At On Site, one of the things we really value about working with ESSAE is the chance to not just support events, but make them better for everyone attending. That includes finding ways to make sessions more accessible and easier to follow.

For ESSAE’s TripleM event this year, we used assisted captioning for the general session. The goal was pretty simple. Make sure people can follow along in real time, regardless of how they prefer to take in information. 

Getting started with this wasn’t about finding one perfect platform, because that doesn’t really exist. There are a lot of options out there now, and they all do some things well and other things not as well. Some are faster but a little less accurate. Others are more accurate but introduce a slight delay. So it really comes down to what matters most for that specific event.

For us, we looked at a few main things. Accuracy in a live environment, especially with industry specific language. Speed of the captions showing up. How easily it fits into our existing AV setup. And overall reliability over the course of a full session or full day.

One thing that became clear pretty quickly is that there is no one size fits all answer. Every speaker and every setup is a little different. Audio quality, mic usage, and even internet stability can all affect how well these tools perform. So a big part of it is just staying flexible and continuing to adjust as needed.

At the end of the day, this is really about inclusivity. It helps attendees who may have difficulty with hearing, supports people who may not be native English speakers, and honestly just helps anyone who benefits from seeing and hearing the content at the same time.

We’ve been able to explore and implement things like this because of our relationship with ESSAE. They’ve been open to trying new ideas, which gives us the ability to test, learn, and improve as we go.

We’re always happy to support ESSAE events and bring in technology that improves the overall experience. This is just one example, and we’re looking forward to continuing to build on it for future events.

-DJ McKeon

Region Director of Venue Services

ON Site AV

Main: 470.558.1762 | Mobile: 518.441.2122
ONservices.com | #ALWAYSON
 [email protected]