If you’re looking to create a memorable virtual conference, here are five ideas for injecting some fun—and even animals—into the attendee experience.

Here’s something we all know about virtual attendees by now: They don’t just want to sit in front of their computer all day watching speaker after speaker. So, what can you do to spice things up?

Back in June, I wrote about some ways associations could surprise and delight their attendees in the virtual space. And I also spent some time discussing how to create informal online networking opportunities.

I’ve come across so many other ideas and possibilities since then that I wanted to share some of the more unique ones. Here are five of those:

Guest goat. Looking to add a new face to your meeting—and maybe not a human one? Well, Sweet Farm, a nonprofit animal sanctuary, could be the perfect option for you. Sign up for its Goat-2-Meeting experience, and Paco the llama, Juno the goat, Magnolia the cow, or Steve the rooster could join on camera. Also included is tour of the farm by one of its guides.

Snap a pic. There’s usually a line at the photo booth at every in-person event. And while you may think this is one element that has to go by the wayside in the virtual environment, think again. There are plenty of options out there that will allow participants to create and share fun photos and animated GIFs. Plus, associations can add their own branding and other customized overlays.

Go on an escape. While attendees aren’t traveling to your meeting, that doesn’t mean they can’t slip into a different environment during your event and do some teambuilding at the same time. One option is a virtual escape room where attendees are broken up into teams and have to solve problems or answer clues to unlock the “virtual door.” Companies like Play With a Purpose can create custom escape rooms that are directly tied to an event’s sessions or goals. In an interview with Successful Meetings, CEO Sharon Fisher talked about building a custom game this summer for a financial services company. “That entire game was based on the content of the meeting,” she said. “So, they had to not only be able to answer some questions about the content, but also apply it and show that they understood a way to use it in their world before they could get the answers and solve the challenge.”

Musical notes. In a previous post, I mentioned the “Daily Kazoom” that took place during the joint meeting of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science and the Association of Genetic Technologists. But there are several other ways to bring a musical element to your virtual conference. One idea is to have attendees write a song—a remote team anthem—with the help of a world-class musician. And another is to host a virtual karaoke party.

Share a meal. For INFLUENCE 2020, the National Speakers Associations hosted digital dine-arounds where attendees could sit down for a casual mealtime conversation with NSA luminaries, including current board members, past presidents, and award winners.

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Samantha Whitehorn.

The all-digital format of virtual events allows associations to extend the life of the information presented by remixing it in new ways—taking a cue from the world of content marketing using “atomization.” Here are a few strategies to try.

While conferences are traditionally built as live events, the newly virtual nature of these events means that consumption habits are changing.

That can be tough for an association that’s used to doing something in just one way. But the truth is that trying to distribute content in a purely digital way can actually be freeing, giving you room to experiment while encouraging a more strategic method of sharing.

There’s a name for this in the world of content marketing: content atomization. This idea, which dates all the way back to 2008, involves taking existing information and content, strategically breaking it up, and placing it in new contexts, using a format that makes sense for the additional platforms.

You may be wondering, what’s the difference between this and simply repurposing content, something associations are already known to do? One explanation comes from the marketing technology firm UberFlip, which notes that the distinction comes down to the scale.

“While repurposing or recycling content can also be an effective tactic for low-resource content marketing teams, it doesn’t necessarily resolve the issue of effectively using content ideas and spreading thought leadership through your content,” the company’s Victoria Hoffman writes.

Atomization is effective for extending the reach of small marketing shops, and it can also come in handy for associations that are trying to reach their audiences with virtual event content.

What could that look like? Here are just a few ideas:

Build listicles around event content. Attendees probably don’t have time to watch every session in your virtual event, so why not do the curating for them? For example, grabbing key quotes from each session and putting them in a roundup could give that content a second life. The result is you’re remixing a new piece from the atoms that wouldn’t be as effective on their own.

Turn compelling points into social content. Cool data points or anecdotes could wow an audience who is listening at that very moment. But weeks later, they still have value—turn those data points into social objects like images, videos, or text items. In many ways, atomization underlines the new presentation of existing content, and this does that in spades.

