Welcome And Banter

Kelvin Crosby 0:06

Welcome to Investing in Accessibility, a Samaritan Partners podcast. We're not waiting for change. We're investing in it. Join us as we speak with entrepreneurs and thought leaders that are focused on creating a more accessible world. Hey, so good to see you, even though I can't see you. It's another beautiful day in the neighborhood, and I'm so excited that you're here at Investing in Accessibility. I'm your host, Kelvin Crosby, and I got my Faddy co-host, Chris Maher. How you doing, man?

Chris Maher 0:42

Hey Kelvin, I'm good, buddy. It's good to uh to be with you today. How are you, my friend?

Kelvin Crosby 0:48

I'm good, man. I was like, you know, I couldn't resist our new identification of you, of Faddy. I wanted to make sure everybody understands we are allowed to call you a Faddy now. You know, you're my dad. You know, that that's the way the thing works.

Chris Maher 1:03

So remind people, so it's F A D D D, not T. Yeah. F-A-D-D-Y. Remind people, remind people what faddy stands for.

Kelvin Crosby 1:13

Fun dad. And

Chris Maher 1:15

fun dad. I I was hoping it was I was hoping this moniker was gonna be Funcle, fun uncle, but you you you're sticking with Faddy, so I think I'm gonna have to go along with it.

Kelvin Crosby 1:26

I'm having a block.

Chris Maher 1:28

And we're gonna drop this episode pretty quickly, so I don't I think I can say this without dating it. But last week we were in in uh in Philadelphia together for the Empathy Tech conference, and uh you were you were spreading that moniker around to to

Kelvin Crosby 1:42

oh it was great.

Chris Maher 1:44

Many people in our network, and I

Kelvin Crosby 1:45

it was it was amazing, it was great. I people loved it. We got a round of applause for it. It was great, you know. See, this is the this is the dangerous part when I'm on a stage and I just took everybody through this emotional experience and how they can be a handle and pour out to others. I mean that and then you come up, I gotta just lighten up the mood by just open up the open up.

Chris Maher 2:11

It was great. And we're gonna we're gonna do we're gonna do a whole episode on your your presentation from Empathy Tech. Um, but we've got uh we actually have our second repeat guest today, don't we?

Kelvin Crosby 2:24

Yes, I'm excited about this guest because he's doing some really, really cool stuff, and I I'm excited to see how this is all gonna come to fruition, uh what he's doing. Because honestly, he's doing some more stuff this year than he did last year, and it kind of seemed to be like every year, it's like he makes it better and bigger and better and bigger. So, yeah, I'm excited.

Chris Maher 2:49

100%. So let me introduce our guests and we're gonna get into it. But um uh our friend of the podcast who's back for a second episode is Steve Ewell, the executive director of the CTA Foundation. Welcome, Steve. Good to see you.

Steve Ewell 3:02

Yeah, well, thanks for having me back. I guess I didn't do that horribly the first time through. So uh, but uh I always love talking to the two.

Chris Maher 3:10

You were our our first ever guest. So our first two episodes were just Kelvin and I talking about our own personal backgrounds, and then you you were the first actual guest on the Investing in Accessibility Podcast. So it's good to have you back, my friend.

Steve Ewell 3:23

Well, I'm happy to be back, and uh and yes, I I never miss a week of uh listening to it. So uh, you know, I I enjoy kind of catching up with all the different people that you've had a chance to interview and and and yes, hearing about the various adventures of uh you know guiding around different cities and locations and uh you know successfully and sometimes maybe a little less successfully as well.

Chris Maher 3:48

It it's and I'll say in Philly last week, and we were together for about a day and a half. Oh, I was again, I give myself like a B B minus. I I I didn't Kelvin, I didn't walk you into anything oh, one time I did walk you into a wall once, so I apologize for that. But I I I walked away from you several times, just completely forgetting that you weren't holding on to my backpack or my shoulder. But that is that's another conversation that where Kelvin will make a lot of fun of me. But what we want to get into

How CES And CTA Fit Together

Chris Maher 4:20

today, um we want to talk about CES, right? So the Consumer Electronics Show, which is in in January every year, as Kelvin alluded to, Steve, you you and your team at the CTA Foundation has done a remarkable job of elevating accessibility, disability inclusion, and age tech. And it does feel like every year you keep adding and building and expanding. And there's a whole bunch of exciting new stuff in addition to all the great stuff that you've been doing the last several years. So so we want to get into that today. Um, Steve, before we get into that, can you maybe just remind everybody the relationship that the CTA Foundation has with CES and how that works?

