User's guide

Introduction

This guide is designed to assist you in getting the most out of your Accessible Event experience. Accessible Event is a platform which allows everyone, including blind, deaf, and deaf-blind attendees to participate equally in meetings and webinars. Accessible Event can be run alongside existing meeting platforms, such as Adobe Connect, GoToMeeting, and WebX, or as a stand-alone solution. The platform supports Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint content, as well as HTML documents and web pages. Attendees join the meeting through a standard web browser from a PC or iOS device, and content will be presented in the browser much like any other web page.

System Requirements

An Accessible Event meeting can be hosted on any computer running Windows XP or later; both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows are supported. Accessible Event can also be hosted on the Mac platform, running the OSx Snow Leopard or Lion operating system. A presenter’s audio, and video if available, are transmitted to attendees along with supported content, so a microphone and camera are recommended for best results. Certain features of Accessible Event, including displaying previously uploaded documents, are available to presenters from the iOS platform. This platform does not support the transmission of audio or video, and on both the Mac and iOS platforms, the display of documents without having previously uploaded them to Accessible Event is not supported.

For attendees, Adobe Flash version 10 or higher is required when joining from a Windows or Mac PC, but this requirement does not extend to the iOS platform. For those who use a screen reader, screen magnifier, and/or Braille display, this same technology can be used to view Accessible Event content. Since the event content is displayed in the web browser, attendees are encouraged to become familiar with web navigation using assistive technology to get the best Accessible Event experience.

Obtaining Adobe Flash

The latest version of Adobe flash may be downloaded from http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ The web site will automatically determine your platform and web browser and direct you to the appropriate download. Once the Adobe Flash software has been downloaded, select and launch the file. Then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the software installation.

A note about allowing camera and mic access on the Windows platform

In order to either host or attend an accessible event on the Windows platform, you must allow Adobe Flash to have access to your camera and microphone. In some cases, using the Flash buttons themselves to allow access and remember your settings can be a challenge. for an easier way to permanently allow Accessible Event to access your camera and microphone, use the following steps.

First, you will need to visit the Accessible Event main page at http://accessibleevent.com and attempt to attend an event. The Adobe Flash software will prompt for access to your camera and microphone. At this point, a record that you have been prompted by the Accessible Event web site is stored in the Adobe Flash preferences. Now, open Control Pannel. from here, choose the "flash Player" option. Next, choose the "camera and mic" tab. Once you've done this, select the option labeled "Camera and Microphone Preferences by Site". You'll now see a list of sites which have prompted for access to your camera and microphone. http://www.accessibleevent.com will be in this list. Locate the site, and Choose "allow camera and microphone access" from the combo box. Now, Adobe Flash will have access to your camera and microphone on Accessible Event, and will no longer prompt you.

A note about allowing camera and microphone access on the Mac Platform

In order to either host or attend an accessible event on the Mac platform, you must allow Adobe Flash to have access to your camera and microphone. There are some accessibility challenges involved in this process if you are using the Voiceover screen reader. The screen reader is unable to interact with the buttons in the Adobe Flash software to allow the appropriate access. Luckily there is an accessible way to accomplish the task. First, you will need to visit the Accessible Event main page at http://accessibleevent.com and attempt to attend an event. The Adobe Flash software will prompt for access to your camera and microphone. At this point, you won't be able to grant the access, but a record that you have been prompted by the Accessible Event web site is stored in the Adobe Flash preferences. Now, open the "System Preferences" section of your Mac. Interact with the "preference panes" scroll area, and choose "Flash Player". Next, choose the "camera and mic" tab. Once you've done this, select the option labeled "Camera and Microphone Preferences by Site". You'll now see a list of sites which have prompted for access to your camera and microphone. will be in this list. Locate the site, and press VO+space to activate the popup. Choose "allow camera and microphone access". Now, Adobe Flash will have access to your camera and microphone on Accessible Event, and will no longer prompt you.

Signing Up for Accessible Event

Before you can create an event, at least one event organizer must purchase access to the Accessible Event service. This can be done through a personal or corporate day pass, or via a monthly or yearly subscription. To begin the process, choose the “Sign Up” link from the main page at http://www.AccessibleEvent.com Choose your preferred service level and complete the purchase process. Now that this is done, you’ll receive an email at the address you used to sign up which will contain a randomly generated password. Use these credentials to log in on the main page of Accessible Event.

