Harry Potter Archives – Meryl.net home

Inspired by Teachers

October 10, 2024May 14, 2010 by Meryl Evans

I admired the incredible and teachers who inspired everyone in attendance last night’s Teacher of the Year event. Attendees donned red to signal they’ve been inspired by a teacher in their lives. Each year, all the schools select one experienced teacher of the year and one beginning teacher of the year. Selected experienced teachers went beyond the … Read more

More Harry Potter Talk

October 10, 2024July 24, 2007 by Meryl Evans

Spoilers in this one, but I’ve attempted to write a benign paragraph so no one accidentally sees anything. I can’t help but write another post about Harry Potter as the story takes up much of my thoughts since finishing the book. The Leaky Cauldron’s Leaky Lounge has an absorbing discussion going on around the finale. … Read more

Writing a Series and Characters

October 10, 2024August 2, 2006 by Meryl Evans

Paul has been saying that it would be a bad move for J.K. Rowling to kill Harry Potter in the last book. While it could make for an exciting and depressing ending, the publisher would lose out on potential sales as future readers won’t want to bother reading a whole series knowing the main character … Read more

Meryl Evans is an incredible human being who is passionately advocating for the Disability community and IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility). When I invited her to join me on the #LTDiversePerspectives Live show talk, as a guest speaker, she blown away my audience with great insights. I highly recommend her to any organization or client.

Flora Bazie

LinoraTech Inclusion

I highly recommend Meryl for any organization looking for a reliable and talented content writer. I have been working with her for over five years, and she has consistently delivered high-quality content that is on brand. Her dedication to clarity, precision, and accessibility has been instrumental in helping us make our content more available to… Read full testimonial “Amy Hite, Senior Content Manager, Stealth Monitoring”

Amy Hite

Stealth Monitoring

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Caitlin Quinn

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Kirsten Painter Conard

Kansas State University

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Karyn Guerrero

Brand and Marketing Communications

I’ve known Meryl for a few years now, and she took time to speak with our Digital Accessibility class at the University of Texas. She’s excellent. We’ve both been speakers at the AccessU conference as well. In short, Meryl is much more than an advocate for Accessibility and the Deaf Community. She’s thoughtful and smart,… Read full testimonial “John Neumann, PhD, Assoc. Professor at University of Texas at Austin”

John Neumann, PhD

University of Texas at Austin

Meryl is an ideal speaker for companies and organizations seeking to enhance their understanding and implementation of accessibility initiatives to drive positive change. She is a passionate accessibility consultant and advocate. Her knowledge, experience, insights, and strategies will help guide you on your accessibility journey. Her recent session, “Taking the ‘Progress Over Perfection’ Approach to… Read full testimonial “Lorraine Sturgeon, Online Learning Accessibility Coordinator at KCTCS”

Lorraine Sturgeon

Kentucky Community & Technical College System

Meryl is a committed disability inclusion advocate, who connects with people through her warmth and positive attitude. I met her last year through the North Texas Disability Chamber and since then, have seen how she’s a trusted source of information who leads by example. Meryl is someone I can consistently count on whether I’m asking… Read full testimonial “Nicole Ward at Dallas Regional Chamber”

Nicole Ward

Dallas Regional Chamber

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Haley Penrod, CPACC

Salesforce

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Allison Lindfors

Edrington

Meryl spoke at Workday’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) in May 2023. Her talk was one of the highlights of the multi-day event and wove together honesty, humor, and empathy to share her unique perspective and experience. She punctuated her talk with real-life examples of digital accessibility – and the trouble it causes when missing.… Read full testimonial “Pam Mayer, Product Accessibility Specialist Manager at Workday”

Pam Mayer

Workday

I’ve followed Meryl for a number of years now and I love reading her posts and attending opportunities to hear her speak. Even though I’m well versed in web accessibility and discuss it daily in multiple aspects of my life, Meryl’s got a terrific way of presenting information that gives me new ways to think… Read full testimonial “Jeff Adams, CPACC, Accessibility Operations Director”

Jeff Adams, CPACC

I have worked with Meryl Evans for several years and enjoyed every minute. She taught a class at AccessU in 2018 that provided rational as well as practical techniques for the provision of captions in communications platforms. Since then, she has spoken at many of our events and served as an advisor to Knowbility’s award… Read full testimonial “Sharron Rush, Executive Director at Knowbility”

