Cvent

Whether you’ve given hundreds of talks, just gave your first talk, or perhaps are thinking of giving a talk next year, we all could use tips in not only overcoming our fears of public speaking but getting good at it. As engineering professionals, sometimes we may focus on the engineering problem and analysis yet don’t realize that how we deliver the message can be just as important as the message itself.

If you break a sweat when speaking to more than a few people as we did, you’ll appreciate these transformational tips as Brian and Phil discuss practices for putting together a talk for a conference. As an engineer, learn a step by step pragmatic approach with several techniques and exercises to cure your nervousness and improve your delivery in a systematic way. Public speaking is a top skill for anyone who wants to effect change. Whether speaking to a department, at a meetup or presenting keynotes around the world, Phil and Brian have worked to hone their presentation skills.

You’ve heard “Practice Makes Perfect” right? Well, that’s not quite right. “Practice With Feedback Makes Perfect”. In this free workshop, you will learn systematic methods with exercises so that you can improve on the spot.

Walk away more confident in your ability to improve your public speaking skills with a framework and techniques for improvement.

This is a free three-hour workshop limited to the first 18 people. The content will be in three parts, but each section builds on the previous. Please RSVP on Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Pacific-NW-Software-Quality-Conference-PNSQC/events/266871919

Both Brian and Phil are officers and board members of the Pacific NW Software Quality Conference (PNSQC).

Brian Gaudreau is a seasoned quality professional with 20+ years of management, software testing and QA experience relevant to telecom, enterprise metadata, government, multimedia, health care and marketing CRM platforms.

Philip Lew, CEO of XBOSoft, has founded and managed companies in his 25+ year professional career. He frequently can be found speaking at conferences including Softec Asia, HUSTEF, TestIstanbul and StarEast.

This year’s theme for PNSQC is 2020 Vision: Quality Looking Forward. We chose this theme to inspire attendees and speakers to think of ways to learn from the past, and envision ways to achieve quality software in the future.

Just as lighting the Olympic flame before the games is a gesture of ceremony and inspiration, this kickoff of the call for proposals for PNSQC 2020 is a way to spark your imagination to contribute your own vision of quality.

Come hear a "full stack" of lightning talks on visions of quality. What’s in store for software QA in the future as it merges with DevOps. How will you adapt to changing organizational structures, roles and required knowledge? Find out what leaders in the field are thinking and doing.

Get inspired to see yourself presenting in October at PNSQC 2020 Networking afterward for ideas to achieve 2020 vision. Snacks and refreshments available during the talks.

Then prepare to share your own clarity of vision at PNSQC 2020 by submitting a proposal to present at the conference in October.

How do I get involved? To attend, please finish your RSVP here on meetup. If you wish to present at this event, please submit your ideas on PNSQC’s OpenConference site: https://www.openconf.org/pnsqc2020/author/submit.php

This event is open to software developers, IT managers, project managers, product owners, testers, security professionals -- anyone who is passionate about professional software quality.

Cvent, in partnership with InVision, is hosting a special screening of the InVision-produced documentary DESIGN DISRUPTORS for Portland Design Week with snacks and networking beforehand, and a panel with design leaders after. Join us for this free event during Design Week Portland April 9th, 5:30–7:30pm! Register at http://tinyurl.com/yygxjjkm.

Please see Meetup for event description + RSVP

Apparently, you can download inner peace. There are countless applications that can put meditation in the palm of your hand, and allow a guru to live in your pocket. How is the technology that is supposed to balance us throwing the rest of our life into imbalance?

Enter mindfulness. A tenet of Eastern philosophies for centuries, now it’s a comprehensive inclusion in the therapeutic arsenals of therapist’s, psychologist’s, and psychiatrist’s toolkits.

Using mindfulness allows for awareness of the present moment through attention and non-judgement. But now, mindfulness can be used as an accommodation. This talk will show how people with disabilities fuse with technology and vice versa. This can be done as a great boon for a person’s mental health and wellness. Mindfulness is essentially vigilance before acting. It prevents against impulsive actions, and is a discipline of thought. It’s like taking that extra step before you buy junk food at grocery store while you’re hungry and asking, do I need this? But being mindful in technology design means a focus on the design that works for the person in the moment. Our presentation will focus on how accessible design can accommodate mental health disabilities. Instead of impulsively choosing accommodating or try to fit a square peg in a round hole, it’s changing a way of thought. This presentation will be focused around user empowerment, but also be a call to action for developers. Through case studies that we will present with actual data and use feedback, we’ll argue that being aware is crucial for technology, especially accessibility.

