Troy Otillio:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-and right now it is a limited time, and it starts on the 25th, but the cards come in 30, 50, or 100 dollar increments or amounts, and can be applied to any Aira account, as long as you know the phone number. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan Bresnahan.:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s definitely a thing where if you can think of it, there\u2019s probably an agent who is an expert in it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff Thompson:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please welcome Aira CEO Troy Otillio and Operations Manager Ryan Bresnahan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it goes on and on\u2014there\u2019s Target, there\u2019s now Walmart, there\u2019s over I think 70,000 locations physically you can use Aira as a guest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Access to information when you want it\u2014any time, any day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A win-win\u2014so if you\u2019re a guest, you can refer someone, and if they sign up you both get a month free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Connecting you to live agents through your phone\u2019s camera to save you time and to be more efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019re going to see a new feature coming out, let\u2019s say within a month, that is really another kind of user-driven capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Introducing Aira gift cards, and how the five free minutes will work for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena Gilbert:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love, Troy, that you just made Aira a verb- I don\u2019t know if you caught that, you said if they were Aira-ing a lot-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, shoot, did I say it out loud?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love that, that\u2019s going to trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So please welcome, from Aira, Troy Otillio and Ryan Bresnahan, and from Blind Abilities, Serena Gilbert, and myself, Jeff Thompson. We hope you enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of what makes us as a company who we are is this promise of sustainability\u2014that we\u2019re not here for the next six months, or year, or five years, that we are here as long as the community wants and uses us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ultimately what we came out with is something that is sustainable. Starting on August 25th, we\u2019re going to have the ability for you to know when you can make your next call, and it\u2019s going to work like this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I\u2019m Jeff Thompson, and in the studio with me is Serena Gilbert. Serena, how\u2019re you doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m doing very well, Jeff, how about yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Good. Thanks for being here today, and we\u2019ve got an exciting group of people in the studio. We\u2019ve got the team from Aira\u2014and Serena, you\u2019re an Aira user as well as myself, but you have something special about your service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am an Aira user, and I was lucky enough through a bit of advocacy to be able to have my employer, which is Vocational Rehabilitation here in Colorado sponsor that service for me so I can use it for the work that I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Well, that\u2019s great. Well, there\u2019s so many different areas, avenues that you can use Aira, because making your tasks more efficient in your everyday life, it\u2019s information that\u2019s right there but they give it to you by a trained agent that can help you out. So in the studio with us we have Operations Manager Ryan Bresnahan, how are you doing?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m doing great, Jeff, thanks, and thank you Serena as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You bet. We also have the CEO of Aira, and that\u2019s Troy Otillio. How\u2019re you doing, Troy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hello everyone! I\u2019m doing great, it\u2019s Friday, I\u2019m located here in San Diego, it\u2019s a little warm, but even though we have COVID, our office is accessible from time to time and I\u2019m actually in a nice air-conditioned office looking out at a little bit of the skyline of La Jolla, but it\u2019s super great to be with you guys today, and thanks for having us on the show, and I\u2019m looking forward to talking more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Well, that\u2019s great. You know, I saw your newsletter, there\u2019s some great news out of Aira, let\u2019s just kick it out with something that I saw a while ago, but now gift cards from Aira, that\u2019s a great thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, we\u2019re always looking for the best way to package Aira, you know, there\u2019s a lot of opinions out there on, like, what Aira should do, what we could do, and frankly, you know, I\u2019m a big proponent, Aira\u2019s always been known for working with our customers, it\u2019s how it got started, right? The founder was Suman, and he conducted over 2000 trials and really got to know the audience before shaping the product, and Suman and I worked together the whole time, and I was the chief operating officer. Getting back to gift cards, this was a request that many folks have had, right? And right now it is a limited time, and it starts on the 25th, but the cards come in 30, 50, and 100 dollar increments or amounts, and can be applied to any Aira account, as long as you know the phone number. Ryan, I think you can check me here, but those gift cards, once you give them to someone or to yourself, those minutes don\u2019t expire, right? You can use those this month, next month, or, you know, 12 months from now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absolutely. I\u2019m going to just second that excitement here, you know, I manage the suggestions box from the agents, the agents are always listening to anything the explorers, guests are looking for, and I think that that\u2019s probably the most requested thing that we\u2019ve had in the last about five or six months, so it\u2019s really good to see us finally getting to implement that, getting to bring, you know, what you\u2019re asking for to the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Well, what a nice gift for anybody, like, doing a podcast to send out to people to make an offer. Even if you\u2019re holding an event in one of your chapter meetings, to have giveaways, you know, like the 50-50 raffle that they always have, you know, you could give away, you know, Aira gift cards, because anybody can use it because it\u2019s so easy to get joined up, you know, and like you said, use your phone number, to give these away to that person for a gift card, boom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was just talking about this with Jeff, what, two days ago? Jeff and I have been spending way too much time together apparently, but I was really excited because one use case that I thought of is let\u2019s say you have someone who\u2019s going to visit a family member, and is heading through an airport that happens to not be an Aira access point. The relative or whoever they\u2019re visiting could send them that gift card so that they know they can safely get through that airport and not have any stress about it and do it on their own time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:
Another use case we\u2019re hearing a lot about, you know, distance learning. Education\u2019s been really disrupted\u2014as an aside, my wife is a middle school math teacher, and she\u2019s, you know, trying to deliver this information, you know, via Zoom, and Google Classroom, and it\u2019s really challenging. We know- you know, over the summer, we did our distance learning offer, and whether it\u2019s parents or students I think there\u2019s a whole new environment that we\u2019re getting accustomed to, working with new online tools, and also at the same time folks aren\u2019t close to the resources they had, like they\u2019re not going into the schools yet in most places, and so I think this is another place that, you know, a gift card could come into play, like you\u2019ve got some student or parent of a student that\u2019s trying to kick off the school year, and we know that there\u2019s that initial learning curve and it\u2019s a great way to kind of boost access to Aira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, another thing I was thinking about when Serena and I were talking\u2014counselors, like at Voc Rehabs, like if someone\u2019s going to take a summer course, or they\u2019re going to join up for classes, they could get monthly Aira cards, gift cards, to use, because it\u2019s a lot cheaper than hiring a reader, and you can get it when you need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absolutely, and all you need is the phone number of the person you\u2019re giving it to, associated with the Aira account and you\u2019re good to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah. And Ryan, what do they do, they can call in? Or they can purchase online?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, calling in is probably going to be the fastest way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
