SIGHT AND SOUND TECHNOLOGY

PODCAST EPISODE 71

Stuart Lawler: Hello and welcome in to the Sight and Sound Technology podcast. It’s great to be back with you. It’s been a little while. My name is Stuart Lawler and this is episode number 71.

Stuart Lawler: podcast@sightandsound.co.uk is the email address. We always love to hear from you and if the sound is a little different this time round, that’s because we have some new equipment in our podcast studio. I hope it sounds okay but if it doesn’t, you know how to get in touch. Now, coming up today, we’re preparing for Sight Village. There’s some offers coming along. And Stefanie Davies, our head of sales and marketing is along to tell me all about it. Stay right where you are.

Stuart Lawler: But before we bring Stefanie in, and we will do that in just a moment, as I said, pocast@sightandsound.co.uk, it’s that all important email address, always love to get feedback from our listeners in relation to the podcast. It’s been a while since we were with you, because there was one or two shows we were trying to record in May that didn’t materialise but we’ve had a few really interesting webinars, if you follow our webinar Wednesday mailing list. We had a really great session to celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day with our friends from BATA, that’s the British Assistive Technology Association, and Richard Holmes and our good friend, Josh O’Connor from InterAccess over here in Ireland. And then at the beginning of June, well, Matthew Horspool, who is a power JAWS user, a freelance trainer, and, of course, I think Matthew is very well known because he wears a very, very prominent hat with the Braillists as well, well, Matthew did a really great presentation, talking all about some of the advanced features in JAWS. If you haven’t come across that yet, it’s on our YouTube channel. Definitely worth having a listen to. Now, let’s bring in Stefanie Davies and hear what’s happening at Sight Village Central.

Stuart Lawler: Well, at time of recording, we’re just over a month away from Sight Village Central, which, I suppose, is the premier assistive technology exhibition in the UK. Many of us have memories, I think, of attending Sight Villages for many years. We’re back in Birmingham this year in a new location and, of course, we talked to Paul Hopkins on the show a little while ago, actually I think it was the last podcast we did. But delighted to be joined today by our head of sales and marketing, Stefanie Davies. Stefanie, you’ve been with us before, but welcome back again.

Stefanie Davies: Hi, Stuart.

Stuart Lawler: Now, are you excited about Sight Village first of all?

Stefanie Davies: We are, yes. We’ve got an amazing collection of offers. Last week, week one on the six week run-up to Sight Village, we launched our countdown to remind everyone that it’s happening and it’s the place to be. We announced some information about some of our exclusive partners as well as six weeks of Sight Village Savers. This is quite an unique proposition we’ve got. We’ve got such a big selection now of offers, unique products, that we really want to shout about and for those that can be with us in Birmingham, it will be fantastic. Come in and see us all on the stand. For those that can’t, then the offers will be available on the 17th July, which is kick-off day, day one of the show and they’ll be available over the telephone, calling in to our sales team, but also on our website. We want it to be available to everyone. If you can’t be with us in Birmingham, then you can still take advantage of the offers.

Stuart Lawler: Okay. So, as you said, the show this year is on the 17th and 18th of July, Monday and Tuesday, kicking us off that week, there’ll be a whole range of offers. Now, you’re not going to tell us everything on this show. We want people to tune in and keep an eye on our social media, etc, but give us a sense, if you can, of some of the offers that people can expect from the 17th onwards.

Stefanie Davies: Sure. We launched last week and it’s been on our social media, so those of you who have subscribed to our newsletter will have seen this, or those who subscribe to our social media channels, it was a great offer. Kapsys who manufacture the MiniVision 2 and the SmartVision 3 phones, fabulous, phones, we’re offering 10% off those phones. Launching today, week two, was 10% off Envision glasses, which is the first of its type on which we’ve run a discount, in partnership with Envision. It’s a great way of purchasing some of the latest technology and making a bit of a saving at the same time.

Stuart Lawler: Two really popular products there. You have the mobile phones, you have wearable tech. Everyone’s talking about Envision. I know there will be other offers. There’s something coming next week, is that right?