About Sharon Rosenblatt
Sharon Rosenblatt is an accessibility professional working to improve the overall experience by a user with disabilities. She has been a part of the Accessibility Partners team for the over eight years, and specializes in document remediation and web compliance testing. Her efforts have enabled developers and manufacturers to see the tremendous potential that accessibility has not just for users with disabilities, but of all abilities.

She is a strong advocate for abolishing the stigma of mental health and researching accomodations in the workplace to support a mental health diagnosis. With her enthusiasm highlighted in several publications like The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Fast Company, Information Week, CNN, Mint.com, and more, Sharon enjoys participating in the constant dialogue between accessibility and innovation.

Come together for an evening of accessibility sharing and learning! We'd like to hear from you, whether you consider yourself a novice or an expert. Bring your questions, projects, and ideas to discuss as a group. We'll break into small groups if needed to cover different topics.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an environment-focused, sustainable lens to review interactions with students within campus and remove barriers.

In this session we'll discuss:

• What is the need currently experienced by post-secondary education in matters of inclusion?
• The changing landscape of access and inclusion in Higher Education.
• how to encourage our own practice to recognize these areas of ‘tension’ in current approaches to access.
• Explore o the definition and intentions of Universal Design for Learning.
• Reflect on how UDL might meet the ‘needs’ being experienced in Higher Education for a rapid change in access practices.

Our Speaker: Samantha John is the Accessible Media Coordinator in the Office of Academic Innovation at Portland State University. She created a faculty professional development program that includes peer review of syllabi and course activities that incorporate UDL and accessibility publishing conventions. She also developed the UDL Media Lab at PSU where students with disabilities work to identify barriers in curriculum.

Samantha's passion for inclusion and diversity drive her study and presentation of UDL and universal access related issues in higher education.

Join us to hear noted accessibility expert, Adrian Roselli, who will share his techniques for making web and mobile interfaces accessible.

This talk is a must-hear for developers and designers who care about enabling access to the interfaces they build to the widest spectrum of user abilities.

Adrian Roselli is a popular, erudite and entertaining speaker. If you've never heard him present, don't miss this chance!

We'll have snacks and networking at 5:30, talk at 6PM, with Q&A to follow.

Adrian Roselli has been developing accessible, effective user interfaces for the Web since 1993, as well as interfaces for multimedia and software applications. With a focus on standards and accessibility, Adrian ensures software and web-based applications can be utilized by users with varying levels of ability on a wide array of platforms.

Mr. Roselli served as an invited expert in the W3C HTML Working Group, the standards body responsible for developing HTML. He is now a full member of Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group, Accessible Rich Internet Applications Working Group, HTML Accessibility Task Force, and Web Platform Working Group (formerly the HTML Working Group).

Calling all Portlanders who support women in technology! We’re thrilled to offer you an opportunity to explore all Cvent has to offer at our Portland office location. Join us for a free networking event to meet our team and learn what Cvent can do for your career! There will be refreshments and beverages - and of course, great conversation with a panel of women discussing "Women Influencers in the Technology Industry!" Register to join us. We hope to see you there! #cventPDXwomen

4:30 – 5:30 p.m. Networking 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Panel Discussion

More and more UX designers are looking to inclusive design solutions as the foundation for their accessibility strategy. A ubiquitous screen UI component is the form. Yet, far too often, using forms is a frustrating experience, for users at any point on the ability spectrum.

Join us for an in-depth look at form design to help you better understand the issues with forms in general, and the extra hurdles they represent when examined from an accessibility viewpoint.

Our guest speaker, Gerry Gaffney, leads Information & Design, a usability consultancy in Melbourne Australia. He runs the User Experience podcast (uxpod.com), and is co-author with Caroline Jarrett of "Forms That Work."

Doors open at 5:30 for networking and snacks.
We'll begin Gerry's presentation at 6PM.