There you go, and you can find that on Aira.io, on any web browser. Another thing, you\u2019ve got some plans that are available to people, if someone\u2019s ready to join up\u2014if they\u2019re not getting enough gift cards, and they want to take charge of their own experience with Aira? What are the plans like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure! The plan- you can, again, find these on the website. We used to have a lot of different plans, but what we learned is ultimately we\u2019ve got to make it simple and easy to communicate. One thing I like to point out is well, maybe like some subscriptions, but unlike others, you can change your plan any month, so that\u2019s one way we like to give flexibility is like, you can pick a plan, you can start a plan, it\u2019s not the right size for you, you can change it one month and change it the other month. We consider our free, our guest plan as a plan, so, you know, the first one, just for everyone to know, Aira is free, you can download that app, you can use it at access locations, access offers, for your JAWS user, one of our most heavily used offers for free is, you know, you get stuck using JAWS, like, the computer reboots, it\u2019s not working right, there\u2019s an update, and Ryan could probably talk about a lot of those sessions, but we get a lot of those users who need access to JAWS, and there\u2019s something in the way. And it goes on and on\u2014there\u2019s Target, there\u2019s now Walmart, there\u2019s over I think 70,000 locations physically you can use Aira as a guest. We also have our five minute free offer, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll talk about that a little bit more, because we did make a change there, but still, at the end of the day, anybody can download Aira for free, use it daily, every day, if you\u2019re a paid user you can use it even more. We have our guests there because we do want to deliver service- that\u2019s one of the plans. But if you need more\u2014if you need more minutes than free offer- than the guest has access to, we have three plans. We have an advanced, standard, and an intro, and while there\u2019s lots of features to Aira- like, the key difference between these different plans\u2014the advanced, standard, and the intro\u2014are the number of minutes. And so the intro plan comes with 30 minutes a month, it\u2019s $29.00, and it has, you know, all the guest features, connect with agents at any time. Another feature of Aira that I\u2019m really proud of is most of our new customers come in through referral. We\u2019ve tried a lot of different ways to get the word out, but one of the strongest and most potent channels we have is literally our customers, who refer Aira to someone they know. And we try to make that a win-win\u2014so if you\u2019re a guest, you can refer someone, and if they sign up you both get a month free, so not just the person who\u2019s joining but also yourself, so we have a lot of people- and that comes in the intro plan with 30 minutes. We have the most popular plan, which is the standard plan, which is the 120 minute plan, and that is $99.00 a month. And in addition to all the features that you find in the intro, which is the referral, all the guest features, we also have what\u2019s called minute sharing, so you can have more than one person on your account. So we have a lot of couples, we have, you know, friends, we have a lot of people who share minutes through the standard plan, and that\u2019s our most popular plan. And then for the users who are just making a lot of use of Aira, they want more, and so we have the advanced plan, and that\u2019s 300 minutes, it\u2019s $199.00, and it\u2019s like the standard plan in terms of features yet it\u2019s got more than double the minutes for just double the cost. So, in summary, you\u2019ve got advanced, 300 minutes, standard 120 with minute sharing, intro with $29.00 for 30 minutes, that includes our referral program, and then there\u2019s the guest signup. Hope I covered all that, Ryan\u2014am I missing anything that I failed to talk about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, I think you covered that really excellently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love, Troy, that you just made Aira a verb- I don\u2019t know if you caught that, you said if they were Aira-ing a lot-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, shoot, did I say it out loud?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love that, that\u2019s going to trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve got to tell you something I heard just the other day\u2014so internally we use a platform to communicate, we happen to use Slack, there\u2019s a lot of good platforms out there, and so we\u2019re always sharing all of these stories, and so one of my agents was sharing a story about how not only has she become so great at googling, right, because that\u2019s what they do a ton, online research, but her son now calls her up, and instead of using Google asks \u201cMom, could you Aira that for me?\u201d In other words, can you research that for me, so I love that our brains work that way, and I\u2019m really proud that Aira can become a verb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was, again, talking to Mr. Thompson over there, and I\u2019ve made quite a few calls over the last couple weeks with working remotely and just electronic signatures and all that fun stuff, and I have noticed that just the agents have gotten more efficient, I would say, like they\u2019re so quick with what I\u2019m asking, and they\u2019re so professional that you could tell that they have a smile on their face when you\u2019re talking to them, and it\u2019s just awesome. That\u2019s why I choose to use Aira as well, because it\u2019s trained professionals, they clearly love what they do, and they\u2019re quick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absolutely, and you know, a couple of things. One is you had said that you noticed the agents are getting really quick on that\u2014one of the things that we noticed as COVID has set in and all of the things around that sidedly is that we were just not taking as many calls out and about, you know, walking around and navigating, and so what we\u2019ve done is really brought to the agents this renewed training, really focused on what are the tasks that are on hand, and that\u2019s such an Aira thing, which is to move quickly to meet exactly the needs that are coming and that are being asked by our explorers. As to the smile on the face, it amazes me when I go in and talk to the agents, how many different things they do, what places they\u2019re coming from, and just how many agents we have that are doing Aira not because they want a job, but just because they love to do it, you know? We have so many people who moonlight at Aira because it really just meets this place in their hearts that they love to do it and they love to be able to provide that service. We have doctors, we\u2019ve had people who have gone on to top 10 size technology companies, you know, all sorts of things, a lot of people that we have doing lots of stuff internally at Aira started out as agents, so there\u2019s a lot of opportunity there, and it is always done from this place of love of the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mm-hm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, by getting gift cards, that\u2019s one way to do it. There\u2019s another thing about- Serena uses reasonable accommodations, my wife has reasonable accommodations, she works for the State of Minnesota. If someone is interested in pursuing this with their company, is there any way they could contact Aira to advocate or help them out, or give us some tips and tricks that might help?