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HDA After Action Report
DEF CON 31 / HDA 4 is in the books! It was a whole new experience for HDA as we were made a community, given rooms to work with and activities that we never had before! New friendships, first timers and old hands came together for an amazing time. Thanks to all who made it possible, and attended our festivities.
WHAT WE DID
- Synthesizer Jam Session
For the first time we had people from all over bring their gear in for an open jam session and talk about electronic music. We were joined by some highly talented violin and flute players which added an extra depth to the jam session. We will be doing this again next year!
- Community / Safe Harbor / Lecture Rooms
Decorating mobility scooters, supporting first timers, open talk about disabilities, and the forging of our community were all a part of the new community room! The Safe Harbor room was used for folks taking care of themselves or needing a quiet space to break away from the convention. We had two talks on hacking / lighting on mobility devices and we had three winners of our hacker trivia contest, each winning a $50 give certificate to Adafruit! Much love to Adafruit for providing the prizes!
- HDA Infopack for DEF CON
More than ever people download, used and loved the HDA infopack. With the issues that came up during the convention the alternate routes and guides were amazingly helpful. The feedback was mostly positive and we will be making changes for next year.
- Stickers / buttons and schwag!
Thanks to Becca Makes Buttons ( https://beckamakesbuttons.com/ ) for the HDA buttons
Thanks to HDA founder A.P. Delchi for the HDA stickers, and wristbands.
Thanks to DEF CON for the glowsticks, glowtape, and other goodies to deck out the scooters
Thanks to DEF CON for the supplies used in the safe harbor rooms
WHAT WENT RIGHT / FEEDBACK
- Maps were useful, and we had many thanks for them.
- Many thanks from attendees for the availability of the SHARPS disposal and place to safely utilize them.
- Community was forged. First timers and log timers alike came together as a community.
- More people utilized our support than ever! Services and the caretaker admission policy were welcomed and positively reviewed!
- Suggestions for next year heard
- Goons were helpful, respectful, and assisted all with ADA needs expertly
- Fewer than ever issues with registration! Caregivers utilizing our caretaker policy!
- Improved access to food services in the chillout room! Beverage coolers at wheelchair level!
- Venue staff helpful and amicable to requests for assistance with all things ADA
WHAT WENT WRONG / FEEDBACK
- Getting the word out. We need to work more on making HDA information more readily available and the fact that that HDA exists.
- Elevators / escalators breaking down. We are working with the venue to improve our communication and response to these breakdowns. We did good this year, but we can do better. This includes more alternate routes and outreach so that more people know where they are.
- Location. Although we are a community now and DEF CON provided us with three rooms for our activities, one of the most common pieces of feedback was that HDA was located in a place that was far away from the main conference and not easy to find. We are looking into this and we will work with all involved to see what can be done for next year.
- Education. Although our information is out there we need to reach out to every DEF CON department to keep them up to date with HDA activities, location, policies and information. Goons were helpful, but sometimes didn’t know the alternate routes or where HDA was located.
- Logistics. There were some issues with room locations, keys, timing and other things inherent to any conference of our size that put things off schedule or caused confusion. This was our first year occupying spaces and for communities, so we are taking lessons learned to improve for next year.
CONCLUSION
HDA4 was an amazing success, lessons were learned, friendships were made and all attendees we spoke with congratulated us on our efforts to make ADA access to DEF CON better than ever. Next year? We are looking at more activities, enrolling HDA volunteers, AI based real time voice or text to ASL translation, the return of the Synth jam, and possibly even a HDA party!
As always please send your comments , thoughts, suggestions, and feedback to :
- DEF CON Forums : HDA “https://forum.defcon.org/node/242670” or DM Delchi in the forums.
- Twitter : “@HDA_DEFCON”
MAKING DEF CON AWESOMELY ACCESSIBLE
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