Setting up to host an Event on the Mac platform

In order to host an accessible event on the Mac platform, you will need to obtain the Accessible Event host from the Mac app store. To do this, open the Mac app store from the "applications" folder in Finder. Once the app store is open, choose the "search" option within the toolbar in the Mac app store and type "accessible Event Host". Once you've done this, the Accessible Event Host result will show in the main HTML section of the app store. Choose this result and then choose the "install" button. Once the app has been installed, it will appear in the "applications" folder within Finder. Each time you wish to create or host an event, you will need to launch the Accessible Event Host app. Once it is launched, you can select the event you'd like to host from the list displayed in the app. Choose the "open button" to begin working with the event. If you'd like to create a new event, choose the "new button to begin the event creation process. Aside from these two basic functions that occur within the Mac app, the remainder of the documentation is relevant to either the Windows or Mac platform.

Creating an Event

Now that you’ve signed up for the Accessible Event service, you’re ready to create an event. This is a very easy process, much like organizing a conference call. A presenter or group of presenters can drive the direction of the meeting, and attendees can join the event by entering a unique 9-digit code on the main Accessible Event web page.

The first step in the process is to create your event. You can do this by choosing the “Add an Event” link from the Accessible Event main page on the Windows platform, or selecting the "create new event" button in the mac app downloaded from the Mac app store. In the next step, you’ll be prompted for an event name, which will show in the title bar of the web browser for all attendees. You’ll also be asked for presenters’ names,which will show on the initial page before the event starts. Following that, you’ll see an edit box in which to enter the event description. This description will be shown to attendees who arrive before the event starts. You have several buttons which allow for text formatting, so as to ensure that the initial page that attendees see looks as professional as possible. Following the edit box for a description of the event, you’ll see an edit box for information to be shown on the page that displays when the presenter closes the event. This is an ideal place to list additional contact information and thank the attendees for joining the meeting.

Once you’ve customized the appearance of the starting and closing pages, you’ll see additional options which allow you to further customize the event. You can choose whether or not to stream audio and/or video during the event. You might choose not to stream if you’re conducting an event where your attendees are in the same room with you. You can also choose whether or not to record the event. If you do record the event, both the content and your audio/video stream will be archived for later playback. Furthermore, you’ll have the option of creating an audio-only archive of your content that can be distributed to those who don’t need to see the documents presented during the meeting, but do want to hear the presenters. Please note that if you intend to record the event, you must enable the recording feature before you have run the Accessible event host. Checking this box once the event is running will not result in a successful archive.

Lastly, you can choose whether or not attendees can utilize the “Live Voice Chat” option while they are waiting for the event to start. Note that once the event starts, this option will automatically be disabled until a presenter chooses to enable it again.

Once you’ve customized the event to your satisfaction, choose the “Add” button and your event will be created. When your event has been created, it will show up as a link on the main Accessible Event home page each time you log in. Whenever you want to do something in relation to the event, (including uploading a photo or logo, configuring captioning, editing the event information you previously created, emailing a link to the event, adding and managing presenters, and so on), you will choose the link with the title of your event from the home page. This is also what you’ll do when you’re ready to begin hosting the event. We’ll discuss each of these options in greater detail later in this user’s guide.

Adding and Managing Presenters

There will be times when more than one person wishes to present during the event. Sometimes, multiple presenters will wish to speak and/or share documents at the same time, and in other cases a single presenter will begin the event and later pass that role to another presenter. All these things are possible with Accessible Event. A couple of things to note: The initial organizer of the event will have the ability to manage the event, as well as broadcast audio and video, push documents to attendees, and accept questions from the audience. All other presenters will by default only have the ability to stream audio and video, but these privileges can be changed by anyone who has “Event Manager” capabilities.

To add a presenter, first choose your event from the main Accessible Event home page. Note that as soon as you’ve created an event, you’ll automatically be taken to the event’s main page. Next, choose the button labeled “manage this event”. Then, choose the link labeled ““add a presenter.” Here, you’ll be prompted to enter the email address of the presenter you wish to add. If you know that your co-presenter already has an account on accessibleevent.com, please use the email address associated with that account. In this way, your co-presenter can log in with his or her existing account credentials and the event you’re working on together will show up on your co-presenter’s Accessible Event home page. If your co-presenter does not have an Accessible Event account, or if you’re not sure, just enter the email address you have, and Accessible Event will create an account if one doesn’t already exist. The system will email a randomly generated password, and your co-presenter will use those credentials to access the site as well as the event.

