From Conference to Industry Association

How does an annual accessibility conference grow into a national industry association with real policy influence? Join us for an inspiring and practical conversation about what it takes to scale an accessibility-focused initiative into an organization with national reach and impact.

In this session, we will explore the journey of evolving from a one-time event into a structured, sustainable, and strategic industry body. We'll share lessons learned and insights gained along the way, including:

• Identifying your target audience and building meaningful connections
• Managing and growing membership while maintaining community focus
• Raising your national profile and becoming a recognized voice in accessibility
• Choosing a focus and setting boundaries to stay aligned with your mission
• Transitioning from an annual in-person event to ongoing virtual programming
• Balancing funding, sustainability, and organizational costs
• Building advocacy capacity and influencing digital accessibility policy

Whether you’re part of a grassroots initiative, a community event organizer, or someone passionate about accessibility advocacy, this session offers actionable strategies for scaling impact and making a difference.

About the Speakers: Bri Norton, Ricky Onsman, and Amanda Mace
Brigitta (Bri) Norton
Digital Accessibility Consultant at Ability Works
Bri is a Digital Strategist and User Experience and Accessibility specialist based in Canberra, Australia and has been an Accessibility Lead for both State and Federal Government and is currently a Digital Accessibility Consultant at Ability Works. Bri has more recently co-developed inclusive research workshops to share how to include accessibility earlier in the project lifecycle which includes engaging with people with disability as part of inclusive research activities.

Amongst her professional experience with government agencies and local businesses, Bri is the co-chair for Australia’s Web Accessibility Initiative [[OZeWAI.org](http://ozewai.org/)](http://ozewai.org/), a Standards Australia Accessible ICT Procurement Committee Member and a member of the ResearchOps.Community Cheese Board.

Ricky Onsman
Principal Technical Writer for the Knowledge Center at TPGi
Ricky Onsman is Principal Technical Writer for the Knowledge Center at TPGi, a global digital accessibility company. He writes guidance articles for TPGi staff and clients conducting manual accessibility audits, as well helping to craft the rules engine for TPGi's automated testing tools, developing training courses, and writing blog posts.
Ricky built his first website in 1994, when it was still assumed that accessibility was a given, and since then has worked in IT for a range of companies and organizations, then as a freelance web designer and front end developer, then as an accessibility specialist with organisations like AccessIQ, Simply Accessible, AccessibilityOz, Intopia, Tenon, and now TPGi.

Ricky has been a member of the Australian Web Accessibility Initiative (OZeWAI) since 2014 and, as a Committee Member, has played a key role in developing the organization's web presence and newsletters, and its transition from conference organizer to national industry association.

Amanda Mace
Vice President at GrackleDocs
Amanda is a Subject Matter Expert in Digital Accessibility with more than 10 years of experience in the industry. She manages the Australasia office for GrackleDocs while growing and promoting the brand across the region. She also manages the audit team which is responsible for manual WCAG audits for our clients. Amanda is one of only two Australian-based W3C evangelists and the W3C Australian Western Region Chapter manager.

When it comes to accessibility, she believes that innovation with accessibility built into it provides security, independence, and privacy for people with disabilities and ultimately better, more usable digital products for all. She has spent her career advocating that it is everyone's job to do their bit to remove barriers so all people can have equal access and equal opportunity in the digital world. Using her expertise in WCAG and PDF/UA to educate and help others understand digital access as well as how to go above and beyond standards, to ensuring great user experiences.

She is certified by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) as a Certified Professional. Having begun her accessibility career as a WCAG auditor/tester, she worked her way up in that small business through to management. Throughout her career, She has had many opportunities to contribute to educating others about digital accessibility including, co-authoring a book chapter for the textbook, "Web Accessibility A Foundation for Research," as well as a white paper entitled, "Digital Accessibility: Perceptions, Expectations and Reality."

Thank you to our sponsors:

• Live captions: GoDaddy
• Organizer and post-event transcription: Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker
• Your Business here! Learn about sponsorship

Event Details:
This meetup will be held at 8 PM Eastern via Zoom webinars.

Registration on Zoom is required to attend. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5917455096766/WN_p2ZmnnPfT56lWJ8T1KMlOw

Accessibility & Accommodations:
This meetup will be held virtually over Zoom and live captioned.
Slide links will be provided when applicable, and presenters are encouraged to make slides as accessible as possible with alternative text for images, etc.

We're working to secure sponsors so that we can offer ASL interpretation.

All are welcome to attend. If you need specific accommodations to make this meetup work for you, please contact an organizer, and we will try our best to accommodate you.

Code of Conduct:
Please note that this group is a welcoming space for all, and all members must follow the WordPress Online Code of Conduct.

By RSVPing to this meetup, you agree to abide by these guidelines. If you have concerns that the Online Code of Conduct is not being followed, please contact an organizer.