WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.200 Hi, everyone. Welcome back to Collaboration Simplified, 00:00:03.220 --> 00:00:06.480 our podcast series. And today I have a very special 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:10.820 guest, Sue Venso from Microsoft, who is also 00:00:10.820 --> 00:00:14.220 a co -pilot solutions engineer. And Sue, why 00:00:14.220 --> 00:00:16.399 don't you just introduce yourself and let everyone 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:19.000 know who you are, where you are, what do you 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.940 do at Microsoft, and we'll go from there. Sure. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:25.679 I'm just so excited to be here. I'm usually a 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:28.280 listener, so I feel like I'm a first -time caller 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:31.879 and a first -time attendee here. Thanks for having 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:35.399 me, Shervin. My name is Susan Vensel. Everyone 00:00:35.399 --> 00:00:37.920 calls me Sue. And I've been here at Microsoft. 00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:43.039 This month, 20 days, will be my fifth anniversary. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:47.539 So time has really flown by. And like you, I 00:00:47.539 --> 00:00:50.359 came here from Cisco. For me, it was over 19 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:55.539 years. I was there a long time. And when I showed 00:00:55.539 --> 00:00:59.740 up here at Microsoft, I started off at SPS. And 00:00:59.740 --> 00:01:02.079 every year, Shervin, you know, there's a change 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:06.519 for us. And now for this fiscal year, we are 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:10.239 really dedicated to co -pilot, Microsoft M365 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:14.280 co -pilot. So I live, eat, and breathe Copilot 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:17.900 and AI and all that exciting stuff that's going 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:20.920 on. And then, of course, here at Microsoft, we 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:23.540 pick up a couple side projects. And, you know, 00:01:23.620 --> 00:01:26.700 we always go, we have extracurricular activities 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:29.939 here at Microsoft. You know, they stretch us 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:32.719 all the time. So I know that we're going to talk 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:35.420 about accessibility. And that's when I got involved 00:01:35.420 --> 00:01:37.900 with accessibility was here at Microsoft. That's 00:01:37.900 --> 00:01:41.159 great. You're right. They do stretch us. One 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:44.019 of the mantras here is growth mindset, which 00:01:44.019 --> 00:01:46.959 I think every company obviously has it, especially 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:50.019 in tech, because things are always changing and 00:01:50.019 --> 00:01:53.359 you have to have that type of a mindset. So whether 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:56.620 it's Microsoft or our time at Cisco, which I 00:01:56.620 --> 00:01:59.120 didn't remember that you were there 19 years. 00:01:59.239 --> 00:02:04.239 I joined Cisco in 2005. So I was there like 15, 00:02:04.299 --> 00:02:07.810 16 years before. coming to Microsoft in 2020. 00:02:08.930 --> 00:02:12.349 Yeah, that was a good run. We had a good run 00:02:12.349 --> 00:02:16.389 there. Oh, the early 2000s especially. Oh, gosh. 00:02:16.689 --> 00:02:19.669 Yeah. That was fun, for sure. Yeah, that was 00:02:19.669 --> 00:02:24.849 super fun. And now, you know, it's funny because 00:02:24.849 --> 00:02:28.689 I tell people I've actually been doing a very 00:02:28.689 --> 00:02:31.750 similar role, and I just generally call it technical 00:02:31.750 --> 00:02:35.590 sales as the umbrella term. And under that umbrella 00:02:35.590 --> 00:02:38.569 term, I've had so many different titles, right? 00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:41.509 A lot of them at Cisco, like systems engineer, 00:02:41.870 --> 00:02:45.330 solutions engineer, consulting systems engineer, 00:02:45.509 --> 00:02:48.229 technical solutions architect, technical specialist. 00:02:48.370 --> 00:02:50.210 And I'm like, I don't care what you call me, 00:02:50.270 --> 00:02:53.310 but they're all just technical sales. That's 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:56.710 right. I agree. And so you've been doing this 00:02:56.710 --> 00:02:59.310 a while too, or have you had actually legit different 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:02.590 roles? Yeah, I would say I've been in technical 00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:10.969 sales since 2000. I started working for Cisco. 