WordPress Accessibility Day 2022 Opens Call for Speakers and Sponsors

WordPress Accessibility Day, a free, 24-hour virtual event, is set for November 2-3, 2022. The event was first founded in 2020 and will continue this year led by Joe Dolson and Amber Hinds. It was previously run by the WordPress core Accessibility Team through the WordPress Foundation but organizers are running it independently this year for ease of planning.

Sessions will be focused on promoting and learning website accessibility best practices for WordPress websites.

“We aim to enhance the collective knowledge of accessibility for all WordPressers and provide advice and tools that will allow more and more accessible WordPress websites to be created (or remediated),” organizer Isla Waite said.

The call for speakers is open and it offers a great opportunity for sharing your accessibility knowledge with a global community of WordPress enthusiasts. Organizers are aiming for a single track of 26-28 presentations.

Talks will be 40 minutes with 10-minute Q&A at the end. A few hours will be dedicated to Lightning Talks, which are under 15 minutes long. Organizers are also open to people submitting panels with multiple speakers for a 50-minute session.

The event plans to compensate speakers with “a modest honorarium,” with the final amount dependent on fundraising. Speaker applications will remain open until August 8th, 2022, and applicants will be notified by September 15, 2022.

Organizers have also opened the call for sponsors so they have the opportunity to reach as many people as possible and pay speakers for their time.

“This year, in addition to providing live captioning, we’re hoping to also have American Sign Language Interpretation during presentations, and budget for post-event transcription to ensure all videos on the WP Accessibility Day YouTube channel have accurate captions,” organizer Amber Hinds said.

Sponsor packages range from $500 to $3,000 so organizations of all sizes can be a part of supporting the event. Individuals can also volunteer or donate to help the event reach its financial goals.