Making Your Joomla Event Welcoming for All

There's a famous story about Harald MacMillan, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. When asked by a journalist, "What do you fear the most in politics or what could most easily derail your government's agenda?" He supposedly replied:

"Events, dear boy, events."

Indeed, events can be fraught with unseen dangers when planning. Let's explore the key considerations to make your Joomla event truly welcoming for all.

Essential Considerations for Event Planning

1. Location and Accessibility
   • Ease of travel for attendees from different countries
   • Visa requirements and entry regulations
   • Local transportation options
   • Physical accessibility (Wheelchair accessible, wide doorways and aisles)
   • Visual accessibility (Braille, high contrast signage)
   • Auditory accessibility (Sign language interpreters, Real-time captioning for speeches/presentations)
   • Cognitive accessibility (Clear, simple signage and instructions, quiet spaces for breaks)
2. Cultural Considerations
   • Cultural norms and customs of the host country
   • Language barriers and translation needs
   • Dietary restrictions and food preferences
3. Timing
   • Time zone differences for virtual components or communication
   • National holidays
   • Seasonal factors that might affect travel or activities
4. Legal and Regulatory Compliance
   • Event permits and licenses
   • Tax implications
   • Insurance requirements
5. Budget and Financial Planning
   • Currency exchange rates
   • International payment methods
   • Potential additional costs (e.g., import/export fees for equipment)
6. Technology and Communication
   • Internet connectivity and reliability
   • Compatibility of audio/visual equipment
   • Communication platforms for international attendees
7. Marketing and Promotion
   • Multi-lingual marketing materials
   • Culturally appropriate messaging
   • International media outreach
8. Logistics
   • International shipping for materials or equipment
   • Accommodation options for various budgets
   • On-site staff with language skills
9. Health and Safety
   • Safety of people travelling at night
   • Ensuring women are not harassed or discriminated against
   • Local healthcare system and emergency services
   • Travel insurance for attendees and staff
   • Potential health risks or required vaccinations
10. Sustainability
    • Environmental impact of international travel
    • Local sustainability practices and regulations

How can they plan this on Christmas Day?

Religious holidays are often days with special meanings, spent together with family or community. Days that matter to people. When you organise an event on a religious holiday, you may be forcing them to choose one important event over another.

If your religion is ignored,  you may feel rejected, attacked and discriminated because someone has planned an event on your religious holiday/holy day.

While you'd feel included if you knew the organisers thought of dates that mean something to you and didn't plan on those dates because of this.

Navigating Religious Calendars

A crucial aspect often overlooked is the timing of events in relation to religious practices and festivals. This becomes particularly tricky when you consider that while most of commerce, schools, and governments work on a solar calendar, some religions follow a lunar calendar.

Why does this matter? Event pricing is often determined by venue availability, flights, and accommodation. Organisers tend to pick times between school holidays or main holiday seasons and then rebook the same time next year. However, lunar festivals can move around the solar calendar, so what was clear one year could conflict with the next.

To address this, we need some rules to fairly avoid clashing event dates with different world religions. One suggested approach is to consider the event dates for all world religions with a membership greater than 0.1% of the global population.

World Religions Over 0.1% of Global Population

*Note: "Unaffiliated" includes atheists, agnostics, and people who do not identify with any particular religion. While not a religion itself, it's often included in religious demographic data for completeness.
Sources for this and following are:

• Pew Research Center, "The Global Religious Landscape" (2020 update)
• World Population Review, "World Religions by Population 2023"
• United Nations Population Division (for total world population estimates)
• Berman Jewish DataBank, "World Jewish Population, 2021"
• The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)
• Britannica, "Religion: Year In Review 2010"
  

So now if we use that information and ask for all the major religious festivals that these world religions celebrate and the days of the year they fall on and then we combine the results we get the following.

Next steps, help keep it up to date

Armed with this information, event organizers and planners can now work to avoid major religious holidays, making Joomla events even more accessible to all. If you're interested in helping maintain or correct this list for future use, please get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Update it and then share with all

Religious Festivals Google Sheet

It's great to see that the next event I'm attending, Joomla Day DACH, is already avoiding any of the 11 world religions listed. So there's no excuse not to attend... Hope to see you there!

(Edited to reinstate sources and add emphasis on accessibility that may not be obvious to all following comments gratefully received)