uProfile August 2025 - UMBRAAD

UMBRAAD 2025 group picture

“Design for the edges, get the centre for free.”

This quote from Max Marulli was just one of many memorable takeaways from this year’s UMBRAAD - an all-day, virtual conference dedicated to accessibility, organized by passionate members of the Umbraco community.

Most of the sessions were recorded and are now available on the Umbraco Community YouTube channel. If you weren’t among the 100+ attendees who joined live, the UMBRAAD playlist is your gateway to the valuable insights and practical knowledge shared by this year's wonderful speakers.

While Umbraco HQ provided the tech infrastructure and some promotional support, the rest was driven entirely by the organizers. It’s a remarkable effort - and we want to shine a light on the people behind it, and showcase some of the important work they’re doing to champion digital accessibility.

In this blog post, you’ll hear directly from the UMBRAAD organizers as they share - in their own words - what it was like to plan, prepare, and bring this event to life.

Who is UMBRAAD organized by?

In the following, the organizers behind UMBRAAD share a little bit about themselves - including how long they've been contributing to the Umbraco community.

Why UMBRAAD?

UMBRAAD was created to help the Umbraco community build more accessible and inclusive digital experiences. Rachel and Mike expand on the topic:

Rachel: "We wanted to bring together the community to share knowledge and show it was possible to build accessible and inclusive sites with Umbraco. As for the name, the Umbraco Community (which is not a cult) has developed a habit of prefixing things with 'Umb', so we wanted to merge that with GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day), and Umbaad didn’t quite work."

Mike: "In addition to what Rachel said, the original event was created by the Umbraco Accessibility Community Team to help raise more awareness about accessibility within the Umbraco community, and it’s been a joy to see the topic gain more and more recognition since then."

The UMBRAAD logo

How do you organize the event as a team?

Jonny: "We organise UMBRAAD as a global team of highly skilled volunteers from the Umbraco Accessibility Guild. We leverage our diverse expertise and the tools provided by Umbraco HQ. Our team brings a wide range of talents, including organisation, planning, marketing, and subject matter expertise, but most importantly, a shared enthusiasm and a drive to get things done.

Because we're scattered across the globe, all our planning and collaboration happen virtually, primarily through Zoom meetings and Miro boards. The guild meets monthly, and as the event nears, we ramp up our meetings to divide tasks and collaborate closely.

Each of us volunteers for specific roles, from marketing and copywriting to project planning, website creation, and designing the fireside chats. We also handle the technical side, like managing Sessionize, thoroughly testing the event technology, and making sure our speakers are comfortable with it. This meticulous, behind-the-scenes effort is what makes everything look effortless on the day.

On the day of the event, our facilitators, chat moderators, and all other team members have clear timings and responsibilities. This ensures we can get out of the speakers' way and let them shine, as they're the main attraction. It's important to remember that everyone involved in organising UMBRAAD contributes their time and skills voluntarily, balancing these efforts with their full-time jobs."

How do you find your speakers?

Speakers for UMBRAAD are selected through a blind submission process using Sessionize - a platform that supports free community events and helps speakers build a portfolio of talks. By hiding personal details, the team focuses solely on the content and quality of submissions, ensuring a fair and inclusive selection. Mike and Rachel expand on how they find speakers for the event:

Mike: "We use Sessionize to do an anonymous request for speakers. This means all the speaker's details are obfuscated and we only focus on the submission contents. Depending on the number of submissions we get, we may also reach out within our networks for additional subject matter experts who may like to speak or join us on a panel."

Rachel: "We use Sessionize for a request for speakers, as well as being free for free community events, it allows speakers on Sessionize to build up a portfolio of talks which they can use to evidence how they support the community. Sessionize has some handy tools for building out a schedule. As Mike says we obfuscate the speaker's details to enable us to focus on the contents of the sessions."

How do you promote the event?

Blake: "Social media was the main driver in promoting the event. Using linkedin and some other socials the team helped to spread the word about the event."

