Celebrating Diversity and Inclusion with Joy and Authenticity

Planning Tips for Organizations and Event Planners Celebrating Heritage Months
 

EVENT PLANNING TIP 1: PLAN IN ADVANCE AND ASSIGN AN OWNER
 
Authentic celebration of heritage months deserves and requires advance planning and dedicated capacity. Too many of the harmful mistakes organizations make acknowledging heritage months are due to poor last-minute choices. Advance planning means having an annual calendar in place and planning for each heritage month starting two to three months in advance.
 
Capacity means dedicated, compensated time (not a volunteer responsibility on top of a full-time role). If you have an internal team focused on events, DEI, or learning and development, perhaps this is someone’s primary responsibility. If your organization doesn’t have that capacity built in, I recommend partnering with an events consultant who can give your annual plan the time and attention it deserves.

EVENT PLANNING TIP 2: CONSIDER YOUR VENDORS AND MEETING PRACTICES
 
Whether it’s hosting a team meal, choosing speakers, or considering the music, art, or branding for your celebration, choose vendors who share the identity and celebrate the cultures of the specific heritage month.  
 
Consider your typical meeting practices. Do they reflect the unique cultural traditions of the heritage month? If not, this is an opportunity not only to bring in vendors but also to adjust your practice. As an example, for a celebration of Native American History Month, it might feel off to skip a land acknowledgement and get right into a packed agenda. This is a great place to lean on your representative steering committee for ideas and suggestions and be open to doing things differently.
 
EVENT PLANNING TIP 3: CENTER THE CELEBRATION AND INCLUDE EVERYONE
 
Affinity space matters and should be protected.  
 
However, making heritage month celebrations optional to the full team or company sends a message that celebrating diversity is optional. Then, when, or if, attendance is low, this backfires and harms those you meant to celebrate. Instead, the team-wide or company-wide celebration should be mandatory and in regular mandatory time — such as a monthly team meeting or lunch. This centers the celebration in regular practice and also means that your regular practice centers celebrations of diversity.