On September 1, 2010, the State of Minnesota required all executive branch agencies must follow a digital accessibility and usability standard. Learn more about how the standard impacts state employees.

In September 2020, Minnesota’s state agencies and Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) held a series of virtual events to celebrate progress ten years of the standard. The celebration events included trainings and panel discussions. Today, we celebrate the 11th anniversary of the standard by sharing recordings and trainings from the last year's event.  

Panel discussion information and videos

Looking Back: Challenges and successes of launching the new standard

The panel discussion was moderated by the state of Minnesota’s Chief Inclusion Officer, Chris Taylor. Taylor interviewed Minnesota’s Chief Procurement Officer, Betsy Hayes, and Cook County’s Management Information Systems Director, Rena Rogers. Hayes and Rogers shared successes and valuable insights into the processes that made change possible.

Looking Back – panel discussion on YouTube. /mnit/assets/Looking-Back-Challenges-and-successes-of%20launching-the-new-standard-Transcript_tcm38-496295.pdfLooking Back transcript (PDF).

Looking Forward: How the standard is a key tool to help agencies drive inclusion

The Commissioner of the Minnesota IT Services, Tarek Tomes, moderated a second panel discussion. Commissioner Sarah Strommen of Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Chief of Staff of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Stacy Twite, joined Commissioner Tomes. They discussed how digital accessibility enables inclusive and effective government services.

Looking Forward – panel discussion on YouTube. /mnit/assets/Looking-Forward-How-the-standard-is-a-key-tool-to-help-agencies-drive-inclusion-Transcript_tcm38-496292.pdfLooking Forward transcript (PDF). 

Training information and resources

PowerPoint Accessibility

Learn how to make accessible PowerPoint slides and presentations. Jed Becher, Web Projects Coordinator for MNIT DNR, moderated the training. Presenters include:

• Elaine Settergren, Legislative Research Librarian and Digital Accessibility Coordinator
• Rebecca Oestreich, DNR Digital Accessibility Coordinator
• Tamara Sawyer, Minnesota Management and Budget Digital Accessibility Coordinator

PowerPoint Accessibility – training on YouTube. /mnit/assets/PowerPoint-Accessibility-Training-Transcript_tcm38-496293.pdfPowerPoint Accessibility transcript (PDF).

Web Accessibility

Jake Stark and John Watne led a training on web accessibility for developers. They explained how to use best practices to make web sites and applications more accessible. Stark is a Web Developer for MNIT Department of Education. Watne is a Java Developer for MNIT Department of Revenue.

Website Accessibility – training on YouTube. /mnit/assets/Web-Accessibility-Training-Transcript_tcm38-496294.pdfWeb Accessibility transcript (PDF).