I've delivered this accessibility keynote to loads of teams. Every single time, there's at least one moment where someone goes “...oh.” or someone else goes “wait... what?!”
It's straight-talking, to-the-point, no-holes-barred, and full real-life useful information. If your team's ever proudly shipped a site with keyboard traps, invisible focus states, lighter-on-light colour schemes, or you've got that whole “accessibility is coming in phase two” mantra, this one's for you.
This talk is about something I care deeply about. I've spent a lot of years trying to get good at it. And quite a few of those trying to get the message across to everybody: "Accessibility isn't optional".
What's in the talk?
What is accessibility?
Why accessibility actually matters (and not just the legal fluff)
WCAG, ARIA, screen readers, colour contrast, 'alt' text, colour vision deficiency, and other buzzwords here.
Incredibly common (but pretty easy to fix) mistakes
Stuff you can fix today without begging the dev team.
A few laughs and maybe an existential crisis or two
GIFs.
No lectures, but definitely the occasional guilt trip. Yes, you should probably feel bad, and I will help you to do so. Just good advice delivered with a raised eyebrow and an occasional clenched fist.
Who's it for?
Digital teams who want to stop “sort of doing accessibility” and actually do it
Agencies who know they need to do it but don't have a clue how
Anyone who's been told they're compliant and still has no idea what that means
Teams that are trying to get it done, but have 'higher ups' that just don't get it.
It's open to all experience levels, and all job roles, but it's especially useful if you think you've already got it covered.
What people say
“Well-paced, funny, and full of genuinely helpful stuff.”
Senior Developer, Department for Education
“We genuinely thought we were doing OK… turns out we weren't.”
Previously Smug Developer, RandomCorp, Inc.
“Made accessibility make sense for the first time.”
Confused Product Person, A.N. Other Company Who Struggle With Accessibility
Seen the talk? Want to say something nice about it?
There's one slide with sound. Speakers or audio out needed for this.
If it's under bright lights, please let me know so I can wear shorts.
I run it from Keynote on my MacBook. USB-C works best.
If you need me to bring extra cables or stuff, please let me know!
Seen it before?
Just like a decent website, this talk's constantly evolving. If it's been more than a year, chances are I've rewritten bits, added new horrors, and made it snappier. And probably more finger wagging.
Even if you've seen it recently, I'm happy to come and do a refresher. There's a lot to take in, and this talk no matter how epic - is only scratching the surface.