Steve Ewell 4:59

Yeah, absolutely. So, yes, there's a whole uh acronym soup here. Um, I am uh based in the DC area, so we we love our acronyms everywhere. But CES, as you said, that's our our trade show. That is uh, you know, getting together people from across the entire industry um and you know, talking about what are the big trends that are happening. Uh, and a lot of it is for the companies to be able to showcase their newest products, the things that they're looking to uh to build and design, and get it in front of, honestly, the retailers is kind of a lot of their focus. Uh, get it in front of the media, uh, but also build the relationships uh across the industry as well and create those partnerships. That is put together by the Consumer Technology Association. So that is the trade association that represents the technology industry and does everything from obviously putting together the show to you know market research and standards and policy and really representing the industry across all those areas. And then the piece that I have is the CTA Foundation, which is the charitable arm of CTA. And it's really focused on how do we use our industry's technologies to help uh both older adults and people with disabilities. And we're actually um going into our 15th year next year. So uh it's hard for me to believe that uh we've been doing it this long, but um, it's also really exciting to see the opportunities as this is continuing to grow. And yes, through the foundation, um you know, accessibility has been an issue at CES for for years and years. It's been panels, it's been other activities there, but I feel like we've really had a chance to grow that issue over the last few years. And um, you know, I feel like last year was kind of our you know sudden overnight success after a decade uh uh of making uh the work behind the scenes. So um we're excited to see where we're going.

Chris Maher 7:03

Well, that thank you for that uh kind of summary there. And it it's true, it does, it does feel like every year, especially in the last what this will be my fourth year, the last three or four years, it feels like significant steps in in in certainly the right direction. Um and I think that is very much due to your leadership. Have you have you been at the helm of the CTA foundation since the beginning for 15 years?

Steve Ewell 7:30

Yeah, I was brought in to stand it up. So uh the the board was assembled before I was hired, uh, but I was brought in as the first staff person. And um, yeah, it's been it's been quite a ride, and uh not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.

Chris Maher 7:47

So well, you're doing amazing work. You and your team are doing amazing work. So let's jump into what folks can expect at CES this year. And we're gonna drop this podcast pretty soon, so well in advance of CES to try to create a little bit more awareness and and understanding about why people should should definitely be at CES this year at the Venetian um in Eureka Park and not miss out on all the great things that that you folks are doing. So I'm gonna hand it off to you and let you kind of start to go through all the wonderful things that are gonna be happening this year.

Steve Ewell 8:18

All right. Well, yeah, excited and please uh jump in because I I can I can go on for hours uh on this. But the good news is, as you said, we try to add something new every year. We try to continue to build off this momentum, and we really are seeing the industry embrace uh these issues. Um, and I won't say everything's perfect, uh it's not, but um you know, we are seeing more and more engagement in this space. And it helps build on itself. And year after year, we can kind of do more and get uh get new activities in the space.

Five Startup Winners For Accessibility

Steve Ewell 8:54

You know, probably first and foremost, uh, as you know, we've been running a startup competition uh where we give away five booths every year to startups that have technologies to help either older adults or people with disabilities. Um and this year uh we've uh selected five companies once again. Uh so um there's a company called Doorbotics that is uh making kind of an automated uh door opener uh solution. There's a company called uh ReviMo, uh, which is essentially helping to transfer people uh through an automated uh device. There's a company called Sekond Skin Society, uh, which Chris, I believe you know uh pretty well, uh, doing adaptive uh uh kind of um physical training and exercise uh programs. There's a company called Signapse, which is a um you know automated sign language uh solution. And then a company called Tego that has an interesting adaptive plug that essentially it almost turns your home outlets into kind of a Magsafe style uh plug and an easy to um be able to plug in and know that you're you're not sticking your fingers into the uh outlets as you're trying to figure out where it is and and everything.

