Raise the Inclusivity Bar with Non-Alcoholic Drinks

November 26, 2024

Panelists at the “Beyond the Bar” discussion that took place during IMEX America 2024 at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club in Las Vegas.

Inclusivity means rethinking how to make meetings and events more accommodating and welcoming to all — including accommodating the non-alcoholic drink needs of a growing number of attendees.

The alcohol-fueled camaraderie of the conference happy hour reception has long been a staple of most meetings and events. But now that so many are increasingly focused on health and wellness, most importantly the 38% of U.S. adults who are abstaining from alcohol altogether, according to a July 2023 Gallup survey, perhaps it’s time to rethink the drink.

Especially when you consider that 64% of legal-drinking-age Gen Zer’s in the U.S. said they had not consumed alcohol in the first six months this year, according to the International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR), a global drinks data and analytics provider. While older generations still tend to be more amenable to alcohol, millennials also tend to drink less alcohol than Gen X and Boomers. Aren’t these exactly the people you want to participate in your events? And, in addition to those who are committed to sobriety as a lifestyle or who are allergic to alcohol, there are others who are taking a break from alcohol, or just who want to be sharp for an important meeting in the morning.

While you may think it’s enough to offer alternatives such as soda, juice and bottled water, that’s not enough to make non-drinkers feel truly welcomed and included, said the panelists at a discussion called “Beyond the Bar” that took place during IMEX America 2024 at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club in Las Vegas this fall, hosted by Caesars Entertainment and OTHR Agency in partnership with CEMA (the Corporate Event Marketing Association).

Moderator David T. Stevens of Olympian Meeting and the host of the Return on Wellness podcast kicked it off by noting that, of the exhibitors who responded to a post asking if they planned to serve mocktails at their booths, only one actually did (Caesars Entertainment, which has made wellness a huge focus of late). The rest still thought having juice, soda, flavored lemonades and water were sufficient. Still, he laughed, that one booth did offer a true mocktail — a spirit-free bourbon infused with ashwagandha and a hint of lime in a martini glass — is a 100% increase over what he found when he asked the same question last year.

So why is it that organizers often have specialty cocktails designed for their conference but don’t have a non-alcoholic mocktail that’s equally special, served at the bar in a nice cocktail glass just like what everyone else gets? Likely because non-alcohol drinkers are accustomed to what has been the norm for as long as they can remember.

As panelist Carl Radke, advisor for Loverboy, owner of Soft Bar in Brooklyn and star of Summer House on Bravo, said, “Just because you don’t drink alcohol doesn’t mean you deserve a lesser experience.”

“People want a permission structure to show up as their full self and feel valued,” added Alyssa Hart, Global Sales Manager at OTHR Agency. “Events are probably the biggest ‘third space’ right now, so we’ve got to think about the duty of care we have as gatherers of people in these spaces to make them feel included.”

Sipping on non-alcoholic white peach teas, the panel of industry experts — who also included Madelyn Olavarria, Principal Global Sales and President of Women at AWS – Amazon Web Services; and Tracy Stuckrath, founder and chief connecting officer at Thrive! Meetings & Events — also pointed to a few practical considerations to think about along with a plea for inclusivity.

For example, said several panelists, a lot of that alcohol ends up not being consumed, which is a waste of resources in today’s budget-crunchy environment. “I can use that budget on other, more tangible things,” said Olavarria. And is an alcohol-soaked event, perhaps complete with an attendee taking a header into a fountain, really the image your organization wants to project? And no one would argue that those who can’t make the morning sessions because they’re too hungover are making the best use of their time or scarce travel dollars, Olavarria pointed out.

The panel also shared a few ideas on how to make cocktail receptions and other traditionally alcohol-centric events more inclusive:

Don’t wait for people to request it before you offer it. Again, many are so used to being excluded that they don’t feel comfortable asking. It’s a bit of a Catch-22, said Stuckrath. If no one requests it, you won’t stock it, but no one will request it if they assume you don’t stock it. Don’t do that to your attendees — make it as visibly available as the alcohol options so no one has to ask.
Ask about non-alcohol beverage options early on in the planning process — even during the RFP stage, suggested Stuckrath. Ask for a non-alcoholic option to be a part of your drink-tasting at a site visit.
Don’t take no as their final answer. If the venue says they can’t offer a high-quality mocktail, get some verbiage in the contract that says you can bring in your own. Stuckrath shared that she had a local liquor store deliver special non-alcoholic ingredients to her meeting venue.
Explore some of the non-alcohol options that are already on the market from the big alcohol producers. According to the panelists, non-alcoholic beer and several types of spirits already are making serious inroads with big alcohol companies, and even non-alcohol wines are starting to be a viable option as the big companies scramble to get in on this burgeoning sober market. If Anheuser-Busch and Guinness are putting their R&D money into non-alcoholic brands, perhaps it’s time for meeting and event organizers to raise the bar on their non-alcoholic options as well.