Upon adding a presenter, an email will be sent to the presenter with the title of the event, and instructions on how to participate. Once a presenter has been added, you can manage the roles that this presenter can take during the event. Note that the roles you set initially can be altered later, even during the event itself.

To manage presenter roles, choose the “Manage Presenter Roles” link from within the “manage this event” page associated with your event. Here, you will see a list of checkboxes which determine what each presenter is able to do during a meeting. Check the boxes to allow given actions, and uncheck the boxes to disallow them. The ability to manage an event means that a presenter can begin and end the event, and can alter the roles of other presenters. A person with the event manager role can even adjust the roles of another event manager, so be very mindful of who should be allowed to take on this role. The next checkbox determines whether a presenter is able to share documents during the event. What this means is that a person with this role can display documents in the formats supported by Accessible Event, and these documents will be pushed to all attendees. If more than one presenter has this role, the content that is pushed to attendees will change any time either of the presenters displays a supported document. For example, if Presenter A displays a Word document and next Presenter B displays a web page, the content will update to display Presenter B’s web page. Meanwhile, although Presenter A may still have the Word document in the foreground, Accessible Event will not display this document again unless Presenter A shifts focus away from the document, and then returns focus to the document window. At that point, though the document has been displayed before, it appears as new content to Accessible Event and will therefore be pushed to all attendees.

As a presenter, you will always be able to see which content is being displayed at any given time. When the event begins, your event page will refresh to show you the content that is being displayed to attendees. In this way, you will know at all times what your audience is seeing. If you have been assigned an “event manager” role, you will see an option at the top of the event page that your audience does not see. This is a button labeled “Manage this Event”. You can choose this button at any time to change the behavior of the event, i.e. to end the session, manage presenter roles, and so on, and you need not worry that your attendees will be aware that you are doing this. Although AccessibleEvent.com, including the “Manage Event” page, is in HTML, which is a supported file type through Accessible Event, no content which originates on the Accessible Event site will be pushed to attendees.

An event manager can also choose whether co-presenters can stream audio and/or video. In some cases, you might just want a co-presenter to display documents, but not broadcast audio or video. Sometimes, you might want a co-presenter to broadcast audio, but not to show video. You can configure the checkboxes appropriately for any given situation.

Last, you can determine if a presenter has the ability to accept questions from the audience. Accessible Event can be configured to allow audience members to ask questions via text or audio/video. This capability will be discussed in further detail later in the manual. When a question from an audience member is received, any presenter who has the ability to accept questions will receive a notification that a question is pending, and can then accept or discard it.

Real-time Captioning

Real-time captioning can be made available to event attendees who are deaf or deaf-blind. Captions entered during the event will also be in the event archive if you have chosen to record the event. Here’s how captioning works.

To enable captioning, first choose your event from the main Accessible Event page. Next, select the “manage this event” button and then choose the “Enable Captioning” link. Captioning will then be enabled for the event, and you will see a captioner’s code. This code is different from the code that your event attendees will use to join the event, but the concept is the same. The captioner will visit http://www.AccessibleEvent.com and enter the code. At this point, the captioner will join the event just as any other attendee would. The difference is that in addition to the content, the captioner will see an edit box in to which captions can be typed directly, or if the CART software supports it, the captions can be sent from the CART software to the edit box on the page. If your CART provider wants a more seamless experience, you can choose the “Configure External Caption Stream” link from the “manage this event” main page. With this option, you will see two choices. The first choice, StreamText, is the choice recommended by Serotek. A CART provider will create an account on http://www.StreamText.net Once this has been done, the CART provider will create an event on the StreamText web site. Following this step, return to the “Configure External Caption Stream” on Accessible Event. Next, choose the “StreamText.net” option. Here you will be prompted to enter your event title. Enter the title of the event you’ve created on the StreamText web site. In the next field, enter the name of the organization’s account on the StreamText web site. Next, activate the “Submit” button and your caption stream will be configured. When it’s time for the event, all the captioner needs to do is log in to the event on the StreamText web site with the CART software. Next, the captioner should enter the captioner’s code on http://www.AccessibleEvent.com At that point, the captioner can begin transcribing the event as soon as it starts, and the text will be displayed across the bottom of the screen for attendees who enable captioning.

