The National Association of the Deaf’s 58th Biennial Conference in San Francisco (NAD SF26) welcomed 1,100 members to celebrate the “resurrection” of decades of Deaf Media history. To honor the community’s needs, NAD decided to coordinate all content, participant data, communications, CEU-tracking, captioning systems and live ASL production through one custom-designed broadcast layer built around accessibility. They trusted Encore to integrate and manage this prototype Access Conference Broadcast Layer and create an inclusive live production environment across multiple venues.
Amplifying Accessibility at National Association of the Deaf’s Biennial Conference
Objective
“Encore, our production vendor at the Hilton, met an unusual ask with unusual generosity. When we proposed driving the room from a live, browser-rendered graphics layer — not a stack of pre-baked slides, but HTML rendering in real time — the answer was simply that they could ingest whatever signal we sent, key our lower thirds either way, and had the equipment and crew in the room to run it.”
Robert McConnell
President, Deaf in Government
Solution
Deaf participants’ needs informed all elements of the production design, from bright, legible LED displays and a custom-designed vibrotactile subwoofer rig to well-lit signing stages and high-definition LED walls. Connected to state-of-the-art production equipment, NAD’s archival videos became the centerpiece of a dynamic, onstage broadcast environment proactively managed by Encore. By utilizing the latest immersive event technology to weave historic broadcasts into the fabric of the event, Encore helped the community grasp the historic relevance of their work, inspiring participants to resurrect their commitment to blaze new trails. The result: A friction-free, fully accessible, deaf-centric experience with high production value that reinforced the impact and importance of NAD’s rich media legacy.
“Encore turned ‘can you ingest a live browser feed?’ into ‘send us the link’ — working our content system in real time like it was [their] own. The questions their crew raised at load-in were exactly the right ones. A broadcast layer this ambitious needs a floor team willing to treat it as a partner rather than a problem, and that is what we had.”
Robert McConnell
President, Deaf in Government
Services Provided
- Event Production & Management
- Custom Stage Design & Build
- Creative Services
- Show Management Support
- Event Technology
- Rigging