SightCity Podcast (EN)

The English-language part of our bilingual exhibition podcast with specialist presentations, interviews and innovations for more inclusion.

Since 08/2025 3 episodes

SightCity Podcast: Episode 0

A brief introduction to the podcast

2025-08-14 6 min

Description & Show Notes

Welcome to the SightCity Podcast. This introductory episode sets the stage for an ongoing series featuring English-language presentation recordings and in‑depth conversations from the world’s largest exhibition focused on assistive technology for blind and low‑vision communities. You’ll hear about this year’s stages, new formats like the Workshop Stage and the Gaming Lab, and how presentation recordings and expert interviews will appear in this English feed—while German sessions are available separately in the SightCity Podcast (DE). Let’s get started.

Episode 0 introduces the SightCity Podcast: scope, formats, how English presentation recordings and future expert interviews will appear here, the role of the Workshop Stage and the Gaming Lab, and where to find German-language content (SightCity Podcast DE). Includes provisional event statistics pending verification.

Episode Summary
This launch episode explains what listeners can expect from the new English-language SightCity Podcast: selected English presentation recordings plus interviews with developers, users, researchers, educators, and other accessibility stakeholders. It outlines the event setting at Kap Europa in Frankfurt am Main, highlights new additions like the Workshop Stage and the Gaming Lab (created with Microsoft/Xbox and Inclusive Gaming), and clarifies that German-only sessions are published separately in the German feed. The episode also traces how hybrid and online presentation recordings began in 2020 as a response to the pandemic.

About SightCity
SightCity is an annual international exhibition in Frankfurt am Main focused on assistive technology, rehabilitation, education, inclusive gaming, smart mobility, and lived experience for blind and low-vision communities. It combines on‑site interaction with digital/hybrid formats, offering multiple stages, workshops, and curated online sessions.

Content Scope of the English Podcast

Original English-language presentation recordings (non-German stages)
Interviews with developers, researchers, practitioners, users, and advocates
Technology trend context (tactile displays, auditory interfaces, inclusive gaming, AI, smart mobility)
Practical / lived experience insights fostering independence and inclusive participation

Separation of Feeds
German-language recordings (including Forum, Workshop Stage sessions presented in German, Gaming Lab, and other German sessions) are released in the SightCity Podcast (DE). The English feed avoids post‑event dubbing and prioritizes original English content.

Contact & Information
Website: https://www.sightcity.net
General / Press: info@sightcity.net
Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Threads, TikTok, WhatsApp

Disclaimer
Episode 0 serves as an editorial introduction rather than a presentation recording. The material is copyright-protected; any reuse beyond personal listening requires prior written permission from SightCity GmbH. Mentions of individuals and organizations are solely informational. Program and date information corresponds to the 2025 status.

About SightCity
SightCity is Europe's largest trade fair for aids and services for the blind and visually impaired. The annual event brings together exhibitors, professionals, and community members to showcase the latest innovations in accessibility technology and services.

SightCity:

Website: www.sightcity.net
Email: info@sightcity.net
Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Threads, TikTok, WhatsApp

Legal Disclaimer

This recording was created during SightCity 2025 from the online exhibitor presentations. The copyright of the recordings belongs to SightCity GmbH. Any use, reproduction, or distribution by third parties is prohibited without express written permission. The processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the GDPR.

Transcript

Welcome to Site City Podcast, the podcast for the world's largest exhibition for blind and visually impaired assistive technology. We bring your records of presentations, interviews and innovations for great inclusion. Welcome to our very first episode. We are absolutely throwed. You are here as we kick off this exciting new podcast journey together. I'm Dagmar Klutzki, managing director of Site City, and I'm delighted to be your guides for this fascinating series. Let me tell you about Site City. We are Germany's biggest exhibition for blind and visually impaired assistive technology. We've been going strong for 23 years now and have become the go to meeting place for all industry. This year's event run from May 21st to 23rd at Cup Europa in Frankfurt, Maine. What a success it was?We had around 9,000 visitors over three days, 150 exhibitors and countless experts all coming together. This isn't just an ordinary exhibition. It's a buzzing hub where innovation, knowledge sharing and community really come alive. What we are especially proud of is our incredibly diversed presentation program. We had 137 different sessions across multiple stages. There's our Side City Forum, which has been the heart of our exhibition for 20 years now. It covers medical topics, rehabilitation and education. This year we also launched our brand new workshop stage. Here, experts from different fields got hands-on and shared their knowledge through interactive sessions. Another exciting edition was our Gaming Lab. We developed this in partnership with Microsoft Xbox and Inclusive Gaming. We showcased both traditional and digital inclusive games. Unfortunately, both the Forum and the Gaming Lab presentations were exclusively in German, so we won't be able to offer these in our English podcast. We are really sorry about that. However, our other stages featured a mix of German and English content will be bringing you all the English presentations from those. Our online exhibitor presentations started back in 2020. They actually came about during the pandemic. We had to get creative to go digital to keep serving our community and industry during those tough times. For our German presentations, we've got a separate German podcast running along tide this one. Now we are bringing all this valuable contents straight to you, whether you are at home, commuting, or wherever you like to listen. But that's not all we've got planned. Along with these presentation recordings, we'll be sitting down regularly with industry experts, developers, users, and other key players to the assistive technology world. So you'll get the best of side-city presentations plus exclusive conversations that go away beyond what happened at the exhibition. Over the next few weeks and months, we'll be releasing all the presentations that our speakers give us the permission to share. There will be most of them, though unfortunately not all. There are various reasons for that. When we've got similar topics covered, will obviously pick the best recording for you. And if any presentation had technical problems, we are sometimes arranging repeat sessions in the coming weeks. I want to be honest with you. These recording weren't made especially for podcast listening. They are live presentations happening right there at the exhibition floor or zoom sessions for our online audience. So you might run into some audio issues now and then, technical glitches, background noise or just the reality of live events. We hope you'll bear with us on these little imperfections because the content is really worth it. Here's some great news. You don't have to wait until Side City 2026 for more content. That's May 27th to 29th, 2026. By the way, we've got new live presentations coming up in October during the week of Site. We'll announce all the details in early September on our website at www.sitecity.net and across our social media. To make this as useful as possible for you, each episode will have shownotes with extra information. And when we can, contact details for our speakers and get assuming they are happy for us to share those. That way if something really catches your interest, you can reach out directly and dive deeper. We can't wait to take you through this amazing collection of presentations and interviews. Honestly, we've learned so much by putting this together. We hope you'll get just as much out of it. Stick around for our first proper episode. Trust me, it's going to be really good. That's a wrap on this introduction on Side City podcast. Head over to www.sidecity.net for everything you need to know about the exhibition and what's coming up. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, threats, TikTok or just drop us a line on WhatsApp for all the latest updates. Got questions or ideas. Shoot us an email at info@sidecity.net or get in touch throughout website. Please share this episode around and make sure you don't miss what's coming up next. Thanks for listening and we'll catch you in the next episode.