00:03:11.229 --> 00:03:13.330 I would actually sprint. And then I was working 00:03:13.330 --> 00:03:16.550 for a Cisco partner. And then from there, I went 00:03:16.550 --> 00:03:20.229 to Cisco and then here. So, yeah, and I love 00:03:20.229 --> 00:03:23.889 it. I studied hotel resort management. I had 00:03:23.889 --> 00:03:25.889 no idea this is where I was going to end up, 00:03:25.889 --> 00:03:29.250 but I love it. That's great. And, you know, I 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:32.469 always find it so interesting, like the career 00:03:32.469 --> 00:03:35.289 paths that people have into this line of work. 00:03:35.409 --> 00:03:38.169 And so you said hotel resort management. And 00:03:38.169 --> 00:03:41.189 the other day I met somebody who studied biology 00:03:41.189 --> 00:03:45.030 and is like doing some really great coding in 00:03:45.030 --> 00:03:48.590 VS Code and Copilot Studio. And I was like, man, 00:03:48.610 --> 00:03:51.930 like biology to this or hotel resort management 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:55.030 to this. Like, that's awesome. That just shows 00:03:55.030 --> 00:03:57.629 how smart you are. I don't know about that, Shervin, 00:03:57.710 --> 00:04:02.430 but thanks. Yeah. No, that's awesome. And the 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:04.770 other thing on the career side, real quick, is 00:04:04.770 --> 00:04:07.389 the other part that I tell people is like, yeah, 00:04:07.430 --> 00:04:10.150 my job itself hasn't changed that much, but the 00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:13.150 technology has changed a tremendous amount, you 00:04:13.150 --> 00:04:16.550 know? Yes. And so talking about that, the technology 00:04:16.550 --> 00:04:19.509 side, you know, and you mentioned both you and 00:04:19.509 --> 00:04:22.589 I are focused on Copilot. But before we even 00:04:22.589 --> 00:04:27.160 dive into that, Let's talk about that extracurricular 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:29.360 activity you mentioned, which is accessibility 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:33.439 and kind of like how you got into it and what 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:35.540 are some of the things that you do around it 00:04:35.540 --> 00:04:39.560 with people and projects and tools. So maybe 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:43.660 just expand on that. Sure. When I first arrived, 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.360 one of my required trainings was the accessibility 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:50.439 in action, and it was a badge. And it was just 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:52.399 one of those courses, you know, most people will 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:54.180 probably hit next, next, next, whatever, you 00:04:54.180 --> 00:04:58.050 know. check that box. But it changed me. And 00:04:58.050 --> 00:05:01.389 the culture, I just, I spent the first six months 00:05:01.389 --> 00:05:03.709 here just soaking up the culture here at Microsoft, 00:05:03.769 --> 00:05:06.730 because it's also not just the growth mindset, 00:05:06.889 --> 00:05:09.870 but it's also the learn it all attitude that 00:05:09.870 --> 00:05:14.290 people have here. And so one of the things that 00:05:14.290 --> 00:05:17.069 I really jumped on after taking that required 00:05:17.069 --> 00:05:21.389 training was accessibility, because I didn't 00:05:21.389 --> 00:05:23.149 mention this, but I'm in health life sciences. 00:05:24.300 --> 00:05:27.379 So when it comes to accessibility, I used to 00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:29.540 use the term accommodations. Well, I'll talk 00:05:29.540 --> 00:05:33.079 about that later. But when it comes to like kind 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:35.939 of making sure everyone has the opportunity to 00:05:35.939 --> 00:05:38.259 make a difference, you know, because someone 00:05:38.259 --> 00:05:43.160 can't type or because they have low vision, shouldn't. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:45.120 They shouldn't be held back because of that. 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:49.100 And technology has evolved so much to to not 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:51.779 only level the playing field, but like Microsoft 00:05:51.779 --> 00:05:57.199 has tapped in to unbelievable talent, especially 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:00.019 in the coding world, especially on our Xbox side. 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:02.439 You know, people that just really weren't able 00:06:02.439 --> 00:06:08.209 to to to. do the jobs the way other people are 00:06:08.209 --> 00:06:10.290 able to do their jobs. But now with technology, 00:06:10.569 --> 00:06:12.850 they are able to do that. And I'll give you some 00:06:12.850 --> 00:06:16.649 of these examples here in a bit. But I saw this 00:06:16.649 --> 00:06:18.689 community, you know, we had these connected, 00:06:18.689 --> 00:06:21.189 we still do, they're connected communities. They're 00:06:21.189 --> 00:06:23.850 a smaller version of what we used to call the 00:06:23.850 --> 00:06:26.689 employee resource groups. We changed the name 00:06:26.689 --> 00:06:30.290 of that too. Can't remember what it is, but it's 00:06:30.290 --> 00:06:31.910 a smaller group. It's about a thousand people. 00:06:32.230 --> 00:06:35.750 And I was asked to present. accessibility to 00:06:35.750 --> 00:06:39.410 a customer. So again, HLS. So our entire patch 00:06:39.410 --> 00:06:42.170 cares about accessibility. You know, if it's 00:06:42.170 --> 00:06:44.209 not for their own employees, it's because their 00:06:44.209 --> 00:06:47.889 patients, their clients, their customers, you 00:06:47.889 --> 00:06:50.350 know, they want to be able to reach them as well. 00:06:50.509 --> 00:06:56.490 So it's a hot topic in HLS. And then the second 00:06:56.490 --> 00:06:59.509 fiscal year I was here, I was asked to be a leader 00:06:59.509 --> 00:07:03.050 of that community. And we're evangelists. That's 00:07:03.050 --> 00:07:06.149 what we do. So we get the word out about some 00:07:06.149 --> 00:07:08.529 of the latest features, what's going on, what's 00:07:08.529 --> 00:07:13.089 happening. And we're also a vessel for feedback. 