Kelvin Crosby 10:10

So that's what I need right there. That is what I need right there. The outlet that doesn't shock me, man.

Chris Maher 10:19

Yeah, no, Steve, that what a great collection of companies. I'm familiar with all of them, um, some a little bit more than others, but but what wonderful diversity, a real nice cross-section. And I know that you and that is intentional on your part. Um, but that's got to be such a hard decision because I'm assuming you're getting dozens, if not hundreds, of applications for those five spots every year.

Steve Ewell 10:41

Oh, yeah, and absolutely. And this year, um, yeah, we had, I think it was you know 60, 70 applications for us. So uh luckily we have a great group of judges that uh range from people around the industry to media to um you know other investors and and people on those lines that help us go through and and review uh these companies. And you know, that way, you know, it's not just me being like, oh, here's the the five that I I like, um, but it is a chance to really uh um kind of find and identify some of these great companies. And then we actually have, you know, we we encourage the ones that don't get selected to still come to CES and participate in Eureka Park uh because there is such an opportunity that even if they're, you know, obviously they they love getting the free booth when you're you're a startup, uh every dollar accounts. So, you know, being able to get that free space uh really helps. But um, you know, even if they end up having to purchase their own space, it's a great opportunity for us to highlight

Building The New Accessibility Hub

Steve Ewell 11:44

them. And then actually this year's winners, one of the new things we're doing is rather than give them each their own individual booth like we've done traditionally, we're pulling them together into what we're calling the accessibility hub. Um and you may have seen at the show in the past, a lot of the countries do these country pavilions. Essentially, that's kind of what we're doing for the accessibility space by having these five winners each have kind of their little section of this larger space. Um, and it'll give a chance to kind of pull that together. And I really am treating this as this is the tip of the iceberg for accessibility. This is not the place to go for accessibility at CES, because honestly, CES uh accessibility should be everywhere at the show, whether you're you know seeing the vehicles in West Hall or you know, seeing the startups in the Venetian. Um, but this will be a chance for us to bring those companies together and really showcase them there. We're also working with Vespero and with LG on building some accessible kiosks that are going to help point to all the different content that is happening at the show, whether it is panels and sessions, whether it is other exhibitors that are showcasing accessible products. But that way people are gonna be able to interface with those kiosks. One will be at that hub, but we're also looking at, we have a couple others that we're gonna uh we're still working on exactly where they're gonna be, but um, that will help to direct people out. Because actually, last year at the show, we commissioned an organization called Teach Access to help survey and review the accessibility experience at CES. And that was one of the big pieces that came out of it was just, you know, where do I start? And then how do I get to everything that is happening related to accessibility? So there's gonna be a number of things like that that we're starting to implement to help people find the accessibility content at the show, as well as help them find the services that we're providing for accessibility at the show.

Chris Maher 13:48

That's awesome. So the kiosks are new. That that's gonna be a new addition.

Steve Ewell 13:52

Kiosks are brand new. So that is something that we

Accessible Kiosks To Find Sessions

Steve Ewell 13:55

have not done in the past, but uh I'm excited to see how it's gonna turn out. Uh, we're we're deep in the conversations right now and designing the interface and all that. And that's where you know LG's got these great accessible kiosks. It it raises and lowers, it does um, you know, everything for people to uh be able to interface with it. It has the star uh keyboard to be able to control, but then also having Vespero as a partner, they're able to come in and use their JAWS software to help you know read the content on the um on the screen and make sure that it is truly an accessible experience

Chris Maher 14:31

That's awesome. Yeah, and and and so interesting. You know, shout out to to Teach Access and and their wonderful executive director, Kate Sanka. What a great organization. But that that what so smart on your part to to work with them to get that feedback. You know, Kelvin and I, as you know, were together for a few days at CES last year. I mean, CES, it it can be overwhelming because of the sheer volume of people. I think what's it about 150,000 or so people descend upon Vegas for CES. And and um, yeah, if you have accessibility needs, that can be, you know, doubly overwhelming and and challenging to navigate. And and I was a I was an average sighted guide for Kelvin last year, but we won't get into that, right, Kelvin?

