Case Study: CSIRO saved $7000 in a conference with Sunflower AI

Outcome

• Saved $5000 on the live captioning fees for one conference
• Elevated event accessibility standard for hearing loss audiences
• Increased overall audience engagement

Introduction

CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research organisations in the world.

They organises and participates in numerous events and conferences throughout every year. Especially, they were going to held the ON Core on December 7, 2023. This was an innovation festival and networking event held in Sydney with over 200 participants.

To host events, there are many issues to consider and arrange, especially to meet event accessibility requirements for disabled people.

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Event accessibility requirement for disabled people

In most countries, there are legal frameworks about event accessibility requirements, aiming to ensure that people with disabilities can fully participate in events. In Australia, The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 requires events to be accessible to people with disabilities. In United States, The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates accessibility for public events.

Here are some key points about accessibility requirements in most countries:

1. Physical accessibility:
   • Venues must have wheelchair-accessible entrances, lifts, ramps, and toilets.
   • Clear paths of travel should be provided both outside and within the venue.
2. Communication accessibility:
   • Auslan (Australian Sign Language) interpreters may be required for Deaf participants.
   • Live captioning should be available for people who are hard of hearing.
   • Materials should be available in accessible formats (e.g., large print, Braille, electronic).
3. Registration and information:
   • Event invitations should include an opportunity for participants to inform organizers of any accessibility requirements.
   • Accessible transport information should be provided.
4. Catering: Ensure dietary requirements are accommodated and that food service is accessible.
5. Staff training: Event staff should receive disability awareness training.
6. Reasonable accommodations: Events must provide reasonable accommodations when requested, unless doing so would cause undue hardship.

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Hearing Loss audience asked for hearing assistance

Laura, the Marketing Communications Manager at CSIRO, was preparing for the conference. Three weeks before the event, a member of the audience with hearing loss contacted her to ask if any hearing assistance would be provided and if he could sit in the front row to better follow the event. For people with hearing loss, it can be challenging to follow in-person events without captioning.

Laura needed to find a live captioning solution to meet the event’s accessibility requirements for attendees with hearing impairments. In previous events, they had worked with human captioners to provide live captioning. While human captioners offer advantages such as higher accuracy, better handling of context, error correction, and compliance, they also come with drawbacks. These include significantly higher costs, limited availability, and the need for advance planning and coordination.

For instance, hiring live captioners for a one-day event with two simultaneous sessions would cost $8,000 AUD. Laura was actively searching for a more sustainable and functional live captioning solution.

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Finding Sunflower AI

A CSIRO staff member at the S2S Summit 2023 was so impressed by Sunflower AI’s customizable, AI-based live captioning solution that they introduced Sunflower AI to Laura. After speaking with Sunflower AI, Laura realized it was exactly what she had been searching for: an accurate, affordable, and user-friendly software solution to provide real-time captioning for the On Core event.

To ensure everything ran smoothly, the Sunflower AI team met with the event's AV team a day before the event. The AV team quickly learned how to enable the Sunflower AI web app for the event and were delighted with how easy it was to set up—no hardware required, no need to install anything.

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A fully engaging conference

The live captioning ran smoothly throughout both the rehearsal and the event day. Audiences were amazed by the speed and accuracy of the captions. People with hearing loss, as well as those for whom English is a second language, were able to fully follow and engage with the event. By using Sunflower AI's live captioning, Laura saved $7,000 on captioning costs and significantly improved the overall accessibility of the conference.

Due to the high costs and complex setup of traditional live captioning solutions, many attendees had never experienced live captioning at an in-person event before. For most, it was their first time seeing how AI can truly assist people in everyday life.

“Sunflower AI were great at providing on-the-spot, accurate captions that enriched the overall event experience of ON Core. I am happy to recommend Sunflower AI to anyone in the events space seeking to elevate their accessibility standards”, said Laura after the event.

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Hosting your conference and need live captioning?

Try our live captioning now: https://www.sunflowerai.io/

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