00:07:14.029 --> 00:07:16.709 The product group, you know, each of our product 00:07:16.709 --> 00:07:20.250 groups have people just for accessibility. Satya, 00:07:20.370 --> 00:07:23.750 a long time ago, worded it so well. Accessibility 00:07:23.750 --> 00:07:25.990 isn't something, it's not an add -on. It's not 00:07:25.990 --> 00:07:29.939 a bolt -on. You know, it's thought about from 00:07:29.939 --> 00:07:33.139 the very beginning. And that's why some of the 00:07:33.139 --> 00:07:34.720 features I'll talk about later, they're just 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:37.160 embedded everywhere. And then the other thing 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:41.079 I'll tell you, too, is that I discovered some 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:44.680 of these tools made life -changing difference 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:48.800 for me. And I never thought of myself as disabled, 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:52.560 you know, but... And that's why I mean, like, 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:55.439 there's so many different ways. There's also 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:58.100 short term and long term. You know, the person 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:00.800 that broke their arm, well, they're going to 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:02.959 need a little extra help. You know, that type 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:05.120 of thing. So there's also temporary situations, 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:08.259 not just permanent situations. For me, it's my 00:08:08.259 --> 00:08:12.240 learning disability. And my big aha moment, and 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:15.060 there are a couple others, was it's called the 00:08:15.060 --> 00:08:18.660 immersive reader. Have you ever had to use that? 00:08:19.230 --> 00:08:22.110 No, I haven't, but I've heard about it, but I 00:08:22.110 --> 00:08:25.329 haven't actually personally used it. So what's 00:08:25.329 --> 00:08:29.670 special about it is that, for example, in an 00:08:29.670 --> 00:08:33.049 edge, let's say you're looking at a PDF, you 00:08:33.049 --> 00:08:35.990 can right click anywhere on that page and you'll 00:08:35.990 --> 00:08:39.429 see an option for read aloud. And once you click 00:08:39.429 --> 00:08:42.269 it at the top bar, you'll see that there are 00:08:42.269 --> 00:08:45.480 actually some options that you can select. And 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:49.000 my issue has to do with reading the same line 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:52.179 over and over. Like I'll read a line five times 00:08:52.179 --> 00:08:55.259 and still not know what I read. It's frustrating. 00:08:55.480 --> 00:08:59.220 So it slows me down a lot. What happens with 00:08:59.220 --> 00:09:02.580 the MRSA reader is I'm able to hear it and I 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:06.360 have it highlight one line at a time. So it isolates 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:09.559 that line one at a time. So I'm able to hear 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:12.120 it. I'm able to see it. I'm able to focus on 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:14.909 it. And I can adjust the speed because it doesn't 00:09:14.909 --> 00:09:18.350 have to be slow. It's just an attention issue 00:09:18.350 --> 00:09:21.769 for me. And, you know, I had a huge learning 00:09:21.769 --> 00:09:25.110 curve. So it changed my life. And then I started 00:09:25.110 --> 00:09:28.070 realizing all these other little features that 00:09:28.070 --> 00:09:30.769 have made great things possible for many people. 00:09:31.649 --> 00:09:34.389 That's awesome. Yeah, no, thanks for telling 00:09:34.389 --> 00:09:37.370 me about that because that happens to me too, 00:09:37.470 --> 00:09:39.710 you know, when I'm reading something and maybe 00:09:39.710 --> 00:09:41.570 I'm not paying attention after reading it a few 00:09:41.570 --> 00:09:44.710 times. And to know that there are tools like 00:09:44.710 --> 00:09:48.289 that, sometimes, like you said, being the evangelist 00:09:48.289 --> 00:09:50.509 and just kind of letting people know and maybe 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:53.169 someone's listening to this and they're thinking, 00:09:53.250 --> 00:09:56.509 oh, I should definitely check that out. And I 00:09:56.509 --> 00:09:59.220 think on the accessibility side. People don't 00:09:59.220 --> 00:10:01.419 really think about it until it happens to them. 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:06.299 And it's great that Microsoft and companies are 00:10:06.299 --> 00:10:08.860 creating these types of tools and technologies. 