Starting 2025 live events with IAAP Nordic hybrid event

IAAP Nordic organised two events here in Finland. That in itself was super cool! But even better was that Tietoevry was hosting the event at their headquarters which meant that the event took place in Espoo (which is where I live). The first day was a member-only workshop and the second day was a hybrid event that was open to everyone. We decided to attend the event live with my colleague because the event was close to us.

First I felt a little sting, that dang I couldn't participate in the workshop because I'm not still a member. But then I saw the post that said that they open the event for others as well and everyone was able to apply for a spot. I jumped on it immediately and got my spot. Luckily my colleague also got hers.

The workshop

First, we got to know each other a bit and we got an introduction to what we were actually going to do. There were accessibility experts from many countries, which was superb.

The workshops have already been happening in other countries as well, but the idea with them is to take a look at EN 301 549 requirements that aren't a part of WCAG. I have been meaning to dig properly into the EN 301 549 standard and its contents so this was a good introduction to that as well. The idea with the workshops is to ensure we all know what the requirements are, what they mean and how we should test for them. We also discussed if they were particularly important for specific user groups. Hopefully, we'll see some materials after all the workshops are done, but they are at least doing webinars after each workshop where they will go through the workshop content. So if you are interested in learning more about these, take a look at the webinars. The next webinar is on February 13.

We took a look at three requirements: 5.3 Biometrics, 5.9 Simultaneous user actions and 7.1.2 Captioning synchronization. We were split into three smaller groups and each group went deeper into one requirement. I got the group which I originally thought was easy - Biometrics. But after we were discussing for probably an hour about what actually controlling ICT with biometrics means, I realised that it really wasn't all that easy. After the discussions, the facilitators summarised all the discussions and there was a list of things to ask about the meaning from the council as well as suggestions for notes and other improvements.

After the workshop, there was time for networking. I was originally  planning to leave soon after the workshop itself, but then we got to talking with some great people about pets, accessibility and all sorts of things Nordic, and I ended up leaving at the end of the networking time. Some still went to eat but I decided that I needed to go home.

 The hybrid event

I really love the atmosphere in the accessibility events. We are there to learn and cheer each other on. We come up with ideas, share the good and the bad about accessibility work, and increase the size of our accessibility expert network.

The day was filled with great and interesting topics and I don't know how, but somehow it's been possible that I'm even more excited about accessibility work than I was before the event.

We heard a couple of user stories, both of which were amazing. Eevis Panula also showed accessibility testing on Android. And then there were great panel discussions. All in all a fantastic event with excellent topics.

I must admit that I was very tired after two social days but it was all very much worth it. I'll just need to recharge my batteries and then get to work with my plans in accessibility!

Becoming more active in accessibility

I also made the decision to finally try to become a member of IAAP. I just got permission to use my personal budget at work (which is for training, equipment and such things) for the membership and I must say I'm super hyped!

It was a bit of a bummer that I had trouble paying for the membership with my credit card due to a not-so-descriptive error message on the site. But since they do offer the possibility of a bill, I then just went with that instead. I got the email quite quickly and the payment was processed very fast. And now I'm officially a member.

I have been meaning to become more active with accessibility in the communities as well. I've been a member of the Nordic Accessibility Community Group but I haven't attended any of the meetings so far. I've always been either busy or just chickened out. But now I'm determined to start taking part in these because discussions with other experts are just so valuable.

I have all sorts of plans in my head for sharing my knowledge in my personal projects as well, but those probably will take some time to come to reality.

I also try to be kind to myself and not burn myself out by doing too much all at once. It's sometimes just hard not to go full speed ahead when you're super excited about things.