Testing your camera

Before you begin your event, you’ll want to test the placement of your video camera if you intend to use one. To test that your video camera is focused appropriately, simply select “Test Camera” from the Accessible Event main page after you have logged in. If you have vision, you’ll be able to observe how your video feed will appear to attendees of your event. Once you have verified that your video positioning is optimal, you may close the “Test Camera” window. Note that you are only testing your video locally with this option. No content is streamed to the server during this test, so if you are attempting to test that video is broadcasting to the audience successfully, you'll need to run a test event and then ask an attendee to verify that your video is streaming properly.

Testing your Audio

Before you begin an event, you’ll want to ensure that your microphone is working and is set at an appropriate volume. To test your audio, choose the “Test Audio” link from the main Accessible Event page. Here you are presented with a record button, which you will activate to capture sound from your microphone. Once you’ve recorded a short message, activate the “Stop” button, and then the “play” button to listen to the recording you’ve just made. If you’re satisfied with your audio levels, you may close the “test audio” window. If you need to make some adjustments, you may do so and then choose the “Test Again” button to repeat the process of testing your audio levels. Note that you are only testing your audio locally with this option. No content is streamed to the server during this test, so if you are attempting to test that audio is broadcasting to the audience successfully, you'll need to run a test event and then ask an attendee to verify that your video is streaming properly.

Using Accessible Event with Other Meeting Programs

It is possible to use Accessible Event alongside other meeting programs, such as Adobe Connect, WebX, Microsoft Live Meeting, and others. You may want to do this when the majority of your group of attendees is accustomed to a particular meeting program, but you still need to provide accessibility for some of your attendees. To use Accessible Event alongside another meeting program, there is very little learning curve for a presenter. Steps for creating and hosting an event are listed later in this user’s guide. This section describes concepts to be aware of when running Accessible Event with another meeting program.

Accessible event works by displaying supported content when that content is in focus on a presenter’s computer. For example, if a presenter opens a document in the Microsoft Word application, this will be displayed to all Accessible Event attendees. For this reason, a presenter will need to use the “screen-sharing” or “application sharing” mode within the second meeting program, such as Adobe Connect. This means that now, when a presenter displays a document in the Microsoft Word application for example, both meeting programs will recognize the content and display it to attendees. If a presenter instead chooses to conduct the meeting strictly within the meeting platform window, using Adobe Connect pods for example, Accessible Event will be unable to display the meeting content.

Uploading Event Content

The content for your Accessible Event meeting can be pushed to attendees in one of two ways. One way to display content is for a presenter with the rights to display documents to simply bring supported content in to focus. This content includes web pages, Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and Powerpoint presentations. However, there are times when you may wish to organize your presentation content ahead of time, and not have to worry about bringing up each application when you’re ready to display the next bit of content. Also, there may be times when a presenter with the role of managing documents would like to perform this operation from an iOS device or a Mac computer. In this situation, Accessible Event’s “upload document” feature is the ideal solution.

To begin uploading documents for your event, first choose the event link from the Accessible Event main page. Next, choose the “upload documents” button. You will then be presented with a dialog allowing you to upload documents. The first field in the dialog box is an edit box, where you’ll place the path and name of the file you’d like to upload. If you don’t want to type this by hand, choose the “browse” button to locate your file. Note that the three types of supported documents for this section of the dialog are .doc, .rtf, and .html files. When you’ve found the file you want to upload, select it by pressing enter. Next, tab to the “upload” button and your document will be uploaded. If you want to display a web page, this option appears in the second edit box which is labeled “add a web page URL”. To add a web page, type its URL in the edit box and then activate the “add” button. Note that while PowerPoint documents are supported by Accessible Event, they cannot be used with the "upload" feature at this time.

Once you’ve uploaded your documents, you can arrange them in the order you’d like them to be displayed during the presentation. To do this, locate the list box containing the names of the files you’ve just uploaded. This list box will appear before the options for uploading new files. Within this list box, you can select a file and choose the “move up” button to move the document higher in the list, the “move down” button to move the document down in the list, and the “delete” button to discard the document from the event. Once you have organized your documents to your satisfaction, choose the “done” link to return to the event management page.

Creating and Managing Polls

There will be times when you'd like to ask your audience a question, and get responses from each of them. accessible Event allows you to create polls for your audience, and show the results to them if you choose.

There are three types of polls you can create. The first is a simple yes/no poll. The second is a multiple choice poll, where a single answer can be chosen. The third is also a multiple choice poll, but in this instance your audience can choose all the answers that apply, instead of just one.

