Pioneering positive event experiences for disabled guests

Working with the team at the EFL and their partners, including The Fan Experience Company, was great because they are always on the look- out for innovative ways to keep conferences lively, diverse and accessible, breeding a culture of inclusion.

Creating family friendly environments are high on the agenda in the sports community, with disabled access and comfort taken very seriously especially by the EFL. The EFL created the disability conference to provide delegates with an opportunity to explore the match day journey from a disabled supporters perspective. The conference builds on their recent Accessible Supporters Guide and £1million pound investment into Every Player Counts Project.  

Enlisting the support of Mark Bradley, founder of The Fan Experience Company the EFL have been successful in creating fantastic family experiences...

The Fan Experience Company

Working alongside The EFL and other sports organisations, The Fan Experience Company, gather real family insights & feedback including authentic customer stories and supporter visits. Similarly, to mystery shoppers, mystery fans will visit a sporting event documenting and analysing the experience.

 This research coupled with development of improved fan experiences has led to 37% rise in junior season ticket sales (with over 6 million more kids watching football at this level compared to 10 years ago.)  The same approach was used to highlight areas for improving disabled supporter experiences. Mark commented,

“Over the 3 subsequent years, every Football League club received an authentic disabled supporter visit, exploring, in his or her own words, their experiences from the website and first impressions to the journey to the match and everything that happened on the day.

With more clubs investing in supporter consultation, training, experience improvement and extra services, such as first time fan pages, SLOs (Supporter Liaison Officers), fan panels and, especially in the area of family engagement, much more has been added to the 90 minutes of football.”

Mark works with a range of sports organisations and believes the key to improving experiences is to listen to visitors and work in partnership, something we couldn’t agree with more!  

To find out more about The Fan Company and how they can help drive positive change for your organisation please email: mark@bradleyprojects.com or visit  www.bradleyprojects.com

Our Contribution

Working alongside Mark we identified a synergy in our approach; as a team we have always worked hard to deliver conferences that achieve results for our clients. This involves putting the guest experience first. We plan the whole conference around the brief, focussing on how to make an impact on the guests from the moment they register to departure from the event. We aim to provide a comfortable, accessible environment where people can feel relaxed and enjoy the experience.

Working closely with the EFL and their partners, we delivered a smooth, efficient event that got people talking. Our contribution included

• Event consultation
• Themed workshops
• Live voting
• Social integration
• Branded set & promotional print
• AV

Deal or No Deal

This year, we created themed workshops, inspired by the TV program Deal or No Deal. Each of the red boxes contained an agenda item for the day with the classic black telephone ringing to signal the end of a session. It went down a treat with the delegates as did the live voting and video content.

Live Voting & Video

The session kicked off with the use of our live voting system. Live polls took place within the room gathering real life responses to some of the most commonly asked questions around disability and tackling misconceptions about people who have disabilities.

For many, sharing ideas or answering questions in a room full of people is a daunting experience. Using voting pads or smartphones the audience can answer questions or cast their vote or share an opinion.

Video content is a great way to introduce the day and add variety of content to a presentation. We worked with the EFL to produce an opening montage for the event and videos to compliment interview sections during the conference.

All videos can be viewed via the EFL’s YouTube Channel

Wowing the Delegates

We created fully branded areas which made guests feel that something important was happening from the moment they set foot in the door. Using the EFL branding and the same imagery we used on the Accessibility Guide we designed for them earlier in this year, we produced large fully printed backdrops, indoor and outdoor banners.  We built and lit the main stage, including a ramp to make it accessible for disabled guests.

The Results

Click here or type #EFLdisability into twitter

How We Can Help

We pay attention to detail so you don’t have to.

Specialising in sports conferences and inclusive events, we can provide all the support you need. From sourcing the venue to theming the day we have the creativity, techy know-how and experience to make it happen. We aim to make our events accessible and will do everything we can to accommodate you and make your guests comfortable. 

Call us on 01507 607783 or email hello@firstmedia.co.uk