10am for the win: who are you excluding from your business events?
I have a small theory about business events.
10am is often doing more good work than we give it credit for.
Not always. Not for every audience. And definitely not for every type of event.
But if you’re planning a networking session, client webinar, learning event, workshop, launch session or team meeting, the time you choose can make a huge difference to who can realistically attend.
We often talk about making events more accessible by thinking about the venue, the joining link, the slides, the parking, the captions, the refreshments or whether a recording will be available.
All useful.
But sometimes the first barrier appears much earlier.
It’s the calendar invite.
An 8am breakfast event might work brilliantly for some people. For others, it clashes with school drop-off, caring responsibilities, public transport, health needs, opening up the business, or simply the reality of getting out of the house and across town before the working day has properly started.
A 6pm event can create the same problem at the other end of the day.
The timing may look harmless.
But it can quietly decide who gets to be included.
Event timing sends a message
Most businesses don’t set out to exclude people from their events.
They choose a time because it feels familiar, professional or convenient.
Breakfast networking has always been breakfast networking. Evening events feel sociable. Lunchtime webinars sound efficient. Half-day workshops seem sensible because they give enough time to “cover everything”.
And none of those choices are automatically wrong.
But they are still choices.
An early morning event may suit people who have flexible mornings, short commutes, no school drop-off, no caring responsibilities and enough energy to be in business mode before 8am.
An evening event may suit people who can stay later, travel home afterwards and still have enough social battery left after a full working day.
A long midday session may suit people who can block out several hours without affecting client work, customer calls, delivery deadlines or operational responsibilities.
For many SME owners, managers and small teams, that is not always the reality.
They are often balancing the work itself with the admin, the customer service, the finance, the people issues, the inbox, the school run, the commute, the unexpected problem and the thing that was supposed to take five minutes but somehow swallowed the morning.
So when we choose a time for an event, we’re not just choosing a slot in the diary.
We’re making an assumption about someone else’s day.
Convenient for the organiser is not always accessible for the attendee
This is where event planning can get a little uncomfortable.
Because often, the time that works best for the organiser is not necessarily the time that works best for the people they want to reach.
It might suit the speaker. It might suit the venue. It might fit nicely between other commitments. Or, it might be what has always been done.
But the better question is:
Who are we hoping will attend, and what does their real working day look like?
For example:
A business owner may want to attend your networking event, but 7.30am is impossible because they are getting children ready for school.
A client may want to join your webinar, but 12pm clashes with the only proper break they get in the day.
A manager may want to take part in a learning session, but a three-hour block means they fall behind on operational work.
A part-time employee may be excluded entirely if everything is always scheduled on the same day or outside their working hours.
A remote worker may technically be able to join, but not if the session starts before they have had a chance to settle into the working day.
A neurodivergent attendee may prefer time to prepare, arrive calmly and not begin the day with a high-pressure networking room before breakfast.
And when you start listing them out like that, you realise something important.
That is a lot of examples where timing matters.
It is not a niche issue. It is not a small detail. It is not just about people being awkward with their diaries.
It is about whether the event has been designed around the real lives of the people you want to reach.
None of this means you have to find a perfect time for everyone.
That probably doesn’t exist.
But it does mean event timing deserves more thought than it often gets.
Why 10am often works well
This is where I return to my 10am theory.
10am is not magic.
It won’t solve every accessibility issue, and it won’t work for every audience.
But it often gives people a fighting chance.
It can avoid the worst of the morning rush. It gives people time to deal with school drop-off, travel, emails, team questions or the first small crisis of the day. It also avoids that late afternoon slump where everyone is technically present but mentally wondering what’s for tea.
For many business events, 10am feels like a reasonable middle ground.
It says:
You don’t have to sacrifice your morning routine.
You don’t have to give up your evening.
You don’t have to arrive flustered, late or already feeling behind.
You can attend as part of the working day, not as something squeezed awkwardly around the edges.
And that matters.
Because if we want people to take part, learn, contribute, connect or buy from us, we need to make it realistic for them to show up properly.
Not just physically.
Properly.
Different events need different timing decisions
There is no single “best” time for every event.
The point is not that every business event should start at 10am.
The point is that timing should be chosen deliberately.
A networking event might need a different approach from a client workshop.
A learning session might need a different rhythm from a product launch.
A webinar for business owners might need different timing from a session for employees.
An event for local businesses might need to consider travel and parking.
An online event might need to consider school runs, client calls and screen fatigue.
A learning session might need to consider when people have enough headspace to engage, not just when there is an empty slot in the calendar.
For SMEs, this is especially important because people often wear several hats. The person attending your event might also be the person answering the phone, paying invoices, dealing with customers, managing staff and trying to keep the business moving.
Their diary may not look like a neat corporate calendar with protected blocks of time.
It may look more like controlled chaos with occasional breathing space.
So the question becomes:
Are we planning around the people we actually want to reach, or around an ideal version of them who has far more flexibility than they really do?
A simple event timing checklist
Before you set the time for your next business event, ask yourself:
Who do we most want to attend?
What might stop them saying yes?
Are we assuming people can travel early or stay late?
Are we clashing with school drop-off, school pick-up or caring responsibilities?
Are we expecting people to give up personal time?
Does the timing work for part-time workers?
Are we always choosing the same time and therefore reaching the same people?
Would a shorter session be better?
Could we offer a second time slot?
Could we provide a recording, summary or follow-up resource?
Have we asked our audience what works for them?
That last one is important.
Sometimes the simplest way to improve your event is to stop guessing.
Ask.
A quick poll, a question in your newsletter, a LinkedIn post or a short feedback form after an event can tell you a lot.
You may discover that your audience loves early mornings.
You may discover they absolutely do not.
Either way, you’ll be making a more informed choice.
Inclusion is often practical
When we talk about inclusion, it can sound big and complicated.
Policies. Strategies. Frameworks. Statements.
And yes, those things have their place.
But inclusion is also practical.
It is the everyday decision to ask:
Will this help more people take part, or quietly make it harder?
That applies to learning.
It applies to onboarding.
It applies to networking.
It applies to client events.
It applies to webinars, workshops, meetings and conferences.
The time you choose will not be the only factor that affects attendance, but it is one of the earliest signals you send.
Before anyone sees your slides, hears your speaker, joins your breakout room or picks up a coffee, they have already had to answer one question:
Can I actually make this work?
So before you book the room, send the invite or publish the Eventbrite link, pause for a moment.
Look at the clock.
Then look at the people you want in the room.
Because a better event doesn’t always start with better content.
Sometimes, it starts with a better time.
And sometimes, 10am really is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
The time of your event will never work for everyone.
But it should never be an afterthought.
Before you book the room, send the invite or publish the link, pause and ask:
Who does this timing include, and who might it unintentionally exclude?
That one question could make your next event better before it even begins.