Leverage hashtags. The work of atomization doesn’t have to stop with your most recent virtual event. The popular #tbt, or Throwback Thursday, hashtag offers a great example. Many associations have strong archives, and those can be leveraged to promote current events with relevant content from popular hashtags. This could help draw in new audiences.

Stretch out the event over a long period. Most virtual events are built around a set time period, but given that much of the content is evergreen in nature, the timeframe can expand. In recent months, groups such as the United Fresh Produce Association have experimented with building on-demand platforms for their virtual content, which gives up some of the “event” mindset for convenience. Playing with this model by dripping out pieces of content over a long period of time can help maintain long-term interest in the subject matter. Presenting the content this way could even generate revenue: In the case of United Fresh, the offering is free to members, but $100 for nonmembers.

Use the event as a basis for a white paper. Content atomization doesn’t have to be built around trying to hit people with convenience, good timing, or quick, “snackable” information. It can also be a useful tool for longer-term lead generation, say if you’re trying to reach new members or promote a service. With that in mind, building a longer-form white paper from elements of the event could help strengthen its strategic value over time. The goal with atomization is to use the research and information to create something new and useful—and a white paper could do that.

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Ernie Smith.

Associations have more information at their fingertips but often struggle to put it to good use. A new study suggests a few ways to connect data and strategy.

Associations gather a lot of data. They know a lot about where their members and customers are from, what they purchase, and what offerings they like and dislike. However, that’s not quite the same thing as being a data-driven association. Data, in itself, isn’t meaningful. Data-driven leaders make decisions about what data points are most meaningful and build a strategy around them.

Late last month, McKinley Advisors and Association Analytics released a survey report, “Data and Analytics: Driving Association Strategy and Operations,” that puts some structure around what that kind of strategic thinking can look like. By and large, COVID-19 has prompted associations to engage more deeply with data, according to the report. More organizations are using dashboards, and they’re keeping an eye on new people who have engaged with their virtual events. But associations can still struggle with making the entire organization see the value of data.

Often, associations “have someone working independently on data, and they may not know how to translate that into layman’s terms or get people on board with it,” says Shelley Sanner, CAE, McKinley Advisors senior vice president for industry relations. To that end, the pressure is on leaders to evangelize on data’s behalf. Sanner and Julie Sciullo, CEO of Association Analytics, shared four ways to do that.

Find meaning in your virtual-meeting data. According to the report, some associations are seeing a 70 percent increase in participants in their “ecosystem.” That’s not necessarily paying customers or new members, but they are people who have chosen to engage with the association in some manner. Now’s the time to use what you know about them.

“With virtual meetings, you actually have all of the data points you ever wanted, but are you leveraging them?” says Sciullo. “Is there are certain demographic that’s growing? A region, or job type? It’s important not only for now but in the future to determine who are the individuals who are going to want to continue to engage virtually, because we’ll have a hybrid world in the future.”

Make data more accessible across the organization. Association Analytics has found that data transparency matters a lot to rank-and-file association staffers, particularly millennials, who expect to be able to conduct what Sciullo calls “self-service BI.” Membership data can often be slow to reach employees who need to act on it, and leaders should work to clear bottlenecks.

Among survey participants, “a lot of times, information was being shared with the leadership team or executive team and didn’t always trickle down,” she says. “So those employees felt a little lost about where they fit in to the association’s overall strategy. Transparency allows them to understand how and where they fit.”

If you want to get your entire staff behind your strategic direction, it’s important to have staff engaged in it. “At an organizational level, associations are reporting that they are using data, but once you trickle down to the department level, it’s not used as frequently,” says Sanner.

Focus on growth opportunities. More than half (57 percent) of the association leaders and staff surveyed cited “lack of organizational data strategy” as their top data-related challenge. Rather than gathering data for its own sake, think about where you want to improve.

“People don’t always know what to look at, but whenever we’re talking to people on where they should start, it’s simple: Where do you make your revenue?” Sciullo says. “It can be as simple as that, looking at three metrics around membership revenue.”

Engage the board. A third of those surveyed said that it’s not accurate or only slightly accurate to say that their association uses data to “inform and engage our volunteer leaders.” Considering that the board is the association’s leading strategic decision-making body, that’s a troubling finding.