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absolutely, this is one of my favorite questions, because, you know, Aira\u2019s a small company, we have some really fantastic sales folks, Marty Watts, Kevin Phalen, and others, and their mission, our mission, is to help individuals who want that accommodation succeed in getting it, right? And we\u2019ve been successful with 25, maybe 30 employers at this time provide Aira to their staff, and that\u2019s growing. We have at least one or two companies per week come to us or we come to them through an individual, and that\u2019s always the best way, when someone realizes that Aira could be a solution or an accommodation or a benefit, and they\u2019re the ones advocating for it, we absolutely are successful in working with those individuals, and the way you would do that is simply- you could email access@aira.io, just identify yourself, share a little bit of information, and you will definitely get followed up. And I could walk through what- how that looks like, but we have material, information, that that individual could provide, or we can simply set up a call and describe how it works, what are the benefits, and walk that interested party through. You know, some of the questions that employers ask are those basics of how does it work, we can answer that. They ask about security, because often in a work setting they want to know that the information that\u2019s being provided is secure, and so I can tell you we\u2019ve passed a lot of security audits, and when I was the chief operating officer that was my job, to kind of walk through those questions, right, which are obviously relevant and meaningful, and because of that we\u2019ve gotten really good at answering those questions and frankly we\u2019ve gotten better at security over time, so- but if you remember nothing more, just simply email access@aira.io and we\u2019ll follow up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know, that\u2019s a great point you mentioned about individuals advocating for themselves, whether, hey mom, dad, I\u2019m going to college, I need an Aira gift card, or I saw an Aira story about someone who advocated for Aira services that they use on their campus, which led to the college becoming an Aira access point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, you know, in fact, we talk about employment, but I don\u2019t know which one\u2019s growing faster, our employer network or our campus network. You know, we recently launched Aira service at Ohio State University, which- I went to a smaller college in California, but I knew Ohio State was pretty big, but it\u2019s in like the top 10 in terms of student population, and I think the more campuses that deploy Aira, it just becomes an easier decision, right? Because the circumstances don\u2019t change from college to college, I mean, it\u2019s a learning environment, and Aira provides access to information and is especially now useful even with distance learning, and so I think it becomes easier for administrators and the folks with the budget to make that decision as that campus network grows, and that is actually a push we\u2019re making right now to do outreach to various universities and colleges every day, right now, even if we don\u2019t have an advocate, but I can guarantee you when we have someone who knows Aira, potentially uses Aira, that makes that sale, if you will, that deployment much easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the shared experiences that you talk about, you know, from campus to campus to campus, same thing with Aira access points such as Walmart, Walgreens, Target, those too, those are places where someone who\u2019s an explorer can go into and use that service just for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mm-hm. And you know, one of the things I always get asked, it\u2019s the same questions, but, you know, it\u2019s the same answer, which is \u201cHey, I would love to have Aira at-\u201d and you can name the retailer, the restaurant, the shopping experience, including online, it\u2019s that same advocacy that ultimately really makes the decision a lot easier. Certainly these larger businesses, many of them are big enough that they have someone who\u2019s in charge of accessibility or customer experience, and when they understand that Aira is simple to deploy- as a detail, I\u2019m a technologist, one of the challenges when you deploy new solutions is you often have to, quote, integrate, you have to do some, it\u2019s called API work, you have to kind of connect computers between business and let\u2019s say Aira, or deploy beacons, right, there\u2019s a lot of technologies that depend on beacon. The beauty of Aira access is none of that is needed, which frankly makes it more secure because there\u2019s no information being shared between Aira and the access partner. The access partner simply gives us their list of addresses, and we take on the task- and it\u2019s automated, we\u2019ve got really smart engineers, of creating those geofences, you know, the boundary, the hidden boundary that defines where access is free. And I\u2019m pretty excited about access just because there\u2019s a growing appetite out there to deliver this experience as more and more businesses learn that it\u2019s easy to deploy and it doesn\u2019t cost that much, and at the same time they get this great benefit of knowing that they\u2019re delivering a better customer experience for this population. Again, it\u2019s where advocacy really matters, like when we have users or explorers who tweet or share or however they express their delight, that matters to those businesses, and businesses that haven\u2019t yet deployed Aira look at that and they go \u201cHuh, this looks like a really great service, I can see there\u2019s a lot of support.\u201d So, I\u2019m being very direct here, the more we can elevate that voice, the faster Aira access will spread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:
I know when we were talking about the reasonable accommodations piece of things, I know that there were quite a few employers who were a little bit uncomfortable with the sessions being recorded, and I recall, I think it might have been maybe last month or the month before, that you guys made a change to that policy, so I wondered if you could just chat a little bit about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, we can talk about that. Just as a quick aside, we never changed the policy, it was always the case that an employer or any access partner can choose to opt into no-record. What we changed is we just got- and it was always true, in our terms of service that you as an individual could opt out of a recording, any recording, what changed is we just kind of made that more clear, it was kind of hidden in the terms of service, and I\u2019m happy to say that, I think people should know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I appreciate that, because I think I maybe read it in one of the monthly updates, or maybe in the Aira explorers groups, something like that, but for me that made a big difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:
Yeah, it was us being really clear that you can choose to opt out of recording your session on any call by asking the agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wow, that\u2019s great. When we were talking about access points we briefly touched on airports, but even- I believe it\u2019s Miami Beach, cities, the list just keeps expanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, it\u2019s interesting, lots of municipalities have different ideas about how to deploy Aira, like we have- Ryan, what is it, the city of Milwaukee has all their public spaces as access including their transit? You mentioned the city of Miami Beach, I\u2019m not going to say who else we\u2019re in talks with, but some of them are even bigger than cities, so we\u2019ll see where some of these go, we\u2019ve got the airports were kind of where we started because that was kind of a showcase experience, but Houston Metro is in a pilot, so transportation and cities I think everyone recognizes again it\u2019s an easy solution to deploy and it has benefits. And then recently we announced that we\u2019re down in Australia, the Sydney- I\u2019m going to get this wrong, the Sydney Transportation Authority it might be? But anyway, the transit system in Sydney is going to be through the end of the year an Aira access location, including not just the rail, the buses, but also the ferries, which I understand are, you know, quite popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I think right now, too, an important thing to think about the transit systems is just for health and safety you\u2019re looking at trying to minimize contact, keep distance and all of that, and that\u2019s something that Aira does so well that\u2019s so hard to do otherwise, so it\u2019s been a good thing that we have been able to offer these expanded services here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mm-hm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How can explorers- you know, they get it, they wonder how they\u2019re going to use it, they start to use it, but how can they learn more about being an efficient explorer, to get the most out of their minutes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, we have an Aira explorers Facebook group. There is an explorers call every month