Sharron Rush

Knowbility

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Gail Fuller

Disability & Philanthropy Forum

Meryl is a wonderful speaker! I had her join my panel to speak about disability, accessibility and inclusion and she was a pleasure to work with. She was super responsive before the big event, had clear communication, and was a professional. She showed up ready and on time for the event, and her contributions to… Read full testimonial “Jayde Malam, CPACC”

Jayde Malam, CPACC

Meryl presented to our internal employees on the importance of Progress over Perfection when it comes to accessibility. Her wit and knowledge were a breath of fresh air in an area that can be difficult to navigate, and she left our participants with usable knowledge to take forward in their daily work.

Sharon Joles, MBA, CPACC

Progressive

Meryl was fantastic at Flatiron Health’s event in honor of the 32nd Anniversary of the ADA! She gave our attendees several best practices, CTAs, and personal insight that exceeded our expectations. Meryl delivers the material in a nurturing and insightful style – never making the audience feel guilty for not previously implementing the best practices… Read full testimonial “Avisha Sanassie, DEI Program Associate Flatiron Health”

Avisha Sanassie

Flatiron Health

We asked Meryl to conduct a full audit of our most important trainings with accessibility in mind. She was awesome to work with – her expertise was amazing, her recommendations on-point, and most of all, her way of working was highly aligned with ours. All this has been extremely helpful to us in setting our… Read full testimonial “Paulo O’Campo, Regional CS L&D Manager, Netflix”

Paulo O'Campo

Netflix

We brought in Meryl to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the passing of the ADA. She gave a wonderfully informative, engaging, and interesting seminar to our company on a wide range of topics from business practices, team operation accessibility, and technical web accessibility standards. By pairing both her lived experiences and statistic data, she was… Read full testimonial “John McCall, Sr. Database Reliability Engineer at Flatiron Health”

John McCall, Sr.

Flatiron Health

We hosted Meryl as the inaugural guest speaker at an internal Employee Resource Group event, and she was an absolutely phenomenal presenter! Her insight and expertise in how we can make video / video conferencing, events, and the hybrid work model in general more inclusive and equitable was so valuable. We’ve already received great feedback… Read full testimonial “Stephen Duke, DEI Specialist, WP Engine”

Stephen Duke, DEI Specialist, WP Engine

WP Engine

Meryl was OUTSTANDING at WP Engine’s internal accessibility event today as part of our week of celebrations around the anniversary of the ADA. Her tips for accessibility with captions and virtual events were SUPER actionable and the insights she shared on considerations for accessibility were insightful, inspiring, and funny. As one of the event organizers… Read full testimonial “David Vogelpohl, VP Growth, WP Engine”

David Vogelpohl, VP Growth

WP Engine

Meryl was a guest speaker at our virtual GAAD panel event in May (2022). Meryl was an absolute delight to work with and did an amazing job on the panel with the rest of our senior leaders from our product organization as well as Purpose and Inclusion. We had ~500 attendees and we received a… Read full testimonial “Arpitha Shetty, Director, Accessibility and Inclusive Design, PwC”

Arpitha Shetty

PwC

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Laura Ayres

Tubi

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Samrawit Biyazin

PwC

Meryl Evans was my invited guest speaker for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) at ETS. Meryl was brilliant and authentic. She shared meaningful experiences that combined with her expertise, created actionable opportunities for our organization to enhance how we engage around accessibility. If you want to bring someone to your organization who is not only… Read full testimonial “Ida Jackson Woods, AVP, Chief Diversity Officer, ETS”

Ida Jackson Woods

ETS

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Vish Annampedu

NVIDIA

I know Meryl not only as an influential advocate and speaker, but also as a personable and capable partner in business. She has provided my organization with valuable feedback from the perspective of a person with hearing loss that has helped us to improve our product and services. Additionally, Meryl has helped me to better… Read full testimonial “John Sweet, CPACC, Sr. Director Accessibility and Technology Compliance at Pluto TV”

John Sweet, CPACC

Pluto TV

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Gina Meier

PCMA

Meryl came into my company and took control of our social media process recently. Immediately (within one month) we saw a 30% increase in traffic. Meryl has that communication factor that demonstrates she totally understands and connects with the social media world that we all work in. We are so happy to work with her… Read full testimonial “Thomas Logan, founder and CEO of Equal Entry”