Sanner and Sciullo agree that boards don’t need the same kind of detail that staffers do but that better access to data is essential. “Board reports may not drill down into the same level of granularity, but it can align everybody,” Sciullo says. “Now everybody’s looking at the same data so they can make strategic decisions and staff can make operational decisions. Everybody can be rolling in the same direction.”

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Mark Athinakis.

In today’s world, the power of place and connectivity are more important than ever. While we appreciate current border restrictions mean many National Associations are needing to meet virtually at this time, we’re here to help facilitate bringing your local SA delegate contingent together, enabling them to meet face-to-face and discuss ideas expressed on virtual platforms in a COVID Safe meeting environment.

Current COVID-19 regulations here in South Australia allow us to host live, face-to-face meetings. By acting as a local satellite hub for South Australian delegates to join your national meetings, we can help them continue the conversation and share knowledge, as well as create a sense of connectivity during what has been a very unusual year for us all. As a satellite meeting location, our dedicated in-house AV team can help create a link to your virtual National Association Meeting, so those in attendance can view on the big screen. They’ll feel the immediate power of place.

To help you engage with your SA membership, we’d be pleased to provide you with:

• A complimentary meeting room for events held before 31 December, 2020 (subject to room availability).
• We can also help arrange any catering for your delegates, which would be at your own cost.

Adelaide Convention Centre welcome the opportunity to discuss this in further detail. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Erryn on the details below. You can find additional information on their dedicated COVID Safe measures, here.

For more information please contact:

Erryn Dryga
Senior Sales Manager – Convention & Exhibition Sales
Adelaide Convention Centre
P: 08 8210 6740
E: erryn.dryga@avmc.com.au

As the coronavirus upends economies and industries, organizations that want to survive must have an agile and resilient workforce. A new Aon survey looks at these crucial skills and how organizations are cultivating them.

COVID-19 has transformed the way most of us work. But what are the key changes that will help organizations stay competitive? A new survey from Aon looks at how businesses will be able to thrive during times of transition.

“There’s a lot of discussion today about what the future of work will look like and how companies can get there,” said Brooke Green, partner and practice leader, employee rewards in Aon’s Rewards Solutions business. “However, we think there is a better question for companies to ask themselves. Namely, ‘How do I build a more agile and resilient workforce with the capacity to adapt quickly to new business needs and disruptions?’ In other words, instead of trying to predict the future, let’s focus on preparing ourselves for potential challenges.”

“Accelerating Workforce Agility and Resilience” asked employers about workforce agility, which it defines as “the ability to quickly move employees into new roles or areas of the organization to support changing business needs.” Most believed agility among employees was crucial, with 84 percent saying it was either very or extremely important. Unfortunately, only 39 percent viewed their current workforce as very or extremely agile. “Therefore, it is clear we have a widespread workforce agility gap to address,” Green said.

Given that gap, there are ways for organizations to help their staff become more agile. “When asked to assess 10 key factors needed to build and maintain an agile workforce, the ability to attract and retain diverse employees and create an inclusive culture ranked near the top,” Green said.

The report notes that a diverse workforce can help infuse organizations with agility. Another skill that goes along with workforce agility is workforce mobility, which is “moving people vertically and laterally through an organization,” with 73 percent finding this either extremely or very important.

“At an organizational level, I would focus on a creating a culture that rewards mobility and then deploy systems and processes that facilitate mobility,” Green said. “For example, does your company champion people who take intelligent risks, which can include going on an international assignment or moving from one job function to another? Do you have a strong job architecture system in place that provides employees with visibility into both vertical and horizontal career paths through your organization?”

Mobility, she says, is something organizations can implement by giving employees the opportunity to make it happen. “Often, accelerating talent mobility isn’t about finding people with the right skills to move around in your organization; it is about making it easy for people to define their own path and seek out opportunities within a welcoming structure created by the company,” Green said.

The survey also looked at organizations coping with the pandemic and classified them into three categories: reacting and responding to the pandemic, recovering from the pandemic by returning to the workplace and updating business goals, or reshaping their business plans by creating or pivoting to new products and deploying new talent strategies. Only 24 percent of respondents had moved to the reshaping business phase, while most—67 percent—were in the recovery phase.