Creating a Poll

To create a poll, choose the "manage polls" button from the main event page. Next, choose the "create a poll" link. In the first edit box, type the question you'd like to ask your audience. Next, choose the type of answer the poll will have from the list box.

If you choose "yes/no", the next option is to activate the "create" button and your poll will be created. For the remaining answer types, you'll be presented with a set of five edit boxes in which to enter the choices you will offer your audience. If your question requires less than five choices, just leave the remaining edit boxes blank and the system will create your poll with the appropriate number of choices. If you require more than five choices, select the "add more choices" button once you've entered your initial five options, and an additional five edit boxes will be provided for you. After entering all the choices you'd like to include, select the "create" button and your poll will be added.

Arranging, Editing and deleting Polls

You can create as many polls as you like, either prior to the meeting or during it. When your polls are created, they will appear in a list box under the "manage polls" button from the main page. When you have selected a poll in the list, you can move it up or down using the "move up" and "move down" buttons. You can edit the contents of the poll by selecting it from the list and choosing the "edit" button. You can delete the poll by selecting it and choosing the "delete" button. When you are done managing your polls, choose the "done" link to return to the main event page.

Polling your Audience

When your event is running, a person with an event manager role or a document management role will be able to poll the audience. Within the presentation browser window, select the "show first poll" button when you are ready to display your first poll to the audience. If there are additional polls, you will see a "show next poll" button which will allow you to display the next poll in your list. Once you have polled your audience and given them an opportunity to respond, select "manage polls" from the main presentation window. Next, select the poll in the list whose results you'd like to show, and choose the "results" link. Here, the poll results are displayed privately. If you wish to show the poll results to your audience, choose the "show to audience" button and your poll results will be displayed to everyone. Note that only numbers are shown, and not the names of the respondents.

Inviting Event Attendees

To conduct a successful event, you’ll first want to make sure that your attendees have the information they need to join it. This information includes the URL they will need to open in the web browser, and the 9-digit meeting code associated with your event. The URL your attendees will need is http://www.AccessibleEvent.com The 9-digit event code can be found on your event page once you have created the event. Just choose the link with the title of your event and you’ll see its 9-digit code.

To make inviting attendees even easier, we have added an option to send an email which includes the link your attendees will need. To send this email, choose the “Email a Link to This Event” link from your event’s main page. Here you’ll see a very simple form, prepopulated with a couple of things. In the “Recipients” field, enter the email addresses of your attendees. Place each email address on a separate line. The easiest way to do this is to press the enter key after you’ve typed each email address. Next, tab to the “Subject” field. The subject field will be automatically filled in with the name of your event. You can customize this subject in any way you like. Finally, tab to the body of the message. Initially, you will see text at the beginning of the message which says: “Put your personalized message here.” Delete this line of text, and customize this portion of the message with your own words.

Below this portion of the message, the link to your event is included. Please leave this portion of the message as is.

Below the event link, you’ll see text which says: “Conclude your message here.” Delete this portion of the message and customize it with your own words. When your message looks the way you want, choose the send button by tabbing to it or clicking on it. You’ll receive a confirmation that your message has been sent.

The Accessible Event host

The Accessible Event host is a small piece of software which makes it possible for the presenter to share information with event attendees. Before the event can begin, the Accessible Event host must be run. On the Mac platform, this consists of simply launching the "Accessible Event Host" app. On the Windows platform, this small program does not require installation, but rather can be run in the background and closed when no longer needed.

The event host is required for all presenters in a given event, regardless of their assigned event roles. The steps required for accessing the event host will change slightly based on your assigned event role. If you are an event manager, you’ll begin the event by choosing the “prepare session” button on your event’s main page. If you are not an event manager, simply visit the main page for the event. If the event manager has already prepared the session, you’ll see an option for running the event host, which we’ll discuss in the next paragraph. If not, you’ll need to wait until the event manager prepares the session. Your page will automatically refresh when this happens in order to show you the option to run the program.

On the page which displays when it’s time to run the event host, you’ll see a brief description of the host, along with a link labeled “run the program”. Choose this link, and your browser will prompt you to choose to either run or save the program. Choose the “run” option. Note that different browsers will have different methods of prompting you about running or saving the file. For example, Internet Explorer 8 will immediately pop up a dialogue box asking to run or save, whereas Internet Explorer 9 will prompt via the information bar.