00:10:09.019 --> 00:10:12.860 That's excellent. I think one thing that happens 00:10:12.860 --> 00:10:15.480 to everybody, as long as you're a human being, 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:18.039 you know, unless you're some weird mutation, 00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:23.480 probably as you get older, your eyesight is going 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:26.419 to recede a little bit. So it's going to be harder 00:10:26.419 --> 00:10:29.720 to see up close. You know, that's why most people 00:10:29.720 --> 00:10:32.379 are holding menus like three feet back and trying 00:10:32.379 --> 00:10:36.360 to look at the menu. Right. So I think even just 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:40.429 on that side of it, I know that. You can increase 00:10:40.429 --> 00:10:43.210 the font size on your mobile device or on your 00:10:43.210 --> 00:10:45.870 laptop. And so there's all these different things. 00:10:45.889 --> 00:10:48.269 And there's a whole accessibility menu that I 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:50.870 use on my iPhone that you can, you know, change 00:10:50.870 --> 00:10:54.029 parameters. But it's also good to know that on 00:10:54.029 --> 00:10:57.509 the Microsoft tool side, there are some of them 00:10:57.509 --> 00:11:00.429 as well. So with that, I mean, what are some 00:11:00.429 --> 00:11:02.830 of the kind of the interesting ones that come 00:11:02.830 --> 00:11:04.789 to your mind when you talk to your customers? 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:11.639 I'm so pumped up right now. Yeah. All these different 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:14.500 things that we have are coming to my mind all 00:11:14.500 --> 00:11:18.179 at once. When you mentioned mobile, Microsoft 00:11:18.179 --> 00:11:21.200 makes an app called Seeing AI. Have you ever 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:24.600 heard of that? No, I haven't. Oh, my gosh. It's 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:27.940 incredible. First of all, it's free. Okay. And 00:11:27.940 --> 00:11:31.620 this app is for low vision or no vision people. 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:34.720 And it will allow you to do a lot of different 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:37.139 things. I can put my camera like if someone's 00:11:37.139 --> 00:11:39.179 showing me a picture, like a physical picture, 00:11:39.379 --> 00:11:41.860 I can put my camera on it and it will tell me 00:11:41.860 --> 00:11:46.120 what we're looking at. You know, like a young 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:49.299 boy with blonde hair holding a baseball glove 00:11:49.299 --> 00:11:53.139 at home base up to bat, you know, that kind of 00:11:53.139 --> 00:11:57.240 thing. But let's say I had your picture in my 00:11:57.240 --> 00:12:00.559 phone, you know, like. your contact info with 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:03.340 your picture. And if I showed a picture with 00:12:03.340 --> 00:12:07.240 you in it, it would tell me it was Shervin. And 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:10.200 it will read you a menu out loud. So if you're 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:12.860 at a restaurant, it gives people so much independence. 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:18.220 There was this one story that hit so hard. This 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:21.779 lady, she was no vision. She was blind. And she 00:12:21.779 --> 00:12:27.580 was using seeing AI. She got to read. And I mean, 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:30.559 a little personal, but just to give you an idea 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:34.559 of the impact, she got to read by herself her 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:37.240 pregnancy test. Like she didn't have to go to 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:38.879 someone else to find out if she was pregnant 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:41.659 or not. She was able to use seeing AI to do that. 00:12:42.019 --> 00:12:44.360 So it's like giving people their independence 00:12:44.360 --> 00:12:47.120 to me is you just can't put a dollar on that. 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:50.460 Exactly. And that part, like independence and, 00:12:50.539 --> 00:12:53.539 you know, I'm seeing that firsthand now with. 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:56.100 parents that are getting older and you're kind 00:12:56.100 --> 00:13:00.299 of like oh wow like you see how everyone obviously 00:13:00.299 --> 00:13:02.879 you always want to keep your independence as 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:05.440 much as possible your freedom being able to drive 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:09.039 being able to make decisions and and i think 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:11.419 to your point like these accessibility tools 00:13:11.419 --> 00:13:15.279 for different reasons whether you're born with 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.740 something or it happens to you at some point 00:13:17.740 --> 00:13:20.509 in time it's nice to know that tools like this 00:13:20.509 --> 00:13:23.549 exist. So the Seeing AI, I hadn't heard about 00:13:23.549 --> 00:13:25.549 that. So I'll definitely check that out. And 00:13:25.549 --> 00:13:28.409 again, maybe people, yeah, that's awesome. Maybe 00:13:28.409 --> 00:13:30.690 people would be interested in that if they need 00:13:30.690 --> 00:13:34.649 that type of help or assistance. Here's the thing 00:13:34.649 --> 00:13:37.450 though, Shervin, it's also if you create, let's 00:13:37.450 --> 00:13:39.730 say you have no issues at all, but you create 00:13:39.730 --> 00:13:42.990 content that is shared with