Kelvin Crosby 15:15

Um, I mean, let's just say, I mean there are many times where I was wondering, are we going the right direction? Not sure.

Steve Ewell 15:26

Well, I've been going to CES for years, and there's times I wonder if I'm going in the right direction. So uh yeah.

CES Will Have A Sensory Room

Steve Ewell 15:33

Although you mentioned, you know, CES can be, you know, it's Las Vegas. Las Vegas is sensory overwhelming to start. Um, and then you put the technology industry on top of it. Um one of the other new things that we're adding this year is for the very first time we're gonna have a at least one sensory room. Uh, we're hopeful to potentially have a couple. Um, but you know, it'll essentially be a space for people to go if they just need to kind of take a break from the show floor, um, get a little bit of an opportunity to reset. Um, but that's something that's people have been asking for years uh for that, and and we're excited that we're finally going to be able to build that out.

Chris Maher 16:14

Yeah, I see that's fantastic. I mean, Kelvin, you and I a couple times at CES last year just needed to kind of go find a quiet spot and sit down for a little bit.

Kelvin Crosby 16:23

Oh, yeah. I mean, that I mean, and that's the thing, is like when we when when we're there, it's so noisy, and then the stimulation part of it is so much, and it's like we just needed a break. And so this this sounds awesome. And it sounds like the it might get heavily used, and it might get too noisy and be overstimulated.

Steve Ewell 16:50

Well, that is we are gonna have it staffed and make sure that you know people are using it for the right reasons. It's not the place to go do your Zoom call, it's not the place to go like take a long nap. It is really a place to go, you know, take a quick break from uh from the show floor and and then get back out there. So um, you know, it's the first time through. It's always uh, you know, hopefully it goes very smoothly and well. But um, that is something that uh, like I said, it's been on the list of uh things people have requested for years and and we're excited uh to add it into the mix for this year.

Chris Maher 17:25

No, that's that's fantastic. And so on the um kind of the expo, you have five free boosts, but then you'll you'll have between accessibility and aging, and I assume you're still doing have that that relationship with AARP and the AgeTech Collaborative, and they'll have their big hub where they've got probably 15 plus companies all under their banner. How many startups kind of across accessibility and aging will there be?

Steve Ewell 17:57

You know, I don't have a good count quite yet for this year on how many in that specific area. We typically have around between 1200 and 1,400 startups total at the show. Um, and that's just the startups. So, you know, we have closer to you know 4,000 or so uh exhibitors uh in total. Um, you know, it would not surprise me if we easily have, you know, a couple hundred startups that in some way touch on the accessibility or aging issue. Uh, because we're seeing more and more, even general technology products are taking into account building accessibility into that space. Uh, but that's also why you know we do invite some of the leaders from different disability organizations to come to the show because this is their chance to meet directly with those startup founders and help to showcase where you know making a little tweak here here or there can open up whole new audiences for them, whole new customer bases uh that they may not uh be thinking of uh quite yet. But uh we've absolutely seen some great uh great opportunities come out of those engagements.

Chris Maher 19:10

Yeah, no, that's awesome. That's awesome. The the just the sheer number of startups. So you also do um some competitions, right, during during the show and I and even give away a little bit of money. But can you speak to what you're doing uh this year?

Steve Ewell 19:24

Yeah.