Beginning an Event

Now that your event is organized and attendees have been invited, you are ready to begin. To do this, choose the event you’ve created from the main Accessible Event home page. As discussed in the section on the AE host, you will be prompted to run a small piece of software in the background which will monitor for supported content. Follow the steps outlined in the AE host section to run the software. If you are the single presenter for the event, you’ll be able to proceed through the next steps for beginning an event, without having to wait for other presenters to join. If you do have other presenters for your event, each of you will be connected to an audio channel whenever your event host is run. At this time, you are not audible to your audience, and can talk freely amongst yourselves. Anything you say will not be archived as part of the event.

Your next option is to talk to the audience before the event begins. This step is optional, but can be used to prepare your audience for the coming session without archiving your preparatory speech as part of the event. Only a person with the “event manager” role can initiate this mode by choosing the “talk with audience” button which appears at the top of the event’s main page. All presenters who have streaming audio and/or video enabled will be audible and visible to the audience once the “talk with audience” mode has been enabled.

Finally, to officially begin the event, a person with the “event manager” role will choose the “start session” button. At this point, audio and video from all presenters will be streamed, and content will be pushed to attendees as soon as a person with the ability to show documents displays supported content.

Displaying Content

Content supported by Accessible Event includes: ? Microsoft Word 2003, 2007 and 2010 documents ? Microsoft Excel 2003, 2007 and 2010 documents ? Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, 2007 and 2010 slideshows ? Web pages in Internet Explorer 7 or higher ? Web pages in the Serotek™ SAMNet™ browser To begin displaying your content to attendees, any presenter with the role to manage documents should make sure that the window containing any of the supported content types displayed above has focus, if you have not uploaded documents previously. If you are presenting in Microsoft PowerPoint, ensure that the content is being displayed in slideshow mode. If you are unable to see this option on your screen, you may accomplish this by pressing F5 while the PowerPoint document is open. To move to the next slide in the slideshow, simply press the space bar. Please note that the above information only applies on the Windows platform. For Mac and iOS platforms, documents must be uploaded prior to the presentation.

If you have uploaded documents for your presentation, any presenter with the role of displaying documents will see a button labeled “show first document”. Choose this button to display the first document. After that, you’ll see a “show next document” button, which you can choose to advance the content to the next document you’ve uploaded. If you need to return to the previous document, choose the “show previous document” button. Please note that in addition to displaying the documents you’ve previously uploaded, you can also display supported content just by bringing it in to focus. This means that if you have a document or web page that wasn’t uploaded prior to the event, you can still display that document. Then, you may continue with your previously organized presentation by choosing the “show next document” button.

Managing an Event

Once your event has begun, you will see a page in your browser which displays the same content currently being shown to your audience. In addition to this content, there is a button which your audience will not see. This is the “manage event” link, which can be used to configure various options for your event. Here are the options on the “Manage Event” page, along with a description of their functions.

Enable Questions

This allows attendees to type a text question which they can then submit. Any presenter with the “Accept Questions” role will receive a notification that a question has been asked, and can then accept or reject it. This notification will appear on the main event page, where event content is usually displayed. The question will appear, along with buttons to accept or reject it. To accept the question, activate the “accept” button. To reject the question, activate the “reject” button. When a question is accepted, it will be displayed to all presenters and attendees, so there is no need for the presenter to voice the question before answering it.

Enable Live Voice Chat

This feature allows attendees to speak at will, rather than submitting a question to a presenter which must then be approved. This mode is most effective in a situation where you’d like an informal atmosphere between presenters and attendees. More than one attendee may speak at once, and the presenter may continue speaking also. Again, this option is best used when an open forum is the type of interaction you want. When this feature is enabled, attendees press and hold the F9 key, or click and hold the talk button with a left mouse click.

Who is Attending this event?

When attendees join your event, they are prompted to enter their names. This list of names will display when you choose the “Who is Attending This Event” option.

Concluding an event

When you are done with your presentation, you will wish to end the current event session. Note that closing your browser is not sufficient to end the session. You will need to activate the “stop recording” button to conclude the event. This will end archiving of the event if you have enabled that feature, and you will no longer be able to display content to your audience. However, you are still audible to the audience at this time. To cease streaming audio and video to your audience, choose the “stop talking to audience” button. Your event attendees will see the page you configured to show at the conclusion of the event. This is usually a page with contact information and the like. At this point, you and any co-presenters will still be able to talk with each other, but nothing is being transmitted to the live audience. This provides an opportunity to thank your co-presenters and discuss any additional items before the session officially ends. When you’re ready to stop speaking with your presenters, choose the “end session” button. This will close the Accessible Event host, and no one will be transmitting audio or video. The “end session” button, along with buttons to stop recording and stop talking to the audience will only be visible to those with the “event manager” role. Note that you can simply choose the “end session” button rather than the “stop recording” button, if you immediately want to stop recording, speaking with your audience, and all of your presenters without going through multiple steps.

