‘We’ve Walked These Paths Before’: How the Meetings Industry Is Adapting to the DEI Backlash in the U.S.

Across the meetings industry, organizations are finding ways to follow through on DEI while not calling attention to it.

We approached this issue’s cover and CMP Series story as an extension of our focus in the June issue on how the business events industry is moving forward in light of the current U.S. administration’s many significant policy changes. This time, we looked more closely at how organizations are navigating President Trump’s series of executive orders targeting DEI programs in the public and private sectors, specifically when it comes to their events — where inclusivity and belonging aren’t features, they’re central to their mission.

Michelle Russell
Editor in Chief

How deeply the effects of DEI backlash are being felt, of course, depend on each organization and the sector it represents. But one telling data point we cite in our story comes from a survey of corporate citizenship professionals: 68 percent expect their company’s commitment to DEI will either remain steady or increase during the current administration. Which sounds pretty good until you compare it to last year’s results, when 96 percent anticipated the same in the near future.

One thread connecting our interviews and research is that organizations are finding ways to follow through on DEI while not calling attention to it, for example, by shifting the focus to the business case for diversity or softening the language around it.

And by being resilient. DEI consultant Poornima Luthra told me that she gains “inspiration from the fact that people have been through this before and they have come out the other side, fighting for what they believe is the right thing.”

One such person is Marsha A. Mockabee, whom I read about in a recent Signal Cleveland article, as the city prepared to host the National Urban League conference in mid-July. In 2009, Mockabee became the turnaround president and CEO of the Cleveland branch of the civil rights organization, which focuses on economic empowerment, equality, and social justice issues, as it was on the verge of shutting down.

Mockabee said the league’s D3 strategy — defend democracy, demand diversity, and defeat poverty — is more pronounced in the conference agenda in response to Trump administration policies that many find harmful. “It is really important,” she said, “that a civil rights organization is standing up for the hard-fought rights that we have won over time.”

While many supporters of DEI “safety-net programs for people who really need them” are afraid to defend them because they fear retaliation, she said, “that’s not the National Urban League. We’ve walked these paths before. If people want to threaten, attack, etc., we know how to respond appropriately.”

Mockabee also acknowledged the larger role our industry plays in making a positive social impact. Referring to the free public events, including providing free legal advice, career fairs, and school supply giveaways that are part of the event, she said, “I just love that the National Urban League understands that when they bring the conference to a community, it is not just about attracting people to a city to spend money on hotel rooms, go to restaurants, etc. It’s about giving back.”

There’s a Science to It

Not only is public education another area that has experienced major budget cuts under the current administration, but scientific inquiry and rigor have become suspect under RFK Jr.’s leadership of the U.S. Health and Human Services department.

So it’s not surprising that the nonprofit Society for Science — founded more than a century ago on the belief that a healthy democracy depended on a public understanding of science — breathed a sigh of relief that federal funding for its middle- and high-school research teachers conference remained intact. Read more about the conference in this issue’s There’s a Meeting for That.

Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.