that goes through Facebook and Zoom calls, Jeanine\u2019s on that one, if you ever get the chance, it\u2019s a fantastic time, as well as you can get more information through the Aira app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Ryan, I know two other places, one kind of maybe hidden feature? I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s hidden, is there\u2019s this super active email group, we happen to use a platform called groups.io, that\u2019s how I think of it, but gosh, if we don\u2019t get 10, 15, 20 emails- some of them are threaded, but they\u2019re often a new user basically asking, you know, the reasonable question, like, you know, well, how would you use it, and then a bunch of responses come in. We\u2019ve had, obviously, conversations around, you know, a chest harness, like, boy, that\u2019s one of the favorite topics, everyone\u2019s sharing their best approach to, you know, how to use Aira hands-free. Or you\u2019ll have some explorer that just gets thrilled because they\u2019ve figured out a new use for Aira, and they share, and I can\u2019t tell you- like, yeah, that\u2019s just a fascinating- whether it\u2019s Facebook, groups.io, there\u2019s even a WhatsApp group, it\u2019s just awesome to hear how collectively this group of people are figuring out uses that of course, we\u2019ve never imagined. Back to something we\u2019ve talked about- I think we may have talked about it earlier, a lot of our best features have come from users showing us the way, not us in an ivory tower thinking about \u201cHere\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d For example, we\u2019re always like, to go back to the Aira photos, that was not a feature on the road map, this idea that the agent could cooperate with the explorer, frame and take a picture. That just became a really common request, so we made it easy within the app. There\u2019s some other- I\u2019m not going to talk about it today, but you\u2019re going to see a new feature coming out, let\u2019s say within the month, that is really another kind of user-driven capability. So we see a lot of capabilities that are really coming out of the imaginations of the users, but it all comes back to this community, which does talk quite a bit. The other thing Ryan and I don\u2019t know if you mentioned, isn\u2019t Jeanine also doing this expedition series? There\u2019s a, I think a weekly podcast and call where it really is more than just an explorer call, it\u2019s focusing on what you can do with Aira. And all of that information that I talked about is on our website, or you can always call into customer care and ask, you know, we have some awesome customer care agents, you know, many of them, by the way, I\u2019m proud to say are Aira users, right? So therefore they can relate to the individuals, and you know, they have a lot of great information as well. So there\u2019s just so many different ways to learn, and by the way, we\u2019re always listening and if there\u2019s a better way to kind of share and grow the understanding of Aira, you know, we\u2019re always open to that as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if I can add one more plug on that, you know, ask the agents. Like if you\u2019re on a call with an agent and you want to know how you might be able to do something, even if it\u2019s not the task at hand, the agents have so much experience with so many different uses, and you know, not everyone\u2019s in these groups, not everyone\u2019s coming onto the calls and sharing their experience, but the agents, you know, definitely get this breadth of everything that can be done on Aira. One of the things that we always find is sometimes difficult when someone asks us, you know \u201cWhat can you do on Aira?\u201d Everything, right, like what can\u2019t you do? And so sometimes coming into the agents with a very specific question, and they\u2019ll be able to really help point in directions to how they\u2019ve done it before and really build on the breadth of their experience to help kind of find different ways you can address Aira. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know, one of the experiences that I keep resorting back to is going into the picture that was labelled, you know, with commas from left to right, the back of my roll-in keyboard, every once in a while I move things around, I want to hook it all back up, and I just come to a dead standstill because there\u2019s a lot of stuff, so I took a picture on the right and the left, the Aira agent took a picture on the left and the right, and then labelled it, so I got them in my folder, and the back of my mixer board, I got my dishwasher, I got these photographs of these mostly electronic type of devices that when I need to reference it, I have that, and so I don\u2019t need to use the Aira agent every time for it because I\u2019ve already successfully created a database of these pictures that I have that I use, but there\u2019s always something new, always something never thought of, so it\u2019s great to get ideas from other experienced users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:
Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve even used Aira for graphic design. I\u2019ll use canva.com, and I\u2019ll be like \u201cHey, can you help me do this?\u201d and they\u2019re like \u201cOh, I\u2019ve never done this before!\u201d and they start doing it and they\u2019re like \u201cHey, this is really cool!\u201d I love how perfectionistic they are, when it comes to the graphic designing, because they\u2019ll make sure it looks really good before they say it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perfectionism is definitely a trait we look for when hiring agents, we want to make sure you get exactly what you want out of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I just wanted to add, because I know I talk to a lot of explorers who use it for just one dimension of their life, which is totally normal, you know, it\u2019s very common. And so I just wanted to stress, I do talk to a lot of folks, I\u2019m very curious how people use Aira, what they think, I\u2019m always asking, and there are a lot of folks who just say \u201cWell, I just use it for navigation\u201d or \u201cI just use it for inside the house and cooking,\u201d so that is- if you\u2019re one of those users who just use it for one thing, that is common, because I\u2019ve heard others say \u201cWell, I think I should use it for more, I feel bad that I haven\u2019t used it for other things, and I mention that because I think there\u2019s phases that a lot of explorers go through, they go through this, like \u201cI want to get really comfortable and confident around a specific need I have,\u201d or use case, and sometimes, you know, whether it\u2019s a month, three months, six months in, they start to broaden and try things, try new things, and I think that comes back to that community. I\u2019ve asked them \u201cWell, why did you try something?\u201d Well, because I\u2019m on this email group or I heard on Facebook or I talked to my friend, so I would just say to anyone who\u2019s using Aira, you know, it\u2019s okay if you\u2019re just using it for one or two things, but you know, keep your ears open, and like Ryan said, even ask the agent, like the agents tend to know explorers over time, and they might be able to suggest \u201cWell, have you ever thought of this, or that,\u201d so it\u2019s okay to start small and then broaden from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, my favorite offer that you have is, I believe it\u2019s Intuit that\u2019s sponsoring it, is the small business offer, because I have- Jeff knows this, I have multiple side jobs that are run through a separate business of mine, and that has come in handy quite a bit, like I said earlier, with designing graphics and making sure things look professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, I talk to Intuit quite a bit, and the gentleman there that really spearheads this offer, and I\u2019ve got to give a shout out to Ted Drake, if you\u2019ve ever met Ted Drake, and I can tell you at Intuit, everyone asks me \u201cWhy are they doing that?\u201d Well, their whole mission is to, quote, \u201cPower Prosperity,\u201d and what they see as this, you know, broad use of Aira that enables small business owners to achieve more, and they\u2019re always looking for stories, and feedback, and they would love for- it\u2019s that same plug I give, the more you share publicly about those successes, you know, they listen, and that\u2019s meaningful to them, and I know if Ted were listening to this he\u2019d be quite exciting that you mentioned that offer because they\u2019re quite proud of what it\u2019s enabled, whether it\u2019s, you know, he\u2019s done the research to find out because some folks have reached out to Intuit to either thank or comment, and whether it\u2019s helping them hire new employees, get tasks done like you mentioned, you know, graphic design, building websites, reconciling receipts, as a small business owner, and I guess in some ways I\u2019m a small business owner, there\u2019s always more to do than meets the eye, and we\u2019re always looking for ways to be more efficient, and Aira really helps, I know, because it\u2019s one of our most popular offers that we have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And you can get a lot done, like every time I call in I think I\u2019m going to use a ton of minutes and then I\u2019m done and I\u2019m like \u201cOh, that was it?