PLEASE GOD. DON’T HOLD YOUR EVENTS ON MY RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL!

Having just enjoyed an event-free Easter Break, Darren Isenberg investigates some other days that deserve to be event-free.

I’ve always loved music.

The first album I ever bought (and, yes, I’m aware that the act of BUYING an album makes you think I’m old) was Suzi Quatro’s Quatro … on cassette tape (well, THERE’s the confirmation … I AM old!).

But trust me. Spotify the song Friday and marvel at how satisfying the musical bridge is.

But I digress. As a result of my passion for music, one of my first purchases as a young lad was a stereo. It was a Marantz. Very similar to the one in this picture.

The reason I bring this up is because, in this article, I am going to ask you to think about stereo types.

Or, more specifically, STEREOTYPES.

And, even more specifically, RELIGIOUS STEREOTYPES

I know it’s not a very woke thing to do, but knowing whether your industry or organisation attracts a significant number of people of a particular religion or culture can actually have a place when determining the dates for your major events.

There are days throughout the calendar (more than you have probably ever thought) where, if you were to hold a conference, you would be unknowingly preventing a whole group of those people (or some senior executives) from attending because it clashes with a day that means just as much to them as Easter or Christmas means to those who follow Christianity.

So, it’s worth having a think about the backgrounds of the people you are hoping to attract to your event.

And, yes, that’s stereotyping. But hopefully in a healthy and helpful way.

There are people of all sorts of backgrounds in all sorts of industries ... but sometimes they gather a little more than expected, and that's where it is really worth giving a thought to whether you're keeping your event open to them.

For example, Jewish people tend to show up in fair numbers in financial and medical cohorts. Hindus are also a significant slice of the medical fraternity, as well as being particularly visible in IT.

It’s also worth considering the backgrounds of senior management and speakers who you would like to be involved.

Most of the major faiths have days that require even the mildly observant to refrain from work.

Interestingly, in researching this article, the one major faith that has NO such work restrictions on their festivals is the one that we all ensure we don’t plan events for. Christianity!

But Islam, Hinduism and Judaism certainly do.

If your industry or senior executive has people of those faiths, it would be worthwhile knowing when their restricted-work days are, so they are not discriminated against.

And they, and other religions have days where it is customary for families to gather for a feast or for followers to attend prayer services (even though work is permissible) and holding an event then is equally problematic for their adherents.

I thought, now that we’ve all just downed tools for Easter, that it might be timely to provide a list of the dates it would be kind to avoid planning events for, if your people are known to (or are likely to) hail from a non-Christian faith.

I’m Jewish. That’s no big surprise. The surname is the first clue. Followed by the fact that I make a living by talking, rather than using my hands.

Currently, while I write this, I am celebrating Passover, an eight-day festival where I am not allowed to eat bread (or many other of the yummiest, tastiest and easy-to-access foods).

I’m also not allowed to work on the first two days (technically the last two days, too, but that is a whole other level of piety that I am not quite at).

Fortunately, this year, the work restricted days fell on the Thursday before Good Friday, and on Good Friday itself, so there was no chance I was going to have to politely tell a client that I was ‘already booked’ on those days.

But every year I have to turn down requests to MC or speak at events planned for the two more religious festivals than Passover … the High Holydays of Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), which are held on different dates each year, but usually late September to early October.

And, whilst that hurts my hip pocket, I know I will get work at other times. But my fellow Red Sea Pedestrians don’t have that flexibility and simply can’t attend their industry’s major annual event for that year.

For example, this year I have been asked to MC two events that fall on Yom Kippur … one of which was a major dental conference which (and this is where the stereotyping returns) struck me as grossly unfair in an industry containing a fair number of Jews.

It wouldn’t be such a big issue if the event was for the Australian Pork and Ham Lovers Association (See? Sometimes stereotyping can be funny!) but what about that big conference you are working on?

Have you considered who WON’T be able to attend because of the choice of dates?

So, I thought if I could put together a list of days that would prevent significant sections of your membership or staff from attending (whether it is because they are forbidden to work or would be attending a traditional family gathering), I would be serving a useful purpose (“Finally!”, some would say).

With Hindus comprising a larger proportion of our population than ever, and Muslims also a growing cohort, it is becoming a more important issue to be aware of.

I realise in our diverse workforce it is not necessarily an easy thing to keep track of what festival occurs when, especially as many of these festivals are based on calendars other than our regular one, so the date changes year to year.

And, then there’s the added complications that not all people of all faiths are equally as observant as each other … and festivals in the Jewish and Islamic faiths begin the EVENING BEFORE the day (so don’t try and squeeze a dinner in the night before a holy day).

But having more event organisers aware that, just by consulting a few websites in the planning stages (which I’ve listed below), they are taking a big step towards holding more inclusive events, that makes it all worthwhile.

So, here the list of The Religious Festivals You Might Want To Be Aware Of (although I’ve excluded festivals that occur between late-December and mid-January, as it is rare in Australia to hold corporate events in that time).

Below it I have included some resources to help you find out if your planned dates clash with one of them:

THE RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS YOU MIGHT WANT TO BE AWARE OF

To help you work out the dates of these festivals in the year you are planning your events, the following websites will be useful:

JEWISH FESTIVALS

For events within 12 months: Jewish Festivals within the next 12 months

For events more than 12 months away: Jewish Festivals more than one year away

ISLAMIC FESTIVALS

For events held through to the Year 2030: Dates of Islamic Festivals through to 2030

HINDU EVENTS

For events held through to the Year 2030: Dates of Hindu Festivals Through to 2030

For any festival in any religion, a quick search on Google will lead you to the date of the next occurrence.

Just remember that Islamic and Jewish Festivals begin the evening before the first day as shown on a Gregorian Calendar.

If you’ve reached this point of my article, I absolutely applaud and thank you. It means you’ve now got a heightened awareness of considering other faiths when planning your events.

And that could end up making a lot of people very happy: not only your diverse delegates … and not only me … but also my good friend Hal.

That’s Hal E. Lujah.

Praise Your Lord!

And your Event!

Darren Isenberg is one of Australia’s most booked and re-booked Corporate MC’s. He also presents at conferences on How to Improve Your Positive Influence and Making Memorable Meetings.

You can learn more about him by heading to www.dipresents.com.au or by asking his kids. But don’t talk to his mother. She still has no idea what he does … but thinks he’s great at whatever it is anyway.