This is an exciting week for all of us. Why do you ask? Microsoft Ability Summit 2021 is this week, that’s why! The two-day virtual event brings a wide variety of people together and enables them to imagine, build, involve and strengthen and create an integrative future for everyone.
The Ability Summit will take place on May 5th and 6th of this year. 16 breakout sessions on various topics will take place over two half days – from designing inclusion and improving learning outcomes to integrative setting and accessibility of games. Experts from Microsoft and various industries will present these sessions, which will be recorded and offered for future consumption upon request.
Here are five things you can do to get the most out of this amazing peak!
to register
While this is a FREE virtual event, you still need to register. Visit the Ability Summit 2021 registration page to register for this two day event so you can easily access all of the sessions and information.
Sign up for meetings
Once you are registered and logged in to the event website, you will see two options on the right side of the home page. Click “Access Access Session Scheduler” to see a list of all sessions and their times. If you click “Register” next to those you wish to attend, you will be given a seat for those sessions and a calendar invitation for each session you register for. If flipping through the list of 16 sessions seems daunting, filter your sessions by the tracks “Create”, “Empower”, “Imagine”, and “Include”.
Not sure which tracks to visit? A description of each track is provided on the Summit website so that you can decide which one to attend based on your interests.
To introduce: New technology innovation, use of AI, assistive technology and inclusive design.
To build: Facilitating accessibility through tools, best practices and knowledge sharing.
Lock in: Growing base of talent with disabilities in the workplace to bring expertise to life in our culture.
Authorize: Effectively tell the story of accessibility and connect it to our corporate mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more.
You will see all the sessions you have signed up for under “My Sessions”.
Access meeting decks in advance
Clicking “Access Event Platform” on the home page takes you to another page that says “Let’s go!” Message from Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Microsoft’s Chief Accessibility Officer, and a demo on how to register for this event, meetings, and more. Just below the video is a list of all the meetings. If you click on “Join the session”, you will be taken to the corresponding page for that session. If you scroll all the way down, you will see the Session Presentations and Resources section. Clicking View Presentations and Resources takes you to a page that not only lists the description of the sessions, but also links to the session deck (if available) used by the presenters. This is very useful when you want to know the content in advance.
Watch the Skills Summit 2020 sessions
Last year’s Ability Summit was also virtual and consisted of some really amazing sessions. To get a feel for what Ability Summit looks like (and to learn some really cool stuff from last year!), Check out the Ability Summit 2020 sessions below.
Learning paths
Microsoft has already created some really useful learning paths for some of the topics covered during the Ability Summit 2021. If you want to learn and implement these principles, you will find the following learning paths helpful.
Basics of accessibility
Design with inclusiveness in mind
Learn integrative marketing principles
Conclusion
The Microsoft Ability Summit 2021 is going to be an amazing event with a lot of content, great discussions and a lot of empowerment and enablement for everyone. If you are a capable person there is a lot of interesting and insightful content for you here. This is a great opportunity for all of us to pave a path that leads to a more inclusive future for all.
What are you most looking forward to from the Ability Summit 2021? Let us know in the comments below!
Feature image source: Ability Summit website
Comments are closed.