Setting a New Standard

How ESPA’s new initiatives reshaped diversity and accessibility in event planning following an award-winning PR push and strategic design

CHALLENGE

Despite the best efforts from around the industry, the Event Service Professionals Association (ESPA) saw a critical issue persist throughout the event planning sector: a lack of best practices in diversity and accessibility.

So, as the only association in North America representing event service professionals from convention and visitors bureaus, hotels and convention centers, they did something about it.

ESPA developed two essential resources: a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) guidebook and an Accessibility Toolkit.

These resources were not vanity additions to their repertoire. Instead, they were pivotal for enhancing inclusivity and accessibility at events and conferences throughout the continent. But to make it happen, they needed these resources to reach as many professionals as possible to ensure universal adoption.

And it was up to CMA to help get the job done.

SOLUTION

CMA meticulously designed each guide before crafting a dynamic public relations strategy to amplify the impact and extend the reach of ESPA’s innovative offerings, ensuring their influence resonated throughout the industry. Campaign elements included:

• Media Engagement: A robust outreach strategy ensured prominent placement of ESPA’s initiatives in highly relevant, industry-specific publications. This involved crafting compelling press releases that highlighted the innovative nature and practical benefits of the DEI Guide and Accessibility Toolkit.

• Editorial Database Customization: CMA developed an extensive editorial database explicitly tailored to the events and trade show sector, enabling pinpoint accuracy in reaching the most influential media outlets.

• Strategic Partnerships: Building enduring partnerships with key media figures to facilitate sustained coverage and promote ESPA’s ongoing initiatives and thought leadership in the industry.

• Design Considerations: CMA ensured that the design of ESPA’s campaign materials prioritized accessibility and readability. The strategy involved incorporating easy-to-read fonts, easy-to-follow structures, bold icons and headlines and a color palette carefully chosen to accommodate a broad audience, including those with color impairments.

RESULTS

Through CMA’s targeted public relations efforts, ESPA bolstered its industry presence and established new benchmarks for educational resources in event services.

The proof?

ESPA and CMA both won silver for “Best Advocacy Campaign” from the Association TRENDS, a leading association industry publication. 

Here are some of the takeaways that wowed the judges:

• Media Placement and Extensive Reach: CMA achieved 16 high-value media placements for an estimated reach of 4.56 million unique monthly visitors across ESPA’s top target outlets.

• Notable Editorial Features: CMA secured influential features in leading industry publications. Notable placements include profile stories in Smart Meetings, Meetings Today, Event Planner News Daily, MeetingsNet, Plannerwire, and Meetings + Events.

• Enhanced Domain Authority: The strategic media relations efforts significantly increased ESPA’s domain authority, bolstering its stature as an authoritative voice in the event services sector.

Engagement Metrics: The campaign led to a measurable increase in referral traffic to ESPA’s website, with a significant uptick in downloads of both the DEI Guide and Accessibility Toolkit, reflecting the campaign’s success in engaging the target audience.