\u201d I think people forget how quickly and efficiently you can get things done in a very small amount of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, I think when you really think about it, you know, the agent\u2019s sitting there with a dashboard that can connect up to GPS and has the whole internet at their fingertips. You can call up a friend and try and ask them about ’em, but when you have someone that\u2019s trained in this and has the resources on their dashboard to assist you, the efficiency is just boom-boom, you know? I like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If an agent kind of runs out of an idea, like gets stuck, let\u2019s say, like they\u2019re trying to do something, they don\u2019t- maybe they\u2019ve never done it before, how do they reach out? Like, don\u2019t they have support from others, other agents, and someone who\u2019s maybe lead for that day, what happens when an agent kind of runs out of an idea or gets stuck?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, a couple of things, and really, I want to emphasize in doing this that when reaching out to the community of other agents to find ways to do this, our primary concern here is the privacy of the user, and we always want to make sure that the call is always between the user and the agent, and that there\u2019s no sort of information getting out and leaking around, right? Because people use Aira for all sorts of things, and we want to- you know, part of the brand value of Aira is really based in that trust that our users have, but yeah, if you were, say, an agent who got a call for something that you didn\u2019t quite know how to do, the first thing we train them to do is how to look things up, and I mean, like, we teach them how to google, and you think \u201cOh, Google\u2019s simple, right? Like, you just type it in,\u201d but there are so many different ways that you can pull the information out past just typing and hitting enter. And so the agent will go ahead and first try to assist you directly, you know, looking up as they need. One of the things we do is make sure our agents are always doing as they\u2019re on a call is preemptively having that information at their fingertips. Our agents are excellent multitaskers, and any time that you ask them a question there\u2019s a good chance they already have that answer because they already knew you were going to ask that question. But if, for example, they couldn\u2019t- maybe gardening is a pretty good example, right? There\u2019s a certain aspect where you can describe the visuals of a plant if someone\u2019s asking you, you know, or describe the difference between a sprout and a weed, but if you don\u2019t know that, and you can\u2019t find that easily, you might just jump onto our internal communications and say \u201cHey, I\u2019m on with this explorer who\u2019s looking to pick weeds, and I can\u2019t tell the difference between these two.\u201d And the answer might look like an agent coming in and saying \u201cOh, here\u2019s an article where you can see the difference between what a tomato sprout and what a weed looks like,\u201d or it might be that an agent will say \u201cHey, I\u2019m really good at this, I\u2019ve got a garden out back.\u201d Like I said earlier, our agents have such a broad, just vast set of experiences, that they might say \u201cHey, ask the explorer if they want to just trade out,\u201d and the explorer will call back, they\u2019ll pick up the call, and you know, you get a certified expert, right on the line, of almost anything you could possibly want to do. Serena, I was laughing as you were talking about graphic design because we have a number of agents who do graphic design professionally as kind of their side thing, so it\u2019s definitely a thing where if you can think of it, there\u2019s probably an agent who is an expert in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, I think you mentioned that earlier, but I think it bears repeating, how easy is it for a potential Aira explorer to sign up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s really easy. All it takes is downloading the app and putting in a phone number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I like that, because I hate it when I download a new app and it\u2019s like all these fields you have to fill out on your phone, which I\u2019m not sure for the sighted community if they hate keyboards as much as we do, but I hate filling out forms on my phone, so I love that it\u2019s that easy, and I believe when I signed up I think you guys sent me a code via text and I just typed in that code and was done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the way, that\u2019s another case where the community talked and we listened. We used to ask for quite a bit of information before you got started, and what we learned is exactly what all of us learned, like I don\u2019t like filling out a ton of information, especially before I know even if this app is going to be useful for me, right? So why do that? So we literally just require a phone number, and the reason we need the phone number is we need to text you a code, and that\u2019s it. So download the app, iOS, Android, put in your phone number, you get the code from the text message, you put it in, and boom, you can make a call. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the initial experience. Agents will over the next couple of calls ask you some more things, and really that\u2019s about providing as best of a service to you as possible, we really want to make it so that every call you have is individually tailored for you and not just a product that goes out to all of the explorers or all of the guests, right? Like, this is a call that you\u2019re on and we want that agent to be able to serve exactly what you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for using Aira, give us an example of someone joins up, all they have to do is open the app, connect to an agent, point the phone at what information they want to gather, and that\u2019s basically it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is literally everything you need to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And some people use lanyards to hold it down, like if they\u2019re navigating, and they have the choice of doing that, like a clear lanyard that will hang from their neck, and they can point it or whatever they need to do as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I know this is such a small thing, but they always, always, always, always- I say that like four times, greet you by name. And that- I know that\u2019s little, and I\u2019m sure it\u2019s something that you guys did a lot of research about, but it means a lot that they know who I am, and that they\u2019ve taken the time to greet me by my name. I know that sounds odd, but it\u2019s a psychological thing too. If somebody knows my name, I feel that connection, and feel like they want to help me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
