’s uncertain environment, meeting and event planners are left with more questions than answers when it comes to how these increasingly polarized attitudes toward corporate DEI could affect their meetings.

For example, one area that has undergone a sea change in recent years is the effort to find diverse speakers and presenters that more accurately reflect the demographics of the audience. Will there be reduced pressure to diversify speaker lineups? Will target audiences, like the country at large, be increasingly polarized around anything to do with DEI, leading to some only wanting to go to events that explore DEI topics, while others avoid events that focus on DEI?

Will companies that have publicly scaled back their DEI efforts refuse to send employees to, exhibit at, or sponsor events that have a DEI track? How will site selection shift to accommodate increasingly polarized emotions around DEI-related state-level legislation, either pro or con?

Will there be a decrease in the overall number of conferences and meetings that focus specifically on DEI — especially if the formerly reliable corporate sponsors decline to invest in these shows and new sponsors don’t step in to take their place?

One thing that is not in question is that planners may find themselves challenged with creating inclusive environments without alienating potential audience members, sponsors, exhibitors and other stakeholders on both sides of the issue. For example, meeting and event organizers who had been increasingly incorporating DEI-related sessions may find themselves having to rebrand these sessions, replacing DEI terminology with terms that appear to be more palatable in today’s environment, such as “belonging” or “inclusion.” Or they may have to cut these sessions entirely.

The industry, which until now has been, for the most part, all-in on making meetings and events accommodating, welcoming and accessible for all who want to participate, now finds itself considering that dreaded pandemic-era word, “pivot,” as new national priorities unfold. The question remains: How can planners find new ways to align shifting corporate priorities with the inclusive environment needed to foster the meaningful discussions and networking their events exist to promote?

Stay tuned…