Green noted that some companies were working simultaneously in multiple categories, and that can work well, with the right employees. “These companies might label themselves as sitting in the middle of our framework, but they are actually working across every stage of framework simultaneously,” Green said. “Additionally, this is where we return to the concepts of workforce agility and resilience―if you boost these attributes within your workforce, you will move faster.”

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Rasheeda Childress.

To win back lost members, associations need to craft communications with a tone, structure, and messaging that reinforce the value of membership.

Losing members is an unfortunate reality for every association. This is especially true in 2020, when new outside pressures—particularly the financial turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic—might have more people ready to cut membership fees out of their expenses, on top of the other numerous reasons people let memberships lapse.

But a well-coordinated email communication strategy can win members back. In fact, according to the 2020 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report from Marketing General Incorporated, email is the top channel for reinstating lapsed members.

Check out these tips to craft your own email communications that will re-engage lost members.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EXIT SURVEYS

By the time a member lapses, you’ve probably already tried multiple ways to get him or her to renew—dues notices, phone calls, emails detailing approaching renewal deadlines—and you might not know the reason for the lack of action.

“That’s where your exit surveys come in,” says Camille Sanders, CAE, director of membership at the Water Environment Federation (WEF). “It’s an opportunity for you to gather data about why people are lapsing, because it’s not going to be the same for every organization.”

Send lapsed members a survey to get their reasons for leaving, and use that to inform your communications. If people cite cost as the biggest reason, for example, consider working discounts or incentives into your reinstatement campaign.

To promote survey participation, Sanders recommends limiting the survey to just a few questions that take only a couple of minutes to answer.

STRIKE A PERSONAL TONE

A dry, formal request to renew probably won’t drive lapsed members to action. Though you don’t need to be overly casual, messages should carry an air of familiarity, and your care for members should shine through.

“That’s the mistake I see in some communications. Organizations are almost talking to lapsed members as though they’re new prospects,” Sanders says. “Build on the advantage of the fact that they do know your organization.”

Show appreciation that the member signed up in the first place and lead with a tone of understanding about why they might have lapsed, touching on the pain points you discovered in exit surveys. Sanders recommends using empathetic language, such as: “We know these are tough times, but we value your membership,” “We’re here to support you,” and “We miss you, and we’d like to win you back.”

POINT OUT BENEFITS

Sanders says some lapsed members might not even be aware of the full cache of member benefits, so give them a quick refresher by listing core benefits in your communications with them. You could also include testimonial blurbs from current members about how these benefits have a real impact.

OFFER MORE THAN INCENTIVES

If you’re going to offer incentives or discounts, remember that not everyone responds to price, Sanders says. Be sure to also reinforce the value of membership from a community and professional development standpoint while demonstrating how your organization is supporting members during unprecedented times.

COMMUNICATE CONSISTENTLY, BUT DON’T BE OVERBEARING

Timing is important when it comes to how frequently you contact lapsed members. Asking for a renewal too often could drive them away.

“We don’t want people to get annoyed and say, ‘Hey, take me off of all of your [contact] lists.’ So I think that’s something you have to be careful with,” Sanders says.

At WEF, renewal outreach starts before expiration with soft reminders. But once a member lapses, the organization sends monthly renewal communications, and only up to 90 days after membership expires. After 90 days, they drop off WEF’s member rolls and are left alone until six months after expiration.

PACK YOUR EMAILS WITH MULTIPLE ELEMENTS

A plain wall of text might not catch a lapsed member’s eye. Sanders recommends:

• adding visual elements, such as images of real members at events (try to avoid stock photography, as it’s unlikely to have as strong an effect)
• using bullet points to break up copy—when listing core benefits, for example
• linking to a landing page with more detail instead of dumping all the information into the email

BE BRIEF AND USE MULTIPLE CHANNELS

Studies have shown that the shorter an email, the likelier that a user responds. Keep messaging to just two or three paragraphs, and deliver important information in a bite-size format, such as with bullet points.

And while email is most effective, phone calls and direct mail are good supplements to help bridge the technology skills gap.

“We have a membership that is aging. Some of our members are responsive to email, to digital touch points, but not all of them are,” Sanders says. “We still have to be really intentional about how we communicate with our members and meet them where they are.”