That is a big point. It\u2019s better than having someone pick up the phone and go \u201cYeah?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAgain?\u201d You know, it is great. You know, you can go to aira.io on the website, you can go into the app stores, Google Play, and just type in Aira, that\u2019s A-I-R-A, and download it, that\u2019s all there is to it, and it\u2019s free, just give it a shot, give it a whirl, and choose your plans, all the information- there\u2019s a lot of information there on the app itself, so you can snoop around on the app, and kick it around a little bit and give it a try. I\u2019m sure you\u2019re going to be- first of all, that wow factor when it first happens, it\u2019s like \u201cWow,\u201d you know? I was just talking to a friend of mine, she was in Las Vegas and walked out on the strip, and just turned it on and just got an earful, an earful of information that she had no idea that was available to her, and so that was great. Now, this is a question for Troy\u2014Troy, six months of CEO at Aira, what has been the biggest challenge in navigating Aira into the future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First of all, I\u2019ve got to say, this- I\u2019ve had a great career, and worked at many fascinating companies, and I know Aira before I became CEO was the best company, and the most exciting. Since becoming CEO, like that was obviously a big change, big transition, and a lot of responsibility, right? Like, I know that a lot of people use, love Aira, they depend on Aira, at some level they want it to be there. We have hundreds of agents who, you know, love this job, and I think many of us see a future that\u2019s even bigger and brighter, right? I think there\u2019s a lot more Aira can and will do, and taking over and kind of leading this company, we had to look at, you know, sustainability, and how do we operate for the long haul, right? And the biggest challenge has been kind of charting that course, which has required some changes, right, we had to let go of Horizon, that didn\u2019t- ultimately did not meet our standard, had a lot of challenges, drove a lot of costs, right, for the benefit it delivered, it wasn\u2019t there, it didn\u2019t meet that goal of sustainability. And then COVID hit, right? I\u2019m not complaining, I\u2019m relishing any challenge like anyone, but as a new CEO, I thought a lot of things could go wrong, a lot of things could happen, but that certainly wasn\u2019t in the book, right? And I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lot of new CEOs and new leaders at any level have stepped in to this new environment like we all have, right, and so I could easily point to that as the biggest challenge, but I would say the meta-challenge is kind of picking the path that is both sustainable and, at the same time, meets the needs of not just our explorers but our access partners and our employees, and it is a challenging time, right? The economics, the dynamics, you can\u2019t look to history, and you can\u2019t rely on as much of your experience you have to do a lot of thinking, a lot of talking, a lot of planning, and even then the environment is changing. I mean, I talk with a lot of different leaders, and I remember two or three months ago, right or wrong, we\u2019re like \u201cOh, this\u2019ll probably last three to six months and we\u2019ll come out of it, the summer will kind of reduce the infection-\u201d like, planning against this environment has just been a real challenge, but I can say, you know, on the flip, it\u2019s just such an awesome team. You\u2019re hearing from Ryan, who\u2019s just one of the gems who works at Aira, you know, thoughtful, bright, creative folks. We have so many engaged explorers who give us suggestions every day, either directly or just by the way they use Aira, and then there\u2019s the community, right? So whether it\u2019s the major organizations\u2014AFB, NFB, ACB, RNIB, it\u2019s great to have partnership with them, or even other folks in the industry. We talk a lot with Vispero, they\u2019re one of our customers. So, ultimately, though, that challenge has been just the dynamic nature that comes from taking the company in a slightly different direction against the backdrop of something I don\u2019t think any of us have ever seen or ever hopefully will see again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had the privilege of talking to Dr. Penny Rosenblum from AFB, and she\u2019s the director of research there, and the Flatten Inaccessibility survey that went out- actually, she mentioned that that was stemmed off of a question or something you recognized as a change happening with the Aira explorers asking the agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It started in February, you know, I stepped up to be the new CEO, and that\u2019s right prior to CSUN, you know, I think we all know CSUN is like the biggest accessibility tech show on the planet, and it\u2019s a great place for someone like Aira- like a new CEO to go, of Aira, I\u2019m so looking forward to meeting our explorers, to talking to other partners, and then, that\u2019s when it was really unclear, should people go, and then larger companies started backing out for all the right reasons, you know, Microsoft, Google, totally made sense. A small company, we\u2019re like- I\u2019m like \u201cI have to go, this is really key, I need to talk to explorers, I need to talk to other partners, and it\u2019s just up the road, so I\u2019m going to go.\u201d And what was different about CSUN- if you\u2019ve ever been there, it\u2019s a really busy show, it\u2019s really noisy, it\u2019s hard to talk to folks, anyone who\u2019s a prominent player in AT, they\u2019re not going to have that much time to talk, right, it\u2019s a really active environment. When I got there, yeah, it was about half the folks, and it was a really kind of somber environment, like, you know, you could tell that the world had changed. But we had longer conversations, whether it was with explorers or other industry partners, you know? Whether it was Humanware, or Vispero, or other folks, we had some very long conversations, and we kind of recognized that there was this community. And so Aira had launched a survey on our own, because we wanted to know what COVID meant to our users, right, so we asked them, a very long survey, and so when I came back from CSUN I was like \u201cGosh, this is a big thing, we should as an industry come together and do something. This community needs our support, what can we do together? Yes, we all have different kind of- some of us compete, some of us don\u2019t, but different products-\u201d I talked to Be My Eyes, I talked to, again, NFB, ACB, AFB, and so my passion was what if we could get everyone together\u2014and I don\u2019t know what the answer is, I don\u2019t know what we can do together, I don\u2019t know where this will lead, but I do know if we get more folks involved, the probability and the likelihood that we can get someplace better is improved, and I think in that first survey that showed up, because as a detail, the Aira survey, called the 1.0 or the impetus, we only had four categories or questions, it was like by adding all these other groups and individuals, we came up with four other sections, and then by combining everyone we had a greater reach. And so all that information is on flatteninaccessibility.com, I know each participant is using that information to help inform what they do differently. For us it was about distance learning, and for example training our agents on social distancing and some other actions, but I think as a group it was great to partner, and we\u2019re going to continue to work together to figure out how we can as a community meet the needs together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
I think that\u2019s great, community, you know, you guys drive some of your changes, your- the experiences that you have, are all coming from explorers, grassroots type of listening. The ears are open, agents are listening, that\u2019s part of the deal there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:
So, Troy, earlier Jeff asked you, kind of the challenging times that you\u2019re navigating in these first six months of being a CEO, and I noticed one of the things that you had mentioned was making sure that the company could be sustainable, and a lot of the people listening to our podcast most likely know about the changes to the five minute offer, but I wondered if you could kind of go over those and the reasoning behind that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, so I covered this in my newsletter and I just put that out there in case someone wants to read it, it in fact covers a lot of what we talked about, so I know some people process offline. What happened was we looked at where this offer had gone, we launched it basically last August, and at that time Aira was sponsoring calls, we were always going to sponsor calls on our own dime, we had programs like Jobseeker, right, so that\u2019s a program, if anyone doesn\u2019t know, if you\u2019re looking for new employment, you can use the Jobseeker offer for free to, for example, help fill out an inaccessible form, have your resume looked at, getting to the job, like there\u2019s a lot of ways you can use Jobseeker and it\u2019s our way of looking to stimulate this community in terms of employment. It\u2019s a whole long topic, right, because there\u2019s different stats you can read, but categorically I believe that the blind and low vision community deserves and can get more jobs. I mean, it\u2019s a lack of- frankly, it\u2019s a lack of awareness on employers, and it\u2019s a long topic, anyway, so we have Jobseeker, and I love Jobseeker, it\u2019s helped quite a number of folks. And at that time last August we had about five percent of our calls were going to Jobseeker and other free offers that we sponsored. Yet we saw a need to introduce Aira to more people, and ultimately our research and our listening suggested that a lot of folks were afraid to try Aira for fear of- and this is some of the quotes, it\u2019s not all of the reasons, but somebody said \u201cI don\u2019t want to try it, I\u2019m afraid I\u2019m going to like it too much and then I\u2019m going to have to pay for it.