Stefanie Davies: There is. I’m not going to divulge what it is. We want you to sign up to our newsletter, obviously keep an eye on our social media channels. It will be around braille solutions, so I can give you an overview, but within that is some great products. So, it’s not just one product next week, it will be a couple of products with discounts, that will be live from the 17th. All I can say is that these are limited time only offers, so if you want to take advantage, you’ve got to snap them up quick, because they will not be running indefinitely. They are for the show and a short period of time afterwards. So, if you are interested in getting your hands on any of these items, then you need to take advantage of these discounts when they go live.

Stuart Lawler: Alright. More coming on braille and other things in the next few podcasts as well.

Stefanie Davies: We have some great promotions on software, so Vispero, specialist ZoomText JAWS software, so that’s one to keep an eye out for. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say about these side rooms, for people that aren’t aware of the new venue in Birmingham, it’s very accessible and it’s actually attached to the Aloft Birmingham hotel. So, if you wanted to come to the show and stay over, the hotel is actually directly attached to the venue, which, for many of us, that makes it just a little bit easier. You haven’t got to travel further afield to stay somewhere. The venue is also very accessible. It’s all on one floor, it’s one big open space, so the whole show will take place in one big room, which is very bright and airy, lots of room for guide dogs obviously and visitors. We will be there and you will be there with me, Stuart.

Stuart Lawler: I will. We’ll be doing some podcasting from there. Here in Ireland and I think in the UK as well, it’s very warm and I’m hoping it won’t be quite that warm for Sight Village.

Stefanie Davies: Well, it’s got air conditioning. It’s a new venue, high ceilings. We’ll insist the air conditioning is turned on. Also, we’re very fortunate as the headline sponsors, we’re going to have an education zone in the foyer, so for visitors to the show, we’re showcasing some of our education solutions. We’ve got quite an abundance of options there that I don’t always think people realise exist. So, you can come and see our education zone and be able to see Sharon, based over in Ireland, who’ll be coming across with you, Stuart.

Stuart Lawler: Yes, we’ll have loads of staff there. Stefanie, just before we let you go, I suppose there’s maybe two things worth saying. First of all, people are reading about all these offers that are on, different pieces of hardware, there’ll be software as well as we go through the six weeks, but it’s a great time to come to a show like that, meet our sales team and some of our other colleagues and just get this stuff into your hands, but the other thing I’d just like to touch on for a moment is the seminars. There will be opportunities during the two days to get a bit more of an in-depth look at something.

Stefanie Davies: Yes, there are seminars from other people within the sector, but we will also be facilitating four seminars each day with our key partners and there’ll be an Envision glasses seminar. There’ll be a WeWALK seminar. We’re just finalising our schedule but certainly it’s a great opportunity to sit down for 20 minutes and have a bit more of an in-depth understanding of a particular solution and then come to us on the stand and, as Stuart explained, either see, feel, have a go and talk to our team as well as some of our key partners who are flying in internationally to support us and be there in person. It’s a really good opportunity to come along and even for those that don’t live locally, it is worth the travel. It’s the premier event in the UK. There’s nothing as big as Birmingham Central Sight Village, so it’s an opportunity not to be missed.

Stuart Lawler: I’m really looking forward to it, Stefanie. It’s always a really busy event, but a really great event, so thanks for coming on, looking forward to catching up with you as well when we get over, but for the moment, take care and we’ll talk to you very soon on the show. Thanks a mill.

Stefanie Davies: We will. Thanks, Stuart.

Stuart Lawler: Many thanks to Stefanie Davies there, always enjoy catching up with Stefanie. She’s a busy lady at the moment, getting all our show material ready and Stefanie reminds me of the opening times, by the way, of Sight Village: 10am to 4pm on Monday, 17th July, and 9:30am to 3pm on Tuesday, 18th July. I can’t wait to get over there. We’re dying to see everybody. More on that very shortly, but for now, from Stuart Lawler and everybody at Sight and Sound Technology, take care, thanks for listening and talk to you soon. Bye, bye.