Have you ever had one of those life changing events? Where you have little choice but to heed it’s wishes? I’ve had a few. My accident is one. Going vegan is two. And the third one happened just this past Saturday. And all are equally momentous.
Saturday I attended the first annual Accessibility Camp Toronto. An unconference absolutely dedicated to the field of accessibility for and by professionals working in the field. What was so special? Great question. First it was a lot different than I’m used to. With 4 PhotoshopWorld’s, a few Adobe Launches, a couple Apple Presentation’s, a Lynda.com Web Conference and a couple other gatherings under my belt it’s safe to say I’m no stranger to these sorts of events. Or so I thought.
The format while similar in scope, as there was a presenter who presented ideas to an audience, but it was how and what was to be presented that was so different. The schedule wasn’t arranged ahead of time. The session ideas were proposed during the event’s opening then decided on before the event began. That’s not how these things are typically structured and run. The attendees, those who were most interested in what was to be offered, determined the direction of the event. But after, or in some cases during said “presentations,” the discussion was opened up to the audience. So not only were the attendees tasked with the conference schedule, we were able to influence the direction of the individual sessions, too…