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Michael Hickey.

A new survey suggests that leadership roles will at least be shared with artificial intelligence in the coming years. Now’s the time to think about the executive roles that can’t be automated.

This may not be the best time to be thinking 15 years into the future, I know. For many associations, the rest of 2020 is stressful enough, and 2021 seems plenty forbidding too.

But any association wise enough to have a strategic planning process knows that it has to look for potential headwinds. And a study released last week by the software company Citrix suggests that automation will have a substantial impact on leadership—calling to question what a leader might be good for, if AI can make decisions nearly as well as a human can.

Citrix’s report, Work 2035, is based on the responses of 500 executives and 1,000 employees at large and mid-size companies in the United States and Europe, with a focus on artificial intelligence and productivity. In general, an always-on work mentality, combined with better analytics, have led people to wonder what role the C-suite ought to play. A third of employees say leadership will be “partially or completely replaced by technology” by 2035, and though only a small proportion of leaders agree with that, there’s a common feeling that automation will have an impact. Three-fourths of those surveyed say that most organizations will have a central AI department, and 69 percent say the CEO will be working with a “chief of artificial intelligence.”

In one imagined scenario in the report, the authors note that in the haste to streamline their organizations, “leaders will end up finding ways to replace their own jobs: Leadership teams are already being reshaped and slimmed down, as technology replaces even the most complex roles.”

As Alibaba founder Jack Ma put it more bluntly a few years back: Thirty years from now “the Time Magazine cover for the best CEO of the year very likely will be a robot. It remembers better than you, it counts faster than you, and it won’t be angry with competitors.”

That’s a challenge for association leaders twice over—not just in terms of their own jobs, but for the jobs of their association’s members as well. ASAE’s ForesightWorks research initiative has cited automation as a key change driver, with a cascade of impacts. It affects advocacy, because technology often outpaces regulation; volunteering, because a lot of grunt-work tasks often shunted to committees can be handled by AI; and membership, because your members risk being displaced by automation.

This isn’t all bad news. Automation can clear some brush from your processes and get you focusing on more essential strategic activities. As the ForesightWorks research brief points out: “Could members be supported with new content, new services, or new products that help them explore the pros and cons of automation?… Could the association itself benefit from automating some tasks that now consume the attention of staff or volunteers?”

Regardless, it’s a trend that’s hard to ignore, and leaders have to decide how they’ll help their people pivot. Leading employees in the future, the Citrix report says, will require more of an investment in upskilling to better handle tasks that are less likely to be automated.

“They must redesign workplaces and IT systems around intelligent, inspiring experiences that empower employees to use technology effectively, solve problems in creative ways, and make decisions more quickly,” says the report. Related to that, one of the new jobs survey respondents say is likely to emerge by 2035 is “design thinker”—a leader needs help thinking holistically about what their organization will look like.

The same thing goes for your membership. As the ForesightWorks brief put it, associations need to invest in training members to “stay smarter than the machines…. Uniquely human skills of leadership, team building, and emotional intelligence will be critical to continued employment.”

Not an easy task. But the pandemic has given association executives a crash course in some of the essential characteristics of leadership in that emerging environment: more tech savvy, more focused on speed, more adaptive, more concerned with innovation and the collaborative processes that stoke it. And also with compassion, supporting employees and members who’ve experienced displacement.

Automation isn’t a dangerous virus. But it’s a challenge that in 2035 will require the same kind of intelligence that gets us through 2020.

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Mark Athitakis.

A culture of teamwork and empowered decision making helps organizations thrive in times of rapid change.

If a single word encapsulates business strategy in 2020, it’s “pivot.”

As the pandemic rapidly accelerated throughout the country earlier this year, with little yet known about the novel coronavirus, events and hospitality organizations were forced to forge a rapid response. And it’s those businesses already set up with an organizational culture defined by nimbleness that were best prepared to do that — and that remain best positioned to succeed amid the crisis and into an uncertain future.

That’s because the ability to develop with innovative solutions quickly and implement them seamlessly is essential to navigating rapid change. A nimble culture allows organizations to work together, be creative, and make effective decisions as a team, without arbitrary obstacles.