When you are finished conducting your event, there is nothing to uninstall or remove from your system. Since the Accessible Event host runs in the background with no installation required, it does not leave any trace of itself behind on the computer you used to conduct the event.

Event Archives

If you’ve chosen to record your event, there are a couple of different ways to access the event’s archive. If you’d like to show both the audio/video and the document content that was presented during the live event, all you need to do is provide attendees with the 9-digit code that you used for the live event. If you don’t remember this code, you can find it on the event’s main page. Next, instruct your attendees to visit http://accessibleevent.com and enter the 9-digit code, just as they would have for the live event. When this is done, your attendees will be presented with a message that the event is not currently in session. There will also be a link labeled “replay latest archive”. By choosing this link, your event attendees will be able to observe the presentation and receive the same content as those who attended live.

If you have attendees who only want to hear the audio portion of your presentation, you can create an MP3 archive of your event. You can then download this MP3 and distribute it however you like. To create an event archive, choose your event link from the main page, and then choose the “manage event” button. From here, choose the link labeled “Make an MP3 archive of the latest session”. Finally, choose the “make MP3” button to initiate the process of generating your audio archive.

Attending an event

To attend an event, you’ll first need a 9-digit event code from the event presenter. This will be sent to you most likely by email from your presenter, or given to you verbally. Once you have this event code, simply visit http://www.AccessibleEvent.com from the computer or portable device you’ll be using to attend the event. In the edit box labeled “Event Code”, enter the 9-digit code you received from your presenter. Enter your name in the next edit box, and select the “Go” button. That’s it! You have now joined the event and can participate fully.

A note about joining from iDevices:

If you are connecting from a device using iOS, such as an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you’ll need to complete one other step after selecting the “Go” button. There is a “Play” button at the top of the page, which you’ll press to begin playback of audio. The Safari browser is unable to begin playback automatically, but you can start and pause playback manually. If you are using Voiceover on your iDevice, the easiest way to locate the “Play” button is to find the “Google Search” edit field present at the top of each page in Safari. Flick to the right of this field and you’ll encounter a button which says “Button, Play Button”. Double-tap to select this button and content will begin playing.

Navigating Content

When a presenter displays content such as a Microsoft Word document or Excel spreadsheet, the content will be displayed in an HTML format in your web browser. If a presenter updates content during the presentation, such as editing a document or proceeding to the next PowerPoint slide, the browser page will refresh automatically and you will be able to view the updated content. When viewing content, you will navigate the content as though it were a standard web page. If links are present in the content, you may select those links just as you would in a standard web page. If a presenter displays a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, you may use the table navigation functionality in your assistive technology to view the contents of the spreadsheet. You may scroll through the displayed content at your leisure as the presenter is speaking. Each time content is updated, you will hear a chime to indicate that content has been refreshed. You will hear this chime if you are in the main content window, as well as if you are in the text chat window.

Asking a question during an event

If the presenter has enabled the ability to ask questions during an event, you will see a button labeled “ask a question”. When choosing this button, you will be presented with an edit box, in to which you may type your question. Next, press the submit button and your question will be sent to the presenter to accept or reject. If the presenter accepts your question, it will be displayed in your browser so that you and all other attendees can see the question.

Viewing captioning

If you are deaf or deaf-blind and a captioner is available for the event you are attending, you can view the captions in real-time by activating the “View Captioning” button. If your event organizer does not have captioning for the event, this button will not appear in your browser. Once you have activated the “View Captions” button, captions will appear at the bottom of the event page displayed in your browser, and you may review them by sight or in Braille, just as you would view the contents of a standard web page.

Participating in Live Text Chat

Note that this section applies to both attendees and presenters. During the event, you may participate in live text chat with other attendees, and even presenters if they choose to monitor the chat session. To do this, locate the “Open Live Text Chat” link at the top of the page. Behavior at this point will depend on which browser you are using. If you use a browser which supports tabbed browsing, a separate tab will open with the contents of the live text chat window. You can switch back and forth between this tab and the tab which displays content, using the appropriate method for tab switching in your browser. For example, in Internet Explorer 9, the hotkey to do this is Control+Tab. Once inside the live text chat window, you’ll have several options. You can begin at the top of the page and review the chat history from the session so far. When you’re ready to send a message yourself, navigate to the edit box on the page, type your message, and press enter. This will send the message, and you’ll hear a sound indicating that your message has been sent.