Open Path Awards And Caregiving Pitch Competition

Steve Ewell 19:25

So we have two um this year. One um in the past has been called the the IDD Innovation Challenge. Um, we actually have renamed it, rebranded it. There's a lot of innovation challenges around CES. So uh it is now the Open Path Awards, but it is still specifically focused on technology to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Um we will do, it's kind of a hybrid between two other events that we do. There will be a kind of roundtable discussion where we do, we partner with some local uh nonprofit organizations as well as some national groups that will bring people in, but people from the IDD community or who work with the IDD community to talk about, you know, what are some of the things that are working well, what are some of the things that are uh not working well, make that engagement. And then we actually have uh a competition going on right now where we're gonna be inviting in a few uh startup companies to be part of that conversation. Um and then traditionally we've done a pitch kind of right there in the room. This year we're actually splitting that event and we're moving the pitch portion of that onto our accessibility stage. So it'll give the companies a little bit more um attention uh for their pitch portion of it. But they'll have a chance to before they do that pitch, engage with the community, hear you know what they're doing well, hear, hear ways to improve, and then as part of their pitch, hopefully adapt their their products to showcase how they can uh make a difference. And yeah, we've got a great uh supporter in uh Ability Central who's helping us uh give out uh prizes for for that. Uh, but I'm excited for for that event. And then the other pitch competition we do is kind of our main, it's our our CTA foundation uh pitch, and that will happen right on the startup stage. Uh and this year we're focusing in on technology that can help with caregiving. Um, and that can be everything from aging to disability. It can be professional caregivers, it can be family caregivers. It really is a very broad topic area, but I'm excited to see the types of technologies that can help people, you know, it actually can help with some of their independence by helping with, you know, being able to provide caregiving services or receive caregiving services in different ways. Um, and once again, so that'll be right on the the uh startup stage as CES. We always, you know, we're we tend to be one of the largest audiences for that stage every year because we pull in people from all over the place um for competing on that stage. But then, you know, we do an audience poll. So there will be a prize for whoever the audience votes uh as one of the winners for that uh competition. And I will mention, um, you know, I know it's probably going to be a tight turnaround uh with this podcast, but uh the deadline for companies, if you are interested in submitting, you do have to be a startup and you have to be exhibiting at CES. Uh, but the deadline is October 30th. So if you go to the CTA Foundation website, you can get all the information there. Uh, but we'll have probably around eight companies uh pitching on the stage. And we've actually, because of both Ability Central and X50's support, uh, we've been able to raise the prizes this year. So the grand prize is going to be $25,000. Uh it'll be uh, I believe $15 for the runner-up and five for the uh uh audience choice. So uh it's a good opportunity for some of these companies.

Chris Maher 23:07

That's awesome.

Steve Ewell 23:08

Get some uh get some non-dilutive capital coming in.

Chris Maher 23:12

Oh Steve, that's that's fantastic. So so a couple a couple of um so your partner with um that competition, Ability Central, right?

Steve Ewell 23:24

Yeah,

Chris Maher 23:25

So Griffin Stapp, right?

Steve Ewell 23:26

That is it.

Chris Maher 23:27

Wonderful organization um that's doing amazing work in this space. Um, so just want to give them a shout out. So just to kind of summarize a little bit before we want to talk about the the accessibility stage, which you you started last year and will be continuing this year. So you've got five companies that have basically won free spots, and they're gonna be in your hub, right? The accessibility hub within Eureka Park. But there's gonna be another hundred plus companies that are touching on accessibility and/or aging. AARP will have their age tech collaborative hub. Um, and then you're gonna have two separate pitch competitions. One is gonna be on um around the uh intellectual and developmental disabilities. Give me the name of that again.

Steve Ewell 24:14

So it's the Open Path Awards.

Chris Maher 24:15

Open path Awards, and that that's like on kind of the day before everything officially starts, right? On the Tuesday this year.

Steve Ewell 24:21

So the round table is uh before, um uh, but the pitch is actually going to be during the show floor.

Chris Maher 24:28

Fantastic.

Steve Ewell 24:29

Um so it'll be a little later in the week.

Chris Maher 24:31

Gotcha. Um, and you're moving that to the accessibility stage, correct?

Steve Ewell 24:34

Yes,

Chris Maher 24:35

Which I think is a super smart idea. And then you'll have this other this other pitch competition. And I love the fact that you're focusing on caregiving. I think that's just a forgotten community and population for the most part. And and um we're all caregivers in some way, shape, or form. Um, I actually talk a lot about caregiving now as I'm out out, you know, talking about the investment opportunity. So I think that's fantastic that you're doing that. We'll be sure to put those links in and we'll try, we'll we'll drop this before the end of the month and try to hopefully drive a few more applications for you. Um, so that's all amazing, right? And and feels like it's you're elevating it from last year and you elevated it last year from the year before.

