New Publication for Inclusive Events, SAAS and Products (Substack Edition)
Learn what readers will gain from the publication, the kind of content that will be published, and a sample story.
In this article:
What readers will gain from this publication
The kind of content that will be published
Sample story: Takeaways from hosting an inclusive launch event
This article was originally published on Medium. As of September 2024, Eventida now publishes on both platforms, bringing content to readers on their preferred platforms.
Other articles also migrated:
About the Publication
What readers shall gain from this publication
Staying current — know what the most critical problem areas with inclusion are, what actions can be taken, who can help, and why it matters.
Useful insights — a “behind the scenes” look at team activities: discussing inclusion challenges; sharing research findings, solutions or workarounds implemented; and other takeaways.
Essential resources — for the toolbox of professionals who want to ensure an inclusive and accessible experience for their audiences.
Who are the contributors, and who is it for?
The Eventida team, partners, and special guests will be sharing insights, stories and favorite resources. These posts will be helpful for anyone interested in ensuring an accessible and inclusive experience for their team and customers: product owners, UX designers, event coordinators, HR professionals, project managers, and so on.
What kind of content will be published?
To give a sample “taste” of what is to come, the following story chronicles the relaunch of Eventida, the very first of what will hopefully be a highly impactful series of personal stories, as raw and authentic as can be. The next post will give a different flavor of content: creating awareness of a major problem, complete with a how-to-fix guide.
Takeaways from Hosting a Launch Event
Excited about revealing that Eventida is now a research and development lab studying inclusion, I decided to host a live stream event.
Since the new website is a single webpage, it would only take about 5 minutes to reveal, so I decided to add a demonstration of the kind of work Eventida would be doing.
I also made a commitment that the event would be fully accessible. This was especially challenging for me to achieve as a solo founder who is Deaf, with limited resources. It seemed the simplest strategy would be to pre-record the video with me using American Sign Language, and then add voice-over, recording myself speaking.
It turned out that “simple strategy” was a major understatement.
To prepare, I created a run sheet/script to make it easier to produce accessible event and video footage. Event planners and stage managers use run sheets to keep track of the different moving parts that have to happen at the same time. I expanded the tool to include the moving parts of accessibility — for example, descriptions of on-screen content for participants who are blind or Deafblind.
What if nobody who’d benefit from accessibility showed up to the original livestream event? Why not have attendees request accommodations?
This is actually what Eventida originally aimed to do: make the accommodations process easier. A former co-founder and I built a website app for it, what we now call “the OA,” as in “the Original App.” The lessons learned from OA will be shared in another article.
The ultimate takeaway?
The whole concept of “requesting accommodations” in order to be able to attend an event is not inclusive.
This excellent graphic sums it up perfectly:
People who experience barriers to inclusion at events should be able to RSVP and show up just like anyone else without having to put in a lot of extra effort to arrange accommodations.
It also affects mental health — consider when one attempt to make arrangements only to be dismissed or worse, told that everything is all set, and show up to find they are unable to enjoy equal access due to:
an online event app not working with their assistive technology;
inability to physically access the event space;
an interpreter who is not translating the content clearly;
no allergen labels, or ability to ask about ingredients in the food;
and any number of other barriers to inclusion that one may experience.
It occurs much more often than one would think, sometimes due to circumstances beyond the event host’s control. It happens at critical, life and career-affecting events such as work meetings, in the classroom, or at workshops.
Therefore, Eventida will always strive to create barrier-free experiences from the get-go, without requiring accommodation requests in advance.
The Switch to a Different Event Format
As the event date drew closer, I became increasingly anxious. Despite my training and experience with accessible technology, I was worried about missing something, such as making sure the live stream app would function for those who do not use a mouse.
The events were set up on Facebook and LinkedIn, but I had not distributed invitations nor promoted the event yet, being so focused on producing it, and not feeling confident that the event would be successful. There were a few RSVP’s from existing followers, though.
Instead of canceling or postponing, it was time to get creative. The ultimate goal was to launch, so I decided to change the event format from a live stream to “100 hours of live updates,” then updated the event graphic and description, and sent out invitations.
And then it was time to relaunch. With butterflies in my stomach, I began the effort.
The Results: How did it go?
Overall, it was an interesting experience, with many more takeaways and lessons learned, to be shared in a series: #NewEventida.
Updating social media branding is a task I usually delegate. It was surprising to find multiple issues and usability challenges when it came to making social media branding accessible.
Takeaway #1: Social media platforms do not make it easy or intuitive to ensure content is accessible. Given the recent layoffs of the entire accessibility team at Twitter and thousands of jobs at Facebook, the problem is only going to get worse.
It was very tedious to do the updates across all social media platforms, then post the live updates, noting all the accessibility issues through multiple screenshots, and writing image descriptions.
Takeaway #2: The live updates idea is worth further exploration, using a different setup. Social media’s event functionality is simply too limited.
Specific to the experiment of hosting a “live updates” event, it also got tricky. For example — on LinkedIn, once an event’s start date and time has passed, one cannot edit nor add new comments on the event. So guests who had RSVPed would not see any updates. On Facebook, guests get notifications of new comments, but if one hadn’t RSVPed and decided to check it out, they would not see the live updates directly on the event page, since comments are hidden on a separate tab.
Final Takeaway #3: Validation for Eventida! Overall, the results validated the need for a research and development lab studying inclusion.
There should not be so much extra cost (in time or money) for content creators and event hosts to provide fully accessible, inclusive experiences to their audiences.
Otherwise, only major corporations and well-funded organizations have the resources and manpower needed to be inclusive — creating further inequity for marginalized communities.
What’s Next?
The 100 hours had run out before I completed the relaunch agenda:
Follow up on demo, “How we made an accessible brand scheme.”
Why the intermission/theatre theme?
About the puzzle pieces in the event graphic, and what they mean.
Q&A about the New Eventida.
Upon reflection, I decided not to attempt livestream events, nor video recordings with screen shares, until I have expanded my capacity.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
- Squire Bill Widener, requoted by Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt
For now, what I can do is remain steadfast in my commitment to being accessible and inclusive. What I have, is the skill to write and resources to publish content. Where I am growing a community of professionals committed to creating inclusive experiences and products.
And here we are, with the new publication for Inclusive Events, SAAS, and Products! The next few posts will complete the rest of the relaunch agenda, starting with “3 Reasons Brands Need to Update Color Rules ASAP,” which contains a guide as to how we created an accessible brand scheme.
Thank you for reading! Please be sure to click the follow button so you don’t miss any new posts, or reach out if you’d like to be a contributor.