others, one in 12 00:13:42.990 --> 00:13:47.330 men are colorblind. Oh, wow. So the chances that 00:13:47.330 --> 00:13:51.179 you are sharing content that you created that 00:13:51.179 --> 00:13:54.179 is not accessible for someone is extremely high 00:13:54.179 --> 00:13:57.399 and it happens all the time. So there are features 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:00.159 that we all should care about. For example, the 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:02.519 accessibility checker, it's built into all our 00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:07.299 M365 apps and it's huge and it's amazing and 00:14:07.299 --> 00:14:12.120 sad. the number of largely distributed content 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:16.220 that's distributed across the board where it's 00:14:16.220 --> 00:14:19.039 not accessible. And it could be because there 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:21.559 isn't enough color contrast. You know, like the 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:23.980 background is yellow and the words are white, 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:27.679 for example. But if you run the accessibility 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:31.450 checker, It checks for things for people with 00:14:31.450 --> 00:14:34.009 low vision or no vision, but it also checks for 00:14:34.009 --> 00:14:36.490 things like, hey, is your slide in the right 00:14:36.490 --> 00:14:39.330 reading order for a screen reader? So that would 00:14:39.330 --> 00:14:44.210 be someone that needs, you know, they have a 00:14:44.210 --> 00:14:46.830 utility, a tool that actually reads the screen 00:14:46.830 --> 00:14:50.149 for them. Well, if it starts reading the slide 00:14:50.149 --> 00:14:52.470 from the bottom up, it's not going to make any 00:14:52.470 --> 00:14:56.820 sense. So we all need to care because more than 00:14:56.820 --> 00:14:58.559 likely there's someone that's looking at our 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:00.799 content that might not be able to get full advantage 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:04.440 of it if we don't. Exactly. Yeah. And these tools 00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:07.200 have improved quite a bit. I know with that accessibility 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:11.440 checker, especially in PowerPoint, I came across 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.500 that when I was putting some content together 00:15:14.500 --> 00:15:16.960 for a large audience and it was a requirement 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:20.029 to make sure that. you know, gives you that green 00:15:20.029 --> 00:15:23.690 checkbox that you're good to go. And, um, but 00:15:23.690 --> 00:15:25.909 I think to your point, the other part of it is 00:15:25.909 --> 00:15:28.389 like, even when you're not required because I 00:15:28.389 --> 00:15:30.570 was required for this event, but on your own, 00:15:30.649 --> 00:15:33.669 you should have that consideration that to your 00:15:33.669 --> 00:15:36.750 point, like maybe one in 12 men is colorblind 00:15:36.750 --> 00:15:38.789 or someone's going to be able to benefit from 00:15:38.789 --> 00:15:40.990 this in your audience. Right. So it's always 00:15:40.990 --> 00:15:44.970 good to, um, take those, those actions and make 00:15:44.970 --> 00:15:48.860 sure that. Because, you know, normally I would 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:51.019 never think about what you mentioned about the 00:15:51.019 --> 00:15:53.720 color contrast or other factors that this tool 00:15:53.720 --> 00:15:56.960 takes into account. Yep. Yeah. And, you know, 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:59.419 we're in technical sales, so we're in sales. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:02.700 And the last thing I want is that one decision 00:16:02.700 --> 00:16:06.649 maker. to not understand or be able to benefit 00:16:06.649 --> 00:16:09.950 from that one slide that could push them over 00:16:09.950 --> 00:16:12.289 the edge to that yes that I'm always looking 00:16:12.289 --> 00:16:15.210 for. You know what I mean? I do. And, you know, 00:16:15.269 --> 00:16:18.649 what's interesting is because we were both at 00:16:18.649 --> 00:16:22.190 Cisco, I remember our initial CEO at the time, 00:16:22.190 --> 00:16:26.129 which is John Chambers, he would come up on stage 00:16:26.129 --> 00:16:28.970 and once in a while he would say that he had 00:16:28.970 --> 00:16:31.509 a learning disability when he was younger as 00:16:31.509 --> 00:16:35.139 well. That he was able to overcome. And I don't 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:37.679 know if you remember, but I think maybe it was 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:41.419 dyslexia. I think you're right. Yeah. And he 00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:45.620 would talk about this publicly. And so people 00:16:45.620 --> 00:16:48.970 don't think that other people... that are in 00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:52.629 high up positions, like the CEO of this 80 ,000 00:16:52.629 --> 00:16:56.350 employee company, maybe had a learning disability 00:16:56.350 --> 00:16:59.230 that he was able to overcome that how he overcame 00:16:59.230 --> 00:17:01.950 it, whether it was technology or tools or just, 00:17:01.970 --> 00:17:05.369 you know, perseverance or whatever. But I don't 00:17:05.369 --> 00:17:08.369 