The Society for Technical Communication UK and Ireland chapter is hosting this event in Cambridge, UK, at the Moller Conference Centre.

Prices are lowered at this event to help out with the “credit crunch”: only £150 for two days for members of the STC UK and I chapter. Pricing details are on the booking site.

Speaker Lineup

A variety of top speakers on different aspects of accessibility has been assembled at this conference; topics include designing for all, learning about signing, meeting the needs of Deaf people, and what’s happening in the world of standards and accessibility. The latest news from the conference is the addition of Richard Hodgkinson to the great line-up of speakers. He’ll join us to speak about “ICT Accessibility… Where are we?”

Who else is speaking?

• Katie Grant , Raincharm, will discuss “designing for all” and what “accessibility and inclusion” mean, in addition to holding a communications clinic where people can bring in samples of their work that they wish to make more accessible.
• Pauline Sadler will teach you how to finger spell, as well as give you some very basic training in signing. Pauline will look at how style must change when you converting written text to signing.
• David Spicer, Aeroflex, will talk about how loss in different frequency areas affects the comprehension of speech. David looks at the effects of room acoustics and the use of background music/sounds in audio/visual on the presentation of information. He also discusses the different needs of hearing impaired people who become deaf and those that are born deaf.
• Pam Spicer, Norfolk Deaf Association, will speak about the NDA’s Listen Here bus that visits remote rural communities providing services to clients and the role the NDA web site has in publicity and outreach for the service.
• Leonie Watson, Nomensa, will discuss website design. People with disabilities access the web in different ways, depending on their task, location, experience and ability. Leonie will help you discover the access technologies people use, the challenges they present, and what you can do to your website to help people with disabilities make the most of the information you provide.

As Richard Truscott, incoming president for the chapter, notes,

[this is] a top class event giving you practical information you can use. We have quality speakers that help you gain a competitive edge for your products and services. This is a quality training and lecture programme that is useful and insightful as well as affordable. Including workshops on website design, accessibility standards in the USA and EU.

Registration and Hotel Information

Find full details of the conference on the STC UK and Ireland Chapters web site or at the Design to Read Web site.

Why not head straight to the booking site at http://accessibilitytechcomms.eventbrite.com/ and book your spot at the conference today? There are generous discounts for members of STC and affiliated organisations. The price includes all material, notes, breaks and meals.

Accommodation is not included in the above prices. Rooms can be booked directly with the Møller centre. The Møller Centre offers high-quality hotel-style rooms with wireless and wired Internet access, and (astonishingly for Cambridge) ample free parking. The rooms cost £87 per night plus VAT. Book (and pay) directly with the Centre by contacting Mignon Bout at the Centre on +44 (0) 1223 465501 or mignon.bout @ chu.cam.ac.uk.

If you want a room, book *really quickly* – as of 18th May, there were only 9 rooms left.

A social event and a gala dinner are also planned for this major event.

See you in Cambridge!

PS

How important is this market sector with people with disabilities? The US Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy just posted an article in the May issue of “Business Sense” that says that people with disabilities are the third largest market section in the US.

What’s the third largest market segment in the United States? The answer might surprise you. It’s not a particular ethnicity, gender or age group. It’s people with disabilities. The size of this population—54 million strong—surpasses Hispanics, African Americans and Asian Americans, as well as Generation X and teens. Add in their families, friends and associates, and you get a trillion dollars in purchasing power.

Read the full article in the May 2009 issue of Business Sense. Please share if you have similar statistics for Europe. A trillion dollars or its equivalent in Euros is a nice market to have!

E-Access ‘09: Technology For All is about access to all technologies by people with disabilities. As Dan Jellinek, Conference Chair, writes,

If you design your services to be usable by all, it has been shown to improve service take-up and recruitment and retention of staff. In an ageing population, and in tough economic times, ensuring all your service users and staff can use your internal IT systems and your websites and external services is more vital than ever.

Shadi Abou-Zahra, of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), will speak about version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), published in December 2008.

Prices are

• £195 +VAT for public sector delegates
• £295 +VAT for private sector
• £165 + VAT for small charities and non-profits (turnover less than £150k a year)

For more information and to register, visit http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess09/.

This may be an appropriate event for warming up to attending an STC event about accessibility and technical communication coming in June!

As STC members know, the STC Technical Summit for 2009 takes place in Atlanta, Georgia May 3-6. We have several updates about that conference, and we begin with the most important news for some potential attendees.

Members Can Split Conference Payment

All STC members in good standing may choose to spread their registration payment by paying half with their registration form and half onsite. The exceptions are who are encouraged to volunteer and retired members who have a special rate.

How does this work?

– Download the conference registration form (.pdf) Payments are manually processed by staff and cannot be completed by the applicant online.

– Make two equal payments, half paid with your registration and half to be paid onsite. (This potentially spreads your payment over two different credit card cycles.)

– Pay by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or American Express). Checks cannot be accepted for split payments.

– E-mail (or fax +1-703-522-2075) the registration form to Julia O’Connor.

International Attendees

STC conference planners offer general information about visas for entering the United States.

Be sure to read the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Web site for information about allowed items in baggage and carryons, traveling with a disability, acceptable luggage locks, and more.

Room Sharing at the Conference

Is the expense of a hotel causing concern? Why not try sharing a room to cut down on total conference expenses. A room-sharing forum is posted to the STC Forum. The forum is at http://stcforum.org/viewtopic.php?id=1659

Post your arrival and departure dates to the forum, and identify appropriate roommates and negotiate details off-line.

Choosing the conference hotel, the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, supports the Summit and the Society. Single and double accommodations are available for $174 plus 15% tax, through April 15.

Rent a Scooter

STC has made arrangements for scooter rental with Scootaround again. You can save the bother of transporting your own wheelchair or scooter to the conference by renting one in Atlanta. Although the conference is being held in the hotel chosen for the conference, it may still be an effort for some people to get around the sessions, even with the help of a cane. Scootaround may be just what they need. Scootaround details are in the Accessibility section of the STC conference site.

Join us on LinkedIn

We hope to see you at the conference in Atlanta, 3-6 May 2009. Please let us know if you will be attending or presenting by adding your name to the LinkedIn Events calendar entry at
http://events.linkedin.com/STC-Tech-Comm-Summit/pub/37684

What to Do in Atlanta

When you’ve planned your trip to the conference, your next step may be wondering what else you can do in Atlanta. The STC Atlanta chapter, host chapter for this year’s conference, offers tips on what to see in Atlanta, where to eat, and places to visit.