One company ready to turn on a dime was Visit Indy. The organization was well prepared to respond to the pandemic, working with numerous hospitality industry partners within the city to swiftly announce a united message and coalesce under a common strategy.

A COMMON GOAL AND A SINGLE MESSAGE

Indy has long invested substantially in its event infrastructure. For evidence, take a look at the city’s upcoming roster of major events: Just next year alone, Indy is slated to host the NBA All-Star Game, the NCAA Final Four men’s basketball tournament championship, and the Big Ten Football Championship.

“Major events like these are not possible without a working relationship and cooperation with all stakeholders, something we’ve become very accustomed to,” says Visit Indy senior vice president of sales Daren Kingi.

To that end, the group was prepared to move quickly and as a bloc in response to the pandemic. Together with the Indiana Lodging and Restaurant Association, Visit Indy rolled out the Hoosier Hospitality Promise, a commitment to adhere to a rigorous set of safety and sanitization standards. And restaurants, attractions, and hotels around the city eagerly jumped on board.

“A safe environment is paramount to welcoming back visitors and reviving in-person events, so our team is working with partners across the city to ensure the promise is upheld,” Kingi says.

DYNAMIC SOLUTIONS WITH WIDESPREAD COOPERATION

In the spring, the city launched the Indy Tourism Recovery Task Force, a team of 63 meeting and event professionals across all sectors who gather weekly to ensure continuing and aggressive actions that promote a safe and healthy environment in the city. Included on the task force are committees dedicated to hotels and other venues. “These have been important as we work with each client on a custom plan to welcome their attendees back safely,” Kingi says.

Indy also worked with hotels around the city, alongside the Indiana Convention Center, to offer zero attrition for meeting groups given the crisis, which hit live events and travel harder than nearly any other business sector. (The U.S. Travel Association estimates that an $400 billion decline in travel spending around the country this year will translate to a staggering loss of $910 billion in economic output.)

“We knew we needed to help our clients recover and reconnect, while lessening the financial risk,” Kingi says. “We were proud to have 22 properties across the city participate and be the first city in the nation to offer zero attrition. This took an enormous amount of collaboration, which can only be achieved when the convention center and hotels are in complete lockstep.”

TEAM SYNERGY DRIVES RESULTS

To say it has been easy for any business in the industry would be clearly false. “It is unfortunate that the meetings and events industry has been one of the most affected industries during this crisis,” Kingi says. But, he adds, “Before I came to Visit Indy, I was a 29-year veteran of the hotel world, and I can tell you I’ve never seen a community work together quite like Indy.”

And that coming together in a time of crisis is driving measurable, real-world results with powerful economic impact. Indy is welcoming back groups, having already successfully hosted medical, corporate, and religious meetings with attendance surpassing 40,000 people across 18 events over 40 days.

“This is a testament to our teamwork and determination,” Kingi says. “If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we cannot sit around and wait for our industry to recover. We must continue to meet every challenge with creative problem solving and teamwork, two things that have recently been super charged during this pandemic.”

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Visit Indy.

The smartphone giant delays a plan to take commissions from apps being used for virtual events. 

For event organizers looking to take advantage of the iOS ecosystem to put on paid programs, Apple just offered a temporary App Store reprieve.

Last week, the company announced it would suspend plans to take a 30 percent commission for paid virtual events offered through the iOS platform through the end of the year. Apple said  it would not take commissions for virtual events put on by small businesses through Facebook’s app in particular—but as a compromise, it would continue to take commissions for online-native events such as game streaming.

Apple has faced controversy over the size of the cut it takes from app publishers in general, particularly Fortnite developer Epic Games, which is at the center of a legal battle with Apple. (The game publisher is part of a new advocacy group, the Coalition for App Fairness, along with Spotify, the European Publishers Council, Match Group, and News Media Europe, among others.)

In-person events organized through iOS apps have never been subject to the 30 percent fee, so as gatherings turn virtual, some event planners may be running into the commission for the first time. As we wrote last month, this could prove a long-term problem for event planners looking to offer virtual events through mobile platforms.

This article was sourced directly from Associations Now here, and is written by Ernie Smith.

It’s now very unusual to find a city building that doesn’t cater for the disabled in some way.  Access ramps, enhanced sightlines and layouts, modulated acoustics, that kind of thing.  It’s just standard, good design practice these days.