As you review the page, you will notice that beside each message, the name of the attendee who sent the message is displayed. This name is the name entered at the beginning of the event along with the event code to join. In the text chat window, you’ll also find a listbox containing the attendees who have joined the event. You may select an attendee from the listbox and then activate the “Open Private Chat” button. As you might expect, this allows you to send a private message to the attendee you’ve selected. As with the public text chat, each private chat opens in a separate tab. When your private message is sent, the recipient has the option to accept the chat, block the message once, or block all incoming chats. Some participants may wish only to pay attention to the content of the event and may not wish to chat, so if you receive a message indicating that the person to whom you’ve sent a message isn’t accepting chats at this time, it is most likely that they are concentrating on the content of the event instead. If the person to whom you’ve sent your chat does accept your message, they’ll have the opportunity to respond back to you, and their message will appear in the private conversation window you’ve just opened with them. You may close a private or public chat window at any time, and you can return to the windows, with the ability to review chat history, by again activating the “Open Live Text Chat” window from the main event. To reopen a private conversation window, simply select the recipient and send another message. The window will automatically open, displaying all the previous chat history.

Chatting from your iDevice

If you are attending an event from your iDevice, you’ll still be able to participate in text chat, just as you could from the PC. However, things work a bit differently. To open live text chat from your iDevice, find the button labeled “Open Live Text Chat” near the top of the page. The easiest way to find this button if you are using Voiceover is to first locate the “Google Search” edit box at the top of the page, then flick to the right until you encounter the “Open Live Text Chat” button. Activate this button by double-tapping it. Once you’ve activated this button, your window will refresh and show you the current contents of the public chat. You’ll also see an edit box where you can type your own messages. Once you’ve entered the text you want to send, locate the “Send” button and double-tap it. Your message will be sent. You can return to the main content window at any time by locating and double-tapping the “Return to Main Content” button. Note that even while in public text chat, the presenter’s audio will continue to play, unless you manually pause it.

You can initiate a private conversation with an attendee in the same way you would on the PC. To do this, locate the pop-up listing the group of participants from within the main “Live Text Chat” window. Double-tap the popup and a picker will appear, allowing you to select the attendee with whom you wish to chat privately. Once the attendee is selected, double-tap the “Open Private Chat” button and your window will refresh to show the private conversation. Just as with the public chat window, you have an edit box to enter your message, and a send button to activate when you’re ready to send the message. At any time, you can return to either the public chat window or the main content window by locating and double-tapping the corresponding button.

Participating in Live Voice Chat

If the presenter has chosen to allow live voice chat, you’ll be able to chat with the presenter and other attendees by voice in real-time. When you join an event which has live voice chat enabled, you’ll hear a doorbell sound, and you’ll also see text at the top of the event page which says: “This event is now open for live voice chat.” If the voice chat feature has not been enabled by the presenter, you will see text at the top of the page indicating that live voice chat has been disabled.

When you’re ready to participate in live voice chat, there are two ways to begin transmitting. You may either press and hold the F9 key on your keyboard, or left click and hold the “Talk” button with your mouse. In either case, you will hear a high-pitched beep indicating that you are currently transmitting a message. When you’ve finished speaking, release the F9 key or the left mouse button, and you will hear a lower-pitched beep to indicate you have stopped transmitting. Note that more than one person may speak at a time, but you will want to be mindful in allowing each person a chance to speak, rather than talking over someone else and causing neither of you to be effectively heard.

Leaving the Event

If for any reason you need to leave the event before its conclusion, you may simply close the web browser displaying the event page. This can also be done at the event’s conclusion.

Conclusion

Thank you for choosing to make your meetings, classrooms and webinars available to all participants with Accessible Event. We hope that this guide has been useful in making your Accessible Event experience a simple and easy one. Should you have any additional questions, please refer to the Accessible Event FAQ or contact us at info@AccessibleEvent.com or by calling (612) 246-4818. NOTE: Product names, brands and other trademarks featured or referred to within this Accessible Event Users Guide are the property of their respective trademark holders. These trademark holders are not affiliated with Accessible Event and do not sponsor or endorse these materials.