News
RKD takes advantage of conference learning
June 10, 2009
With three conferences in three weeks under my belt, I am quickly becoming RKD's most-traveled ambassador. Here’s a quick recap of the places I’ve been lately:
University of Guelph’s Accessibility Conference
On Wednesday, May 27, the University of Guelph hosted Aiming for Accessibility: Creating Barrier-Free Information and Communication, a one-day conference to educate and raise awareness amongst the University and local community about accessible information and communication.
RKD, along with Desire2Learn, helped sponsor this event. I was there for the day as an exhibitor, and also got to attend some of the sessions. I focused on attending sessions in the Accessible Web Programming, Document and Multimedia Design track. While we always try to stay on top of the latest developments in web accessibility, there is always something new that can be learned!
The keynote speaker was Pina D’Intino, an executive at Scotiabank Canada who lost her sight 10 years ago. She is an advocate for accessibility in the workplace for those with disabilities, and was a speaker that truly inspired.
Much of the discussion of the day centered around the recent Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and strategies and techniques for addressing this new legislation.
It was a great opportunity to meet and network with some of our friends at the University.
Search Marketing Expo – SMX Advanced
Next up was a trip out of the country. I attended SMX Advanced in Seattle on June 2 and 3. I’ve never been to Seattle before, so this trip was going to be extremely exciting for me. In fact, I decided to take a couple of vacation days while there, to do some sightseeing.
As this was the second SMX conference I had attended (I was at SMX East in New York in October, remember?), it was a great chance to reconnect with some of the friends I’ve made in the search industry.
Since this was an advanced-level conference, much of what I learned in various sessions was quite technical so I won’t go into any detail – but trust me when I say my head was bursting at the seams with all my newly acquired knowledge!
That week also marked the official launch of Bing, Microsoft’s newest search engine. Dr. Qi Lu, President of Online Services Division at Microsoft, provided the keynote. As well, Microsoft hosted a bash for all attendees, speakers and guests in Seattle’s beautiful Olympic Sculpture Park.
If you haven’t tried Bing out yet, I suggest you give it a go; it’s got some great new features that Microsoft’s previous search platforms (Live and MSN) didn’t, and it’s search results have come a long way as well. If you’ve previously been unhappy with Microsoft as your search engine, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Search Engine Strategies – SES Toronto