know the details, but now more than ever, there's 00:17:08.369 --> 00:17:12.009 technology to be able to help. Yeah. And the 00:17:12.009 --> 00:17:15.069 improvements, our last accessibility connected, 00:17:15.309 --> 00:17:18.400 which is an internal Microsoft. just so that 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:21.440 folks know. The last meeting we had in February, 00:17:21.579 --> 00:17:24.720 we had folks from the PG on and just showed us 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:29.039 some amazing improvements with reading order, 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:33.359 for example, in Word. So reading a screen reader 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:37.500 and a table, not good, not good at all. They 00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:41.079 made great improvements so that It can actually 00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:43.559 read through a table exactly the way it's supposed 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:46.619 to read through the table. So it can make more 00:17:46.619 --> 00:17:49.980 sense, for example. They made big improvements 00:17:49.980 --> 00:17:55.240 there. Voice access. Oh, Shervin. Let me tell 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:58.220 you about voice access. I guess it's been around 00:17:58.220 --> 00:18:02.319 two years, maybe three. And when I first saw 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:08.160 that in use, I cried. It it allows a paraplegic, 00:18:08.180 --> 00:18:10.920 you know, someone that can't even move a mouse 00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:13.819 or touch a key on a keyboard. It allows them 00:18:13.819 --> 00:18:16.920 to control their entire screen just by saying 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:20.700 numbers and using their voice. It's incredible. 00:18:20.819 --> 00:18:23.400 And the improvements they made to it. I'm going 00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:25.559 to share with you all the links if you want to 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:27.539 share it, if you're able to share it in the description. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:33.680 Yeah. But they've added. So Windows H, let's 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.640 say you broke your arm and you still need to 00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:37.779 send out email. You still need to write stuff, 00:18:37.859 --> 00:18:40.799 create stuff. Windows H is your friend and you 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:44.079 can use your voice to turn it on and you can 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:46.500 just start dictating and it will start writing. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:48.440 And, you know, we have filler words. I probably 00:18:48.440 --> 00:18:50.940 have already said a hundred of them just in the 00:18:50.940 --> 00:18:54.619 last few minutes. But if I'm dictating and I'm 00:18:54.619 --> 00:18:58.920 telling my email. Saying my email, what I want 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:00.940 it to say, and let's say I have a few ums and 00:19:00.940 --> 00:19:04.720 uhs in there, it will actually remove my filler 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:09.200 words now. Okay. So it's really impressive. That 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:11.980 is great. Yeah, definitely. Those links would 00:19:11.980 --> 00:19:15.160 be awesome. I will include them in the podcast 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:18.700 description so people can check them out. On 00:19:18.700 --> 00:19:22.019 the AI side, you mentioned one of the tools that 00:19:22.019 --> 00:19:24.910 looks at images and describes them. Are there 00:19:24.910 --> 00:19:28.049 any other tools that kind of come to mind on 00:19:28.049 --> 00:19:32.470 the copilot side that are either squirrelly in 00:19:32.470 --> 00:19:34.950 accessibility or like kind of on the fringes 00:19:34.950 --> 00:19:37.589 of it or anything that you can think of there? 00:19:38.230 --> 00:19:40.769 Well, one of the things that we talk a lot about 00:19:40.769 --> 00:19:45.069 is for, especially in my realm, learning disability, 00:19:45.490 --> 00:19:51.220 ADHD, is being able to use copilot. because obviously 00:19:51.220 --> 00:19:54.279 that's all I use is Copilot. And I think everyone 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:59.839 should buy a Copilot license. But it allows me, 00:19:59.900 --> 00:20:03.259 sometimes someone like me sits and spins their 00:20:03.259 --> 00:20:05.920 wheels for a really long time looking at a blank 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:07.900 canvas of some kind, whether it's a Word doc 00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:10.380 or whatever. But being able to use Copilot to 00:20:10.380 --> 00:20:13.279 get to that starting point so that you can just 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:18.920 kick it and run, that is giant. Being able to... 00:20:19.710 --> 00:20:24.170 I consider, this is debatable, okay? I consider 00:20:24.170 --> 00:20:27.210 the ability to translate an accessibility feature. 