Rachel Madel & Chris Bugaj: ATIA 2025 Recap
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What made the ATIA 2025 pre‑conference experience unique for attendees?
Welcome to Talking with Tech. I'm your host Rachel Madle. Joined as always by Chris Bouguet. Chris, we have a special episode today.
We do, we do, we do. It's one of my favorite ones where we always get together and we chat about our experiences at the Assistive Technology Industry Association conference that took place earlier this year. Um, where you and I go, we get to pal around, spend some time together. We stayed together at a um Like this apartment thing that was super awesome. Um, and then we went to the conference. We did our pre-conference, and I mean uh there's a bunch of stuff to react to. You had to leave early, so you didn't get to stay as long as you as you'd like. Um and we missed you in those those uh those final days. But um this is that moment we're gonna share some of our takeaways.
Yes, I was so sad to leave early, but I was going to hang out with um so my brother, my twin brother is getting married and his Wife to be his fiance uh had a bachelorette weekend in Florida. And so I was like, this is literally could not be more perfect. She sent me the dates, she said it's gonna be in Florida, and I said, You won't believe this. I'm gonna be in Florida that weekend. Um but it didn't mean that I had to leave HA early, which was really sad, but I did get in to enjoy some of the fun.
Oh, that's that's awesome. I'm glad you had fun. But we did miss you. Um, but the time we did get to spend together, we started off uh with our pre conference. So we've been doing the pre conference for several years now. We had the largest turnout ever, right? Than than we ever we've ever had before.
It was it was a lot. There was a lot of people. We kept seeing like the numbers keep ticking up and I was like Wow, this is amazing.
Uh something different that they did this year at ATIA is they had us do a day and a half. So you spend an entire day and then, you know, do whatever that night and then come back for another half day. And then I think the conference started that day. So you leave your pre-conference and the conference sort of starts in the afternoon, right? Um and so that was a different format for people. And w taking a peek at our evaluation feedback, um, it was so interesting. one person said, yeah, 1.5 days is at the beginning of a conference is just too much. Another person said, we could have used two full days.
I know it is really funny when you read the feedback 'cause it's like sometimes things are in direct opposition. Um, but it just everyone has their own experience and we appreciate the feedback because that helps us do better at what we do.
Yeah. Some of the other feedback that we got was um, you know, uh our sessions are designed around having um conversations about topics. Um and so that people really appreciated that. The conversations and questions asked by participants was one of our favorite parts. The way the presenters took the time to answer them and we could collaborate with other professionals in the room was awesome. There was great discussions with the presentations and the other attendees. The content and resources were awesome. And people said they appreciated some new takeaways, including how to teach grammar, like the concept of core themes, thinking about uh client and AACE user perspectives and getting their um insights on making informed decisions.
Uh the least dangerous assumption, people specifically called it. out. Um, and they loved, absolutely loved the coaching portion, um, where, you know, you we did this demo and talked about uh, you know, what that was like. And so overall, really positive feedback.
Yeah, I always feel like Chris one day isn't enough to go through all the content. We're always kind of rushing at the end and during our lunch break figuring out like what are we gonna cut because we didn't have enough time and so I really loved having the extra kind of half day.
How did the extended 1.5‑day pre‑conference format impact learning and community building?
Um it was so great and I feel like we actually got to really dive into coaching and that is something that sometimes we have to Not fully dive into. And so it was such a great, such a great pre-conference.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What made the ATIA 2025 pre‑conference experience unique for attendees?
0:08–3:49
2
How did the extended 1.5‑day pre‑conference format impact learning and community building?
3:49–8:06
3
Which generative‑AI tools were highlighted at ATIA 2025 and how could they change AAC practice?
8:06–14:12
4
What did the Microsoft session reveal about new AI‑driven accessibility features?
14:12–20:45
5
How do Flex Speak and Symbol Creator AI expand multilingual and custom symbol options for AAC users?
20:45–26:49
6
What insights emerged from the policy session on using personal stories to influence assistive‑technology funding?
26:49–32:50
7
How did the ATIA Assistive‑Technology Feud foster collaboration and learning among participants?
32:50–38:40
8
What key takeaways about advocacy, community, and emerging tech did Rachel and Chris share at the episode’s close?
38:40–42:10
Speakers
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