LONDON, UK. July 20th, 2026 – The Accessible Events Show, the UK’s only dedicated event bringing together professionals committed to making events accessible and inclusive for everyone, has confirmed its return to The Drum, Wembley on 29 October 2026.
Building on a landmark debut year that earned two major industry awards, the 2026 show is the most ambitious yet, with a full day of programming, a world-class headline sponsor, and a growing international footprint for the UK’s only dedicated event for accessibility and inclusion in the events industry.
The show’s 2025 launch left an immediate mark on the industry, winning the EN Awards Diversity and Inclusion Award and a Silver at the Cool Event Awards for Disruptor Attitude.
The 2026 show has been designed to offer something genuinely useful from the moment doors open to the moment they close.
The morning session brings together leading voices from across the events industry for a series of expert panels. Speakers will explore the practical, strategic and cultural challenges of building accessibility into events of every scale, from corporate conferences and live music to exhibitions and public festivals. The sessions are built around the real decisions that event professionals face every day, led by the people best placed to help them make those decisions well.
In the afternoon, the Accessible Events Show will run a dedicated workshop programme for the first time, giving attendees the opportunity to go deeper, ask harder questions, and leave with tools and techniques they can apply immediately. Whether attendees are new to accessibility planning or looking to sharpen an existing approach, the workshops are designed to be practical, participatory, and genuinely transformative.
Dr Shani Dhanda, Accessibility Consultant and Broadcaster who is one of the organiser of the event, said: “Winning two awards in our first year told us something important: the events industry is ready for this. People want to do better, and they want the knowledge and the community to help them get there.
“The 2026 show is bigger, more practical and more ambitious than anything we have done before. Morning panels with the people who are leading the way, afternoon workshops where you actually get to work. This is a show built around what event professionals told us they needed. We cannot wait to bring everyone together at Wembley in October.”
HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations, joins the Accessible Events Show as headline sponsor for the second year in a row. HSBC has made accessibility central to how it thinks about its customers, its products and its people, and in 2026 was included on the Forbes Accessibility 200 list for the first time.
Mali Fernando MBE, Group Head of Digital Experience and Accessibility at HSBC, is a leading figure in the global accessibility movement and a driving force behind HSBC’s award-winning programme. He said: “Accessibility is not a compliance exercise. It is a commitment to making sure that everyone, regardless of disability or need, can fully participate in the world around them.
“At HSBC we have seen what happens when you take that commitment seriously: better products, better customer experiences, and a stronger organisation. The events industry has a real opportunity to lead here, and the Accessible Events Show is exactly the kind of platform that makes that possible. We are proud to support it as headline sponsor and to be part of a community that is genuinely driving change.”
The Accessible Events Show is also expanding internationally, with a US event planned for later in the year.
The event is organised by Catherine Grinyer of Attendable and Orla Pearson, co-founder and Director of both MyClearText and AccessLOOP, and Dr Shani Dhanda, Accessibility Consultant and Broadcaster. The show is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, with all proceeds going back into advancing accessibility across the events industry.
Event partners for 2026 are Attendable, Swagable, MyClearText and AccessLOOP, with The Drum Wembley as venue partner, Crowd Comms as platform partner, Performedia and Silent Seminars as event partners, and Mash Media as media partner.
Registrations are now open at accessibleeventsshow.com/aes26