00:20:27.589 --> 00:20:31.690 Okay, yeah. So being able to create a document 00:20:31.690 --> 00:20:35.210 in multiple different languages easily, I consider 00:20:35.210 --> 00:20:38.549 that accessibility as well. Yeah, I do too. Makes 00:20:38.549 --> 00:20:41.430 sense. Those are just a few of the examples, 00:20:41.750 --> 00:20:45.819 but, you know, AI is everywhere. Yeah, AI is 00:20:45.819 --> 00:20:49.000 everywhere. And on this accessibility side, those 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:51.559 are great examples, especially the language one. 00:20:51.640 --> 00:20:54.500 I mean, you know, maybe we think the world revolves 00:20:54.500 --> 00:20:59.640 around this side here, the US, but there are 00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:02.579 only like a couple of hundred other countries 00:21:02.579 --> 00:21:05.940 that are out there and many, many different languages. 00:21:06.019 --> 00:21:08.759 So it's nice to be able to translate so other 00:21:08.759 --> 00:21:12.500 people can listen and learn as well. And we know 00:21:12.500 --> 00:21:15.059 we have the Ability Summit coming up in May. 00:21:15.259 --> 00:21:19.440 So the Ability Summit, I have a special place 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:22.500 in my heart. This is a Microsoft thing. Microsoft 00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:25.059 does this every year. I don't even know how long 00:21:25.059 --> 00:21:27.839 Microsoft's been doing it. But this is where 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:31.559 we nominate awards. Some of the nominees from 00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:35.220 last year were mind -blowing. There was this 00:21:35.220 --> 00:21:39.039 one guy that actually, there was a language that 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:42.220 was about ready to like... be gone up in Alaska 00:21:42.220 --> 00:21:46.440 and was able to use AI to capture and save that 00:21:46.440 --> 00:21:49.740 language so that we can continue to translate 00:21:49.740 --> 00:21:52.039 documents in that language and things like that. 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:53.579 I wish I could remember the name of the tribe. 00:21:54.859 --> 00:21:58.180 There were just so many different people that 00:21:58.180 --> 00:22:02.519 get recognized and the best speakers, all in 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:05.819 accessibility. I saw this one person present. 00:22:05.900 --> 00:22:09.420 She actually had a little video. I didn't know 00:22:09.420 --> 00:22:12.740 this, but apparently when people have to travel 00:22:12.740 --> 00:22:16.380 with wheelchairs, they get damaged all the time. 00:22:16.539 --> 00:22:18.980 Think about that. You get to your destination, 00:22:19.180 --> 00:22:24.119 right? And your chair won't work. How are you 00:22:24.119 --> 00:22:27.200 going to get around? It happens all the time. 00:22:27.539 --> 00:22:31.039 So I learned that through attending the Ability 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:34.579 Summit. So that's coming up in May. So I just 00:22:34.579 --> 00:22:36.119 want to put a plug out there for that. That's 00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:39.410 great. Where is that, by the way? Yeah, where 00:22:39.410 --> 00:22:43.410 is that? So the Ability Summit, it's a virtual 00:22:43.410 --> 00:22:46.750 and in -person event. It happens out in Seattle. 00:22:47.650 --> 00:22:49.990 I'll make sure I include a link to the Ability 00:22:49.990 --> 00:22:53.950 Summit. I want to say May 7th or May 17th, but 00:22:53.950 --> 00:22:56.769 we always start to get really excited about it 00:22:56.769 --> 00:22:59.369 around now. That's awesome. By the way, like... 00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:02.099 As we kind of get closer to wrapping this up, 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:03.839 this has been awesome, by the way. I've learned 00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:07.220 so much and I hope that people have been picking 00:23:07.220 --> 00:23:09.619 up some nuggets here as well. And again, these 00:23:09.619 --> 00:23:12.839 will all be in the descriptions too. But whether 00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:15.900 it's Microsoft or not Microsoft or whether it's 00:23:15.900 --> 00:23:19.119 software or whether it's hardware, what are like 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:22.759 just a few different technologies or tools around 00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:26.160 accessibility that come to your mind that you're 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:28.700 like? this thing was a game changer you already 00:23:28.700 --> 00:23:31.359 mentioned a few but i'm wondering if other ones 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:34.559 kind of come like for me personally or for other 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:37.660 people yeah or things that have kind of moved 00:23:37.660 --> 00:23:40.240 the needle it can be personal but it can also 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:42.420 be things that you've seen that have been game 00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:45.839 changers for people well at this point i would 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.329 say one of the one of the big ones is is fairly 00:23:49.329 --> 00:23:53.069 recent, would be the screen reader capabilities. 