Thomas Logan

Equal Entry

Meryl is just an incredible fountain of knowledge regarding accessibility, closed captioning, and social media platforms. Meryl was kind enough to spend time with a group of us at NBCUniversal to share her perspectives on the factors that go into the quality of closed captions in both broadcast and streaming video. It was an incredibly… Read full testimonial “Lori Samuels, NBCUniversal Media, LLC Accessibility Director”

Lori Samuels

NBCUniversal

I was fortunate to work with Meryl for several years on blogs and social media for my company. Meryl went above and beyond in every aspect of her work. Meryl’s writing is well researched, always targeted to the right audience and, importantly, interesting to read. Meryl has always been proactive to maintain an open communication… Read full testimonial “George Tatar, CEO at Akruto, Inc.”

George Tatar

Akruto

I’ve been through at least a dozen writers prior to finding Meryl. She’s the only one we use now and my entire team loves working with her. She writes for a variety of clients across multiple topics. In hundreds of pieces, I’ve had zero complaints from my clients. Her lightning fast turn around helps me… Read full testimonial “Kyle Thompson, owner, Big Fish Consulting”

Kyle Thompson

Big Fish Consulting

Working with Meryl Evans was always such a great experience. She has this innate ability to promote whatever it is you’re trying to do/sell/share. Her language is always professional and comes across very natural. She helped our company grow our social platforms and did it with such ease! She helped us connect with physicians and… Read full testimonial “Karla Quick, director of clinical marketing”

Karla Quick

Meryl has helped grow my organization, the Institute for Excellence in Sales, by effectively positioning it on multiple social media properties most notably LinkedIn and Twitter. She’s very attuned to getting attention on those properties and is also very proactive in helping her clients post frequently and optimally. She also has brought many fresh ideas… Read full testimonial “Fred Diamond, president and co-founder, IES”

Fred Diamond

Institute of Excellence in Sales

Meryl is whip-smart, highly energetic, and incredibly captivating speaker and advocate. We invited Meryl to speak at our annual accessibility conference in 2019, and our attendees loved her so much, we had to invite her back for 2020! Meryl really takes the time to really get to know her audience and assess what their needs… Read full testimonial “Jillian Fortin, communications director, Knowbility”

Jillian Fortin

Knowbility

I had the pleasure of hosting Meryl as a panelist and speaker for the Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2020. During preparation for this online event, Meryl proved herself to be an incredibly helpful and thoughtful professional. She was also very well prepared for the presentation and her eloquence and insights at the event contributed to… Read full testimonial “Stine Holmgaard, CEO, A.Miroe”

Stine Holmgaard

A.Miroe

Meryl Evans is a seasoned Internet professional and, dare I say it, unicorn, with a gift for social strategies and fluent, natural-sounding copy/editorial/SEO that advance her clients’s business interests and help them connect more deeply with their customers. I’ve known Meryl since the mid-1990s, when she was already an experienced web consultant and gifted writer.… Read full testimonial “Jeffrey Zeldman, author, founder, and publisher”

Jeffrey Zeldman

A List Apart

Meryl is a recommended and an endorsed resource for timely, relevant, and actionable content creation. We’ve worked together and I’ve recommended her to many colleagues over the past 15 years. Most recently she supported our digital marketing team at Park Place Dealerships with the creation of new model year overviews for over a dozen automotive… Read full testimonial “Frank R. Sobyak, founder, Dealership Partners”

Frank Sobyak, founder

Dealership Partners LLC

I have to say that working with Meryl has been one of the best experiences one can ask for! She is an excellent communicator (although we only use email), very clear on what is expected and she is always two steps ahead in the process, pointing out potential setbacks before they even occur. Meryl has… Read full testimonial “Sara Oblak Speicher, founder and president”

Sara Oblak Speicher, MBA

VBM Pro, Inc.

I highly recommend Meryl Evans as a professional writer and content maven. I worked for several years with Meryl in the telecommunications field. She was an analyst in the Process department and she served on many key projects with much success. As an analyst, she was responsible for the creation of technical requirements documents, test… Read full testimonial “Ann Fields”

Ann Fields

SBC Communnications, Inc.

I worked with Meryl for a number of years at SBC. I appreciated her professionalism and valued her work products. As a peer, I