But who among us has a website that’s disability-friendly?  All public service and non-public service agencies must meet the NZ Government Web Accessibility Standard 1.1, but what about your site and the websites run by your member organisations?

There are 1.1 million New Zealanders with a disability, or one in four of us. Around 11 per cent of children are disabled in some way and 27 per cent of adults are limited in their daily activities by a range of impairments.

But, you can bet a very high percentage of disabled Kiwis are still browsing the internet.  They want what everyone wants.  They choose where to shop, where to eat, which product to buy, what hotel to stay in, which vehicle to buy, what airline to fly.

They’re looking for information, products and services; they’re looking to transact and engage in some way with your organisation and with your members.

But, how much of this audience are you losing if your website doesn’t reflect their needs?  How big a market - a customer base - are you or your member organisations potentially losing because around 1.1million Kiwis find it too hard to engage with your website and its valuable content?

Think about it from your audience’s perspective: if you are blind or deaf, or could not use a mouse or trackpad, how would you navigate the intenet? And, how much preference would you give to brands and organisations that design their websites with your needs in mind?

This is why organisations are starting to make website accessibility one of their core digital goals.  It might entail extra work, but so, too, did the installation of ramps and escalators and the changes to interior lighting and layouts that now make buildings and office space more navigable and habitable for people affected by disabilities.

Paying attention to people with disabilities isn’t just the right thing to do; it makes sense from an organisational perspective.

What is website accessibility?

Website accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the internet, including:

• auditory
• cognitive
• neurological
• physical
• speech
• visual

Website accessibility also benefits people without disabilities:

• people using mobile phones, smart watches, smart TVs, and other devices with small screens
• older people with changing abilities due to ageing
• people with “temporary disabilities” such as a broken arm or lost glasses
• people with “situational limitations” such as bright sunlight or in an environment where they cannot listen to audio
• people using a slow Internet connection

For a 7-minute video with examples of how accessibility is essential for people with disabilities and useful for everyone in a variety of situations, see: Web accessibility perspectives (You Tube)  

Accessibility benefits to organisations

Improve your search engine optimisation

The websites that Google ranks on the first page of its search results are the ones they consider to be the most relevant and useful. Google determines that by using a complex algorithm which takes into account 200+ factors.  Website accessibility and search engine optimisation (SEO) have a number of shared principles, meaning making your website more accessible is likely to improve your SEO. 

Increase site usability

Many accessibility requirements improve site usability for everyone. For example, providing sufficient contrast benefits people using the web on a mobile device in bright sunlight or in a dark room. Captions benefit people in noisy and in quiet environments. Some people have age-related functional limitations, and may not identify these as a “disability”. Accessibility addresses these situations too.

Enhance your brand

Creating accessible web experiences helps your organisation – and your members - enhance the all-important brand experience by demonstrating a tangible and proactive focus on inclusion.  The more welcoming your site appears to be, the easier it is to navigate, the more likely your site is to reinforce your brand values.  The converse is also true - when websites aren't easily accessible some people are automatically excluded from having a positive brand experience — although they may definitely have negative ones.

Accessibility creates more opportunities for brand advocates 

When people have ongoing positive interactions with your organisation they become more loyal to your brand. When they feel the service or treatment they received could benefit people they know, they're going to make recommendations to them.  Something for you and your member organisations to think about.

Accessibility demonstrates social responsibility

Consumers have no shortage of options. People are increasingly choosing to support brands that share their values. As web accessibility continues to become mainstream, those values for many include the inclusivity and accessibility of products and services. If you've committed to accessibility, you should let people know.  Social media, press releases, blogs posts, and emails are all ways you could get your message in front of interested, like-minded people.

Incorporating accessibility into your brand

There are robust guidelines around website accessibility and The PR Company would be delighted to review your site and provide detailed advice and recommendations about how your accessibility ratings can be improved.

Remember, around a quarter of us are disabled in some way but that doesn’t mean disabled people don’t surf the net or want to engage with brands.  Which brands they choose to engage with can be determined by which websites they can access easily.

Let’s work together to make it as easy for them as possible.   To learn more contact us.