00:23:54.049 --> 00:23:56.509 We have a screen reader built into Windows, by 00:23:56.509 --> 00:24:00.710 the way. Windows has a ton of accessibility features 00:24:00.710 --> 00:24:04.490 built into it. In fact, we also made easy access 00:24:04.490 --> 00:24:08.289 to it. So in your bottom right -hand corner in 00:24:08.289 --> 00:24:11.069 your Windows, if you just do a click in there, 00:24:11.529 --> 00:24:13.690 you can... Actually, let me try to get to it. 00:24:13.809 --> 00:24:15.970 You can quickly get to your accessibility features 00:24:15.970 --> 00:24:20.759 that way now. It says where it says airplane 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:24.039 mode, accessibility, VPN. That's where you get 00:24:24.039 --> 00:24:26.000 to your accessibility features. And some of the 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:28.039 ones in there, you have quick ways to turn it 00:24:28.039 --> 00:24:31.940 on or off. For example, you can turn narrator 00:24:31.940 --> 00:24:34.640 on or off quickly, color filters. So if you're 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:38.319 colorblind, on or off quickly, live captions. 00:24:39.049 --> 00:24:42.430 That's a big one, especially for people. We were 00:24:42.430 --> 00:24:45.089 talking and that uses AI. We were talking earlier 00:24:45.089 --> 00:24:47.710 about different languages, being able to turn 00:24:47.710 --> 00:24:51.069 on live captions and select my language. Huge. 00:24:51.769 --> 00:24:54.650 So you might be speaking in your preferred language, 00:24:54.769 --> 00:24:56.730 but I'm reading it in my preferred language. 00:24:57.849 --> 00:25:00.130 Another one that I do consider accessibility 00:25:00.130 --> 00:25:04.730 is the interpreter agent. Unbelievable how that 00:25:04.730 --> 00:25:09.150 works. From a team's meeting, I go up in the 00:25:09.150 --> 00:25:12.250 menu where it says more. I go under language 00:25:12.250 --> 00:25:15.190 and speech. I turn on as long as you have a copilot 00:25:15.190 --> 00:25:18.109 license, which, by the way, we're happy to sell 00:25:18.109 --> 00:25:22.430 to you. I haven't mentioned that yet. You turn 00:25:22.430 --> 00:25:24.190 that on and like serving, you could be speaking 00:25:24.190 --> 00:25:28.269 Spanish and I could speak English, but I have 00:25:28.269 --> 00:25:30.569 it set to English. I will hear your voice speaking 00:25:30.569 --> 00:25:34.569 to me in English. Wow. That's awesome. And that's 00:25:34.569 --> 00:25:38.150 all AI. AI makes all that possible. Yeah. And 00:25:38.150 --> 00:25:41.230 actually, I don't know how long ago it was, maybe 00:25:41.230 --> 00:25:44.230 six months ago, myself and two other Microsoft 00:25:44.230 --> 00:25:48.589 people, we did a video on this one, on the interpreter, 00:25:48.789 --> 00:25:52.109 the live interpreter. And in the video, we just 00:25:52.109 --> 00:25:54.690 kind of like got on a call and we, you know, 00:25:54.690 --> 00:25:57.230 one of them, I think it was Jerome Bernier, one 00:25:57.230 --> 00:25:59.250 of our Microsoft guys, he was speaking French. 00:26:00.109 --> 00:26:03.190 And I was listening to it in English and I was 00:26:03.190 --> 00:26:05.170 speaking English. He was listening to it in French. 00:26:05.170 --> 00:26:08.009 And, you know, that I call that kind of like 00:26:08.009 --> 00:26:11.630 the United Nations interpreter, you know, because 00:26:11.630 --> 00:26:14.210 you would have to pay people to do this for you 00:26:14.210 --> 00:26:16.349 on calls. And now AI is doing it for you real 00:26:16.349 --> 00:26:19.549 time, which is pretty awesome. And you could 00:26:19.549 --> 00:26:22.049 adjust the volume, you know, because maybe you 00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:24.990 don't want to hear the original audio, but you 00:26:24.990 --> 00:26:26.970 want to hear the, you know, what's been translated 00:26:26.970 --> 00:26:29.670 for you. And I like the fact that, you know how, 00:26:29.750 --> 00:26:32.009 I don't know about you, but I fight all the time. 00:26:32.130 --> 00:26:33.990 I want to be the one that sends my customers 00:26:33.990 --> 00:26:36.990 meeting invites. So that way I know I'll have 00:26:36.990 --> 00:26:40.170 the meeting recap, but I don't care if I need 00:26:40.170 --> 00:26:43.130 interpreter. I don't care who sets up the meeting 00:26:43.130 --> 00:26:44.809 invite. As long as I have a license and it's 00:26:44.809 --> 00:26:47.069 a team's meeting, it's going to work. I see. 00:26:47.329 --> 00:26:50.680 Yeah. This has been great, Sue. Thank you very 00:26:50.680 --> 00:26:54.160 much for talking to us about a very, very important 00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:57.660 topic and something that everyone should kind 00:26:57.660 --> 00:26:59.740 of be mindful of, because even if it doesn't 00:26:59.740 --> 00:27:02.819 affect you and you're perfectly fine in every 00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:05.440 way, which probably isn't true, but let's say 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:12.759 it is. Yeah, you know, there's perfect, there 00:27:12.759 --> 00:27:16.299 are perfect people out there, right? So it's 00:27:16.299 --> 00:27:19.240 nice to know that these tools exist and everything 00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:22.079 has come a long way, whether it's AI or whether 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:24.200 it's not, whether it's Microsoft or not, like 00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:27.140 everyone should be mindful of it. So this is 00:27:27.140 --> 00:27:29.359 great. Well, thanks for having me, Sherman. I 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:32.160 really appreciate it. Sue, thanks again. We'll 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:32.700 talk to you soon.