Accessibility Stage Returns Bigger & Better

Chris Maher 25:15

But last year you introduced this new thing called the accessibility stage, which was awesome. So can you fill people in about what is the accessibility stage and then kind of what you're doing to kind of take that to another level this year?

Steve Ewell 25:29

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the accessibility stage was incredible last year. It was one of those kind of build it and see if anyone shows up uh activities. And it turns out a lot of people.

Chris Maher 25:40

They did. And you you you were brilliant in the location of where it was as well, but but continue.

Steve Ewell 25:46

Yeah, uh, and you mentioned that essentially this stage is in a hallway, which when you think about trying to build an accessible stage, a hallway is not how you would normally do that. Um, but our operations team has been incredible in working with us to make sure it's accessible, but also working with groups like the Bluetooth SIG has provided AuraCast there at the stage. So, you know, if you're if it's too loud around you, you can get loner headphones that you know basically have the audio piped right to you. Or if you have AuraCast enabled uh hearing aids, you can get it directly to the uh to your hearing aid. So really focused on how do we build it as an accessible experience, but also put it in kind of a major thoroughfare that you know people will naturally, you know, we have a ton of we have about 25 different accessibility sessions that go on there throughout the week. Um and people will naturally seek that out, but it also will draw people in because if you hear someone talking on a stage, people just naturally wander over. And this is our opportunity to get in front of the people who um won't naturally look for an accessibility session at CES, but may be interested in hearing what some of these companies are doing in this space. So um, yes, we're bringing it back. Uh in fact, it's one of those we talked about how do we make the stage a little bit bigger. Um we're growing it a little bit, but not a ton just because of the limitations of the space. Uh they told me they were like, well, we can move you somewhere else. And I was like, nope, uh, not giving up that space. They're gonna have to uh you know drag that away from me. But um, so yes, it'll be in the same location it was last year in the Venetian. Um it will continue to have some great sessions. We're in the middle of trying to build all that out. So uh I don't have anything to announce as far as kind of what's gonna be on the stage quite yet, but um, it'll be a mix of you know, various companies, some of the nonprofits we work with, other organizations, just talking about the the way accessibility is making an impact in the industry. Now we still do have the main accessibility track as well, so that will be going on. So this is not replacing that, um, but it essentially adds on to it. And one of the other things I love is we record everything on there. So actually, you can go on the CES website now and watch all the sessions from last year on the website. Uh this year, once again, we're gonna be recording every session on there just so people uh, you know, it doesn't have to just live the week of uh CES, but uh it's a chance to really highlight that. And you know, I've been trying to promote uh the various sessions throughout the year, just highlighting uh everything that we had going on. Um, but we're we're really excited. We, you know, Verizon is back as our uh presenting sponsor of the stage. And and in fact, actually just recently, um the FCC chairman uh just gave a uh chairs award for accessibility or advancing accessibility uh to both uh myself and and Fred Moltz of Verizon for building out this stage. So we we can now say the award-winning uh accessibility stage at CES. So there we go. Well we're really excited for that.

Chris Maher 29:09

Yeah, and shout out to to Fred Moltz and and Verizon for partnering with you on that and supporting it. Um it really was a brilliant decision on where you placed the accessibility stage. I mean, it was standing room only last year. And what what I love about what you said, and it was this was intentional on your part. And the the regular sessions around accessibility will will be well attended, but they're typically going to be attended by people who kind of already get it, right? They're already believers. And and I think you're a hundred percent correct that the positioning of the accessibility stage in this kind of open hallway area, in and around the expo halls and and the other breakout rooms for sessions, it it was drawing in people who typically do not go watch or sit in on an accessibility uh session or an aging session. And so that uh we need to do more of that as an industry. We need to be getting out and and educating and creating awareness for the people who who um who aren't the believers yet, right? Like the the the you know, when you go to go to some of these other conferences and and I just saw you at one of them last week, it it's the believers tend to show up at those, right? The people who who already get it and and um and that's great, and it's wonderful to to be with the community, but I think all of us need to make an uh make a conscious effort to get out to kind of non-accessibility, disability, age tech events and conferences and and preach the word, get on the soapbox and and preach the word. But you you certainly pull in people, um, no doubt, throughout those three days. I mean, the two days that I was there for the accessibility stage last year, I mean, it was literally standing room only for every session. It was awesome. It was awesome. That's super, that's super exciting. And then as we wrap up here, anything else that's and not that there needs to be, because it's all there's so much going on. I don't know how how you're you and your team are pulling this up, but is there anything else that people should be aware about um for CES this coming year as it relates to accessibility and and aging?

