This year was my second Codegarden and I was fortunate enough to have been chosen as one of the speakers after I had submitted a proposal earlier in the year to do a talk on web accessibility entitled 'Accessibility is for Everyone'.
This all came about because I had been responsible for building accessibility into websites due to the EU Directive that had come into law from September 2018 requiring all public sector websites meet the WCAG 'AA' accessibility standard. My current position at Leicester City Council means that not only did we have responsibility for building accessibility into websites, but were also responsible for ensuring those who edit the sites or provide content for websites were also trained in accessibility - and I had already delivered such training to over 100 people. Hence at the time especially I was living and breathing accessibility so it made perfect sense to submit a proposal about it - as I also suspected it was the kind of area that those organising Codegarden wanted to include.
Day 0 - arrival in Odense and the Umbraco pre-party
I arrived in Odense about 4pm and immediately went to the hotel to unwind and get ready for the Umbraco Pre-Party.
Compared to the previous year when the sun shone pretty the length of the event, this year the weather was wet and a bit miserable.
Not to be deterred by this, I got in my room, got changed and headed out for the Pre-Party event.
For those that don't know - the pre-party is a great way of getting to meet people involved in Umbraco from both the Umbraco HQ staff to some of the most notable Umbraco community members through to people representing some of the key Umbraco partner agencies. It's really good for networking and enables you to meet people so you don't feel a complete stranger over the course of the Codegarden event.
It's also an opportunity to see inside Umbraco HQ which has to be seen to be believed. Added to that a free bar and it makes for a great evening.
Day 1 of Codegarden 2019
My talk was on Accessibility - entitled "Accessibility is for Everyone" and was based on my experiences in delivering accessible sites since the EU Directive on accessibility came into effect in September 2018.
I'm pleased to say the talk was well received and I received loads of great feedback and comments and I hope to continue my romance with Umbraco by speaking at a few more events in the future.
There will be a video and transcript of the talk which will be posted on this page. In the meantime - checkout the skrift.io magazine for a good idea of the content of my talk.