Accessibility Requests Arrive After the Floor Plan Is Set
A 1,200-attendee conference is 12 days out. The venue's main session room has tiered seating with two wheelchair spaces at the rear and a 1:12 ramp to the stage. You receive three late accessibility requests: a delegate who uses a power chair and needs a sightline in the front third, a deaf attendee who wants live captioning for two breakout sessions, and a speaker with a mobility impairment who needs step-free stage access. The venue says the ramp is compliant but the stage lip is 15 cm and there is no lift. Your AV contractor can add captioning for $1,800 with 10 days' notice. The contingency budget holds $3,000.
1. Decide how to allocate the contingency and what to negotiate with the venue.
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Captioning at $1,800 is the clearest buy because it is time-boxed, priced, and directly removes a barrier for the deaf attendee; approve it first and confirm the contractor's 10-day notice today. That leaves $1,200. The power-chair sightline and the speaker's stage access are both venue problems, so they should be solved by the venue at its cost, not from your contingency. Ask the venue in writing to provide a compliant temporary ramp or platform lift for the stage lip and to reconfigure the front-third seating to create a level sightline. If the venue refuses, price a temporary ramp from your remaining $1,200 and document the refusal.
Do not let the 1:12 ramp be treated as sufficient for stage access if the 15 cm lip blocks a chair; compliance of the ramp does not cure the lip.
2. How do you communicate with the three requesters before the event?
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Give each person a specific, confirmed answer rather than a promise to try. Tell the deaf attendee which two sessions are captioned and how to request a third, and confirm the captioning provider and display method. Tell the power-chair user the exact seating location and sightline you have secured. Tell the speaker the confirmed step-free route and who will meet them. Where something is still unresolved, say what is being negotiated and by what date, and name a single on-site contact. Silence or vague reassurance is worse than a clear partial answer, because it removes their ability to plan.