Join us at our upcoming monthly Canterbury Tech event where we will hear from two guest speakers in one stream. The theme for this event is Accessibility.  

When: Tuesday 13 April 2021

Where: EPIC Innovation, 76/106 Manchester Street, Christchurch

Event Outline:

5.30pm - Registration opens, networking, drinks and nibbles

6.00pm - Canterbury Tech updates

6.15pm - 1st Speaker, Dylan Watts

6.35pm - 1st Speaker Q&A

6.40pm - 2nd Speaker, Chandra Harrison

6.55pm - 2nd Speaker Q&A

7.00pm - More networking

7.30pm - Close of event

Our Speakers

SPEAKER ONE

Dylan Watts, Software Engineer at Treshna

Born in Wellington, Dylan developed a love of coding as a teenager before moving to Christchurch with his family. He began studying Computer Science in his early twenties, and after graduating from the University of Canterbury in 2015, he landed a job as Software Developer at Treshna Enterprises almost immediately.

Dylan's interests include reading, pacing, reading while pacing, chocolate covered Oreos, and eating chocolate covered Oreos while pacing. He currently lives in Christchurch with his wonderful wife Catherine and his sweet but simple cat Leo.

Topic: Coding and Computing Blind

Being a software engineer is a great profession, there are never-ending challenges and new skills to learn every month. Now close your eyes and imagine doing it without being able to see. Dylan – who is blind - has been working as a software developer with Treshna for the last 5 years and he’s kicking ass. He’s on slack communicating with his colleagues, fixing bugs, writing new features, and generally demonstrating that sight is not a pre-requisite for being good at software development. But what challenges has he faced? How does he work through 10,000 lines of code and make the necessary changes? What tools does he use? And how can companies encourage more people with disabilities into their team? Dylan will attempt to answer these and other questions in an open and honest way.

SPEAKER TWO

Dr. Chandra Harrison, Managing Director of Access Advisors

Chandra has 20 plus years of experience in Human-Computer Interaction in NZ, the US working for Siemens and in the UK working for Qualcomm, Vodafone, and the BBC.  Chandra returned home six years ago bringing a passion for helping people understand and implement digital accessibility and usability.

Topic: Digital Accessibility in the Development Life Cycle

There is a generally low understanding of digital accessibility in NZ and a low level of compliance with the accessibility guidelines that are available. But the increasing pervasiveness of technology means that if we don't consider accessibility from the beginning, we are excluding a significant proportion of the population from using our services and buying our goods.

Getting there:

Public Transport - 4-minute walk from the Bus Interchange
By Car - Metered parking on surrounding streets or use The Crossing carpark nearby

Things to note:

Please note that registering for this event will be taken as acceptance that your image, name, or voice may be included in a recording or photos of proceedings that will be published after the event.

Following the advice of the Ministry of Health, we ask you to please stay home and avoid attending this gathering if you are; unwell, a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19, waiting for a COVID-19 test result or self-isolating.

We will adapt the event according to the current Covid Alert Level in place at the time.

Thank you!

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