\u201d I\u2019m like \u201cOh, wow, okay, that\u2019s just one voice.\u201d Another voice was \u201cI\u2019m not really sure what it does, and I heard it\u2019s expensive. I don\u2019t want to sign up for it.\u201d Like, I get it, especially if you think about unemployment, I get why folks- and we haven\u2019t had this before, right, there hasn\u2019t existed a service like Aira so it\u2019s like why would I pay for it? I was one of those guys, it took me a while to buy a smartphone because I\u2019m like \u201cWell, I don\u2019t need it.\u201d Now you can\u2019t pry it out of my dead, cold hands, right, like I have my phone everywhere, and I pay for it. Ultimately we just had this crazy idea. What if we just provided Aira for short tasks, or, you know, frankly a little easier to schedule, there\u2019s some nice properties to a short call. So what if we just gave away Aira, like five minutes free at a time, let\u2019s see where it leads. Well, where did it lead is every month we got more users\u2014not paid, just more users, right, and every month those users figured out how to use more of the free offer. I\u2019ll give you a little scoop, I didn\u2019t put this in my newsletter\u2014we were looking at this issue in February or March, like, this growing set of minutes which really mean we\u2019ve got to pay agents, that there\u2019s a cost to that. It was growing to the point, like, oh, god, this doesn\u2019t look sustainable, our new mission. Yet, COVID hit, and I just couldn\u2019t bring myself- the team, we just couldn\u2019t bring ourselves to make a change either quickly or in the face of so many people trying to adapt to, you know, the new reality. So we listened longer, we thought about it longer, we did a lot of math, and ultimately we concluded we\u2019ve got to find a way to make this sustainable, and we heard from our users who said \u201cHey, if you\u2019re going to change it, you know, we kind of think that paid users should have a little more access to free than other users,\u201d right, like the guest users. So we kind of thought about that, right, there\u2019s some implications there, but ultimately what we came out with is something that is sustainable. Starting on August 25th, we\u2019re going to have the ability for you to know when you can make your next call, and it\u2019s going to work like this. As a guest, as a free user, you can make a five minute free call once every 24 hours. So if you make a call right now, and in California right now it\u2019s 2:13, and it lasts five minutes, you can make your next call Saturday at, if I\u2019m doing the math right, 2:18. But there\u2019ll be no mystery, you\u2019ll look in the app, there\u2019s a time that\u2019ll tell you when you can make your next free call. If you\u2019re a paid user, you can make use of that free call every four hours. And again, in the app, it\u2019ll tell you when that occurs. But ultimately- and I know we\u2019ve heard a lot of voices as we listen, and this community is super engaged, there\u2019s a lot of- I\u2019d say the majority of folks understand this is kind of a situation especially made worse by COVID where, you know, Aira\u2019s looking to be sustainable and this is a change we made so that we can continue to be sustainable. And as with any offer, and something that I think Aira is proud of and will continue to, we\u2019re going to move as quickly as we can, we\u2019re going to move, and we\u2019re going to change, right, and so anything that we have out there is subject to change over time, especially as we learn more, but I\u2019m really happy that we\u2019re able to continue offering free calls, and I\u2019m also excited that we\u2019re growing our access network, which is a compliment to this free service that Aira pays for, and I\u2019m hoping that users continue to download the app, make use of free, make use of access, and if they want they can always purchase more minutes, you know, grab a plan, and if they need to back away from a plan for a while, that\u2019s okay too. We\u2019re just here to provide a service as best we can, and make it an excellent service that everyone loves, and I\u2019m glad that we can continue with free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m really glad that you mentioned the word sustainability because it\u2019s something that I want to make sure or I want to see in the future, and, you know, you used the word pragmatic when you were talking about this one time, and it just makes good sense. I\u2019ve heard nothing but good compliments, and the reaction to this has been positive, people are saying \u201cYeah, that makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, and again, to the community, who figured out how to incorporate- Ryan, I think you\u2019d agree, in a funny way, a lot of our users got a lot more efficient with Aira, right, if they could compress their need into five minutes. They figured that out, and you know, kudos to them, and they figured out more ways to do it, and I think it\u2019s a win-win in that way, that we got this large audience who now is super users at a five minute ninja call. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, absolutely. And if I can just tell a bit of a story here regarding sustainability, you know, I\u2019ve been here not since the very beginning but long enough that I remember back in the day people whispering in hushed voices that if we did really good at this conference or that we might hit the hundredth explorer, which, you know, we blasted past years ago. But, you know, it was one of those things where early on before people really knew what we were, hadn\u2019t really heard of us, I was at a conference and we were doing demos, just putting the phone into people\u2019s hands with Aira running and having them experience it for the first time. And you know, every time that they did you could just see it, they would just light up, but even when they did that, even when they said \u201cThis is an amazing product,\u201d there was always this layer of skepticism underneath, and I can\u2019t tell you how many times someone told us that, you know, \u201cI love this, but I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to be around in six months, I definitely don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to be around in a year,\u201d so much to the point that we had to fight them just to go home with a free demo in their hand, because they didn\u2019t want to spend time with a flash-in-the-pan tech that just wasn\u2019t worth it to try out. We had our fifth birthday a few months back, which I think really helped me to put into perspective that as well as our incredible agents and our technology part of what makes us as a company who we are is this promise of sustainability\u2014that we\u2019re not here for the next six months, or year, or five years, that we are here as long as the community wants and uses us, and that\u2019s really I think what comes at the heart of this change here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well said, Ryan, that\u2019s- yeah, I agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:
I really appreciate that transparency, like, there\u2019s companies that might not admit that, you know? That people were saying I don\u2019t know if you\u2019re going to be here. But I remember the first time I was exposed to Aira, and it was via a couple- a series of YouTube videos, I don\u2019t know, maybe three years ago, ish? I know Emily was on one of them, there was a video where it was an individual navigating San Diego, and I remember very vividly that they described the advertisement that was on the bus that crossed their pathway. I was like \u201cOh, that was interesting,\u201d and then I remembered I was at a conference and it might have been Emily actually that guided an individual to a table at a conference and explained what candy was on the table, and I was like \u201cThat is amazing! I never have access to what\u2019s on the table, I just find a seat and hope that I didn\u2019t take someone\u2019s spot or something,\u201d so I\u2019m so ecstatic that you guys hit your fifth birthday, you guys are like- you\u2019re grade school now, you know? You\u2019re school-aged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve got a lot to do, you know, the future is bright. And I admire companies that evolve and continue to innovate, and as long as I\u2019m at the helm and I plan to be at the helm for a long time, you\u2019re going to see us do more and more, but it\u2019s always going to be with that eye and guidance around pragmatism and sustainability, like, let\u2019s not get out in front of our headlights, let\u2019s not get too big of a head, let\u2019s listen to our customers, and frankly, it\u2019s why I\u2019m on this call right now. We\u2019re having just an open conversation, and I\u2019m hoping that your listeners or whoever listens to this gets a sense of really what it\u2019s like behind the doors of Aira, because- Ryan, I know you\u2019re going to agree, because we\u2019re obviously on a show, but this is how we talk at Aira, this is not some marketing even that, you know, we\u2019re coming out here with prepared answers, this is just who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh yeah, I mean, you say sustainability more times in a day than I think probably I have heard, like if I were to walk into a hippie commune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That wasn\u2019t even scripted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not at all, you got jokes over there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:
That was not!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy Otillio, Ryan Bresnahan, the whole Aira team, thank you for all that you\u2019re doing for the blindness community. We really love it, our listeners love it, and thanks for sharing the information that you shared today, and thanks for coming onto Blind Abilities, it\u2019s been a pleasure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And where can our listeners find you guys, what are all your media outlets?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boy, I\u2019ll give \u2018em, and then Ryan can probably find a few more. So, obviously our website, Aira.io. Our YouTube channel is super popular. Our Facebook homepage is very popular, there\u2019s a WhatsApp group, and if you sign up for Aira you get access to the groups.io email list. We have Airacast that you can find on the web, Airacast is just another way to hear more about Aira. What am I missing, I\u2019m missing something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twitter. @Airaio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And you have a fancy Facebook group too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:
This is what we needed Jeanine on here for, she would definitely be like right here with every single one in a row. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh yeah, the Airacast, I hear is Jeanine on there all the time doing a great job. Good stuff. I actually just want to say this, I had someone ask about how they do electronic signatures, and I said, without hesitation, I said \u201cUse Aira.\u201d They came back to me and they said \u201cWhat\u2019s Aira?\u201d and it just occurred to me that, you know, we\u2019re wrapped up in this technology in the blindness community and all that stuff, but it just brought me back to my roots of remembering there\u2019s people who are new to the experience of blindness, and they just don\u2019t know, so it\u2019s great to have you guys on here to talk about it, and talk about it in entirety to let people know, and Aira\u2019s fifth birthday, but to some people it\u2019s brand new, and it\u2019s there, it\u2019s available to them, so thank you guys for coming on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, thanks so much, Jeff, thanks so much for all this airtime, because it means a lot to us, it means a lot to everyone here at Aira to be able to get the word out, and I know you have a great and broad audience, and I\u2019m hoping, you know, we reach a few new people, or people that we\u2019ve already reached learn a little bit more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Well, thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, absolutely, and thank you both so much, really appreciate the opportunity to get to talk about Aira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serena:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, we absolutely love Aira, if you\u2019ve listened to any podcast, I\u2019ve used the word adore and Aira together, and love, yeah, I\u2019m a big fan, so we really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be sure to check out Aira on the web at www.aira.io<\/a>. Be sure to contact your state services for the blind, your Voc Rehab, and find out what they can do for you. Live, work, read, succeed. And for more podcasts with a blindness perspective check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com<\/a>, on Twitter @BlindAbilities, and give us a call at 612-367-6093, leave us a message, and let us know if we can put your voice on the next podcast. Drop us an email at info@blindabilities.com, and download the free Blind Abilities app on the app store and Google Play store. That\u2019s two words, Blind Abilities. And from all of us here at Blind Abilities, through these challenging times, to you, your family, and friends, stay well, stay informed, and stay strong. I want to thank you for listening, hope you enjoyed, and until next time, bye-bye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Music] [Transition noise] -When we share<\/p>\n\n\n\n -What we see<\/p>\n\n\n\n -Through each other’s eyes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]<\/p>\n\n\n\n …We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email<\/a> or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out the Blind Abilities Community<\/a>on Facebook, the Blind Abilities Page<\/a>, and the Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired<\/a> group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Full Transcript Troy Otillio: -and right now it is a limited time, and it starts on the 25th, but the cards come in 30, 50, or 100 dollar increments or amounts, and can be applied to any Aira account, as long as you know the phone number. Ryan Bresnahan.: It\u2019s definitely a thing where if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6210","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6rcRg-1Ca","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5084,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5084","url_meta":{"origin":6210,"position":0},"title":"He Happens to Be Sighted: How Working as an Aira Agent and Now the Customer Experience Operations analyst is Changing His Perceptions – Meet Ryan Bresnahan","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"June 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Jeff Thompson:This interview may be a little bit different. Typically, we interview people who happen to be blind. Ryan happens to be sighted, and he works for Aira Tech Corporation. Aira, as you may know, makes and provides a service providing instant access to information when you need\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5356,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5356","url_meta":{"origin":6210,"position":1},"title":"Aira is Free! Connect with an Agent Now and Start Saving Time. You Have Nothing to Lose \u2013 Literally! A Conversation with Ryan Bishop, Explorer Account Manager at Aira","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"September 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Ryan Bishop:A year ago when I joined Aira, free was something that was something we were hoping for, but a year later to the month that I joined, we're free now and I can't believe it. Like it's just one of those ... Jeff Thompson:Aira is now free\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4561,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=4561","url_meta":{"origin":6210,"position":2},"title":"Aira\u2019s Jonathan Mosen Announces a New Aira Promotion, and Talks about the New Opportunities For Aira Explorers. 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Penny Rosenblum, Director of Research, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"August 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Jeff Thompson Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have talked to transition-age students, parents of blind children, teacher of the blind and visually impaired, about how they are adjusting to the challenges of distance learning.\u00a0 Man 1 The pandemic hit us hard \u2013 everyone shut down.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5205,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5205","url_meta":{"origin":6210,"position":4},"title":"BoseFrames are Getting steroids! 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We get an exciting show today, bringing you Lex Gillette. I'm going to call him the journeyman. He's a four time Paralympic champion. He's got three golds, three silvers, two bronze, world record holder, the list goes on. Yeah, he's the real journeyman.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6211,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6210\/revisions\/6211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Contact Your State Services<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Contact:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities<\/a>
On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com<\/a>
Send us an email<\/a>
Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store<\/a>and Google Play Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n