The Eastside Rooms Expands Practical Support for Neuroinclusive Events

The Birmingham venue is bringing trained staff, clearer advance information, sensory-considerate spaces and flexible planning together to help organisers create events that work for different minds.

The Eastside Rooms has expanded the practical support available to organisers planning neuroinclusive events, bringing together guidance, staff training, pre-arrival information and on-site facilities as part of a more comprehensive approach to the delegate experience.

The initiative builds on the venue becoming the first venue in the UK to achieve Gold Neuroinclusive Venue Accreditation from Welcome Brain Consulting in 2025. For The Eastside Rooms, however, the accreditation was not intended as a finishing point. The venue has continued to embed neuroinclusion across the delegate journey, from the initial enquiry and pre-event communication through to room configuration, arrival, participation and feedback.

The approach is deliberately practical. Organisers can discuss the needs of delegates, speakers and event staff with the venue team at an early stage, while drawing on organiser checklists, sample attendee wording and neuroinclusion FAQs to make communications clearer and more predictable.

Delegates can also be given more information about the venue before they arrive. Visual travel guidance, an interactive floor plan and a virtual venue tour allow attendees to familiarise themselves with their surroundings and understand their journey through the venue in advance.

Once on site, organisers can consider a range of adjustments to the physical and sensory environment. These include flexible room layouts offering a choice of seating, easier access to exits, the identification of quieter areas and lower-sensory routes, as well as practical consideration of lighting, sound, signage, registration queues and breaks — all factors that can contribute to sensory overload.

A permanent Wellness Room provides an additional option for attendees who need to step away from the main event environment.

The space began as a temporary initiative for the 2025 ABPCO Festival of Learning, but positive feedback from delegates led the venue to make it a permanent feature. Designed as a calm retreat from busier event spaces, the room includes relaxed seating, softer adjustable lighting, noise-cancelling headphones and simple activities such as cards and colouring.

The focus on practical support also extends to the venue team itself. In May 2026, colleagues from marketing, sales, operations, human resources and reservations completed further neuroinclusivity training with Welcome Brain. The session explored how neurodiversity can present differently from person to person, how everyday event environments can create barriers, and how staff can recognise signs of distress and respond with respectful, practical support.

Tanita Gill, Marketing Manager at The Eastside Rooms, said: “Neuroinclusion becomes meaningful when it changes the ordinary details of an event: the information someone receives before travelling, the choice of where they sit, the confidence to use a quiet space and the response they receive if they ask for help. Our aim is to make those considerations part of normal planning, not an extra request added at the end.”

That distinction is central to the venue’s approach. Neuroinclusive event planning does not necessarily require major changes to an event or its format. Small adjustments — clearer instructions, a well-signposted quiet space, a slightly modified schedule, greater seating choice or a simple explanation of what delegates can expect — can have a meaningful effect on comfort and participation.

The Eastside Rooms is consequently encouraging organisers to raise neuroinclusion at the earliest stage of event planning, allowing relevant adjustments to become part of the event design rather than being considered only once arrangements are already in place.

The support is available across a range of event formats hosted at the Birmingham venue, including meetings, training sessions, conferences and exhibitions.

The work forms part of The Eastside Rooms’ wider commitment to creating events that are more accessible and welcoming. The purpose-built venue provides step-free access throughout, Changing Places facilities and flexible event spaces, while its approach seeks to consider physical, sensory and communication needs together.

By bringing those considerations into the planning process, and equipping its own teams to respond to them, The Eastside Rooms is positioning neuroinclusion as an ordinary part of event delivery rather than a specialist provision activated only when a delegate makes a specific request.
 

Powered by Meeting Media Company, publisher of Headquarters Magazine (HQ) – a leading international publication based in Brussels, serving the global MICE industry and association community.