How do you prepare to moderate a panel  (aka “fireside chat”) session?

The UMBRAAD team selected a fireside chat format to foster a warm, informal setting that invited storytelling and candid dialogue over scripted presentations. In the following, the team members expand on how they prepare to moderate a fireside chat and why this format works so well for UMBRAAD:

All: "When preparing to moderate a fireside chat, we started by thinking about why the format works: it creates a relaxed, conversational space that encourages openness and storytelling. This is especially valuable when discussing topics like accessibility, where lived experience and leadership insight really matter.

For our session, we chose the fireside chat format to foster a more human, less formal environment that allowed panellists to share honest reflections rather than rely on prepared slides. Our preparation involved aligning on a theme, developing open-ended starter questions, and connecting with panellists ahead of time to understand their perspectives and comfort zones. We also created a loose structure to guide the flow – starting with context, moving through key themes, and keeping an eye on timing to ensure everyone had space to contribute.

The experience was incredibly rewarding, particularly in deepening our understanding of neurodiversity and the role of leadership in driving inclusion. As moderators, it was important to listen actively, gently steer the conversation when needed, and create room for quieter voices to be heard."

"Fireside Chat - Accessibility from the top down" - one of the excellent videos from the UMBRAAD 2025 playlist.

Is there anything you’d do differently next time?

Mike: "Give ourselves more time to plan. Whilst we made it work with the 2 months we had, not having to rush would be better! Thankfully we had a lot of infrastructure that we could reuse."

Matt: "Get more user feedback. While we had lots of great anecdotal feedback about the event, we forgot to send out a user survey, which we had done in previous years. These are great for informing on how we can improve for next year's event."

Rachel: "Plan the promotion a bit better, giving us more time to do a request for speakers and then promote the speakers."

Jonny: "Create a playbook to help with planning."

Danny: "I’d allow for a little more space between sessions. The content was rich and thought-provoking, and some breathing room would help people absorb and reflect."

Any advice for anyone contemplating starting a new virtual event?

Blake: "Start earlier than you think with planning the schedule of when to take actions, open the call for speakers early, this is a huge tool in promoting the event once you have speakers confirmed."

Mike: "If you can, choose tools that are inclusive and accessible. Don’t worry about the event being a bit scrappy to begin with too. You will learn a lot from your first event, which you will carry to the next one, and this will never stop happening."

Rachel: "Offer a tech check to all speakers, it's a lovely way to meet them, it also gives them a chance to test screen sharing and any audio/ video requirements."

Jonny: "Do it, it’s great fun. And don’t forget to enjoy it."

Danny: "Keep the purpose clear, bring together a team you trust, and don’t aim for perfection - creating a welcoming, meaningful experience matters more than something polished!"

How can the Umbraco community help with the next UMBRAAD - assuming there will be one?

Blake: "I think there is potential for the community to get involved with helping to promote the event on their social media platforms, encourage speakers or become a speaker themselves. On event day, the chat can be monitored for questions to gather them for the Q&A sessions, and there are opportunities to moderate discussions topics or participate in them too."

Jonny: "Agree with Blake. Help us promote it, word of mouth, and reposting, commenting, etc makes a huge difference. And come along and engage in the discussion, even if you can’t make the whole day, just pop in."

Danny: "We’d absolutely love to do another. The community could help by sharing ideas, highlighting challenges and opportunities worth exploring, or getting involved (whether that’s speaking, supporting, or simply spreading the good word)!"

Mike: "Let us know how the Accessibility Guild and UMBRAAD can better support your accessibility journey. Accessibility is a broad topic that touches every part of our community and every stage of your process, from discovery to build, both internally and externally. We want to help you!"

Is there someone you'd like to nominate for a uProfile?

Do you know someone who deserves a spotlight on their Umbraco journey? To nominate a friend, peer, or colleague, reach out to Mathilde Høst in the DevRel Team at community@umbraco.com and explain why!