Accessibility Roundtable & Networking Reception

Steve Ewell 31:09

Yeah, I mean, really in addition to what we've talked about, um, you know, we will have uh our accessibility roundtable uh once again. And this year, CES's dates are they're shifted a little bit. So it's still the day before the show floor opens. This year it'll be Tuesday instead of Monday. But um, that has been growing from, you know, years ago, it was about a dozen people from the disability community and industry talking about how, you know, what's working, what's not. Last year we had over 180 people in that room. Um, so this year, honestly, our biggest limitation is just enough space for everyone. But it would not shock me if we crossed the 200 threshold uh on that. Um, so hopefully we don't have people sitting on each other's laps in that room. But uh, you know, the good news is

Chris Maher 31:58

It was it was it was great. I mean, Steve, you do see first of all, like thank you again for being such an amazing champion for our space and our community. And and what you do so well is creating environments that bring people together so we can all meet each other, interact, engage, figure out ways to collaborate and partner with each other. And so so thank you so much for that. And that round table certainly creates that sort of environment. Um, yeah, I'm not surprised that that you're kind of busting out of the seams here and your limitation is the space. It's not it's not if there's interest, it's how many people you can that you can um the capacity of the of the physical space.

Steve Ewell 32:42

Well, and you said it perfectly. My main goal is to have people meet each other, have people connect. Um, you know, last year we did uh a little bit of an experiment of having people record quick videos um and be able to um, you know, introduce their themselves to the group uh beforehand. And actually it was great. I was able to use one of our previous Eureka Park winners, uh Sign-Speak to help translate some of the uh sign language uh videos into English for those of us that are not as good at uh doing ASL as others. So, you know, once again, trying to use our industry's technologies um in uh these types of uh programs. So yeah, that'll be back and continuing to grow. We're gonna have a whole reception that's wide open to CES uh attendees uh right after it. Um so you know, and it's actually now one of the top five biggest receptions at CES, uh focused on accessibility. Well, it's one of the top five biggest receptions at CES, and it is focused on the accessibility and age tech uh community. So, you know, we're really excited uh to have that back. And once again, it is yes, there's a lot of great conferences that are focused on accessibility, focused on aging. And you know, you and I see each other uh at these a lot, but those are great opportunities to network with the community. I really see CES as how do we pull people in who are never going to go to those other conferences and not turn them into experts overnight, but at least getting them to start thinking about some of these issues. And, you know, if you look at the yeah, 150,000 people who come to CES, you know, a couple thousand probably think about accessibility on a regular basis. So how do we continue to grow

Wrap Up & Links

Steve Ewell 34:23

those numbers?

Chris Maher 34:23

Yep. I I think perfect, perfectly well said, and I think it's a great, a great spot to end on. We will put links to all the stuff we talked about into the show notes and for how people can get in touch with you and your team and apply for all these wonderful opportunities. Um but Steve, thank thank you for joining us again for a second time, and thank you for all the work that you and your team are doing and uh looking forward to seeing you at uh at CES in January.

Steve Ewell 34:47

Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me back, and I can't wait to see you and Kelvin uh again soon.

Chris Maher 34:53

Thanks.

Kelvin Crosby 34:54

That wraps up Investing in Accessibility, as I always say, go live beyond your challenges, and I'll see you in two weeks. Thank you for listening to Investing in Accessibility, a Samaritan Partners podcast, where we invest in change for accessibility, not wait for change. If you want to follow us, you can find us on YouTube or LinkedIn at @Samaritan Partners. If you would like to invest in Samaritan Partners, email Chris at chris@SamaritanPartners.com. If you'd like to learn more about us, go to www.samaritanpartners.com. You can take the first step in investing in change by giving us five stars and sharing this podcast with everybody that you know so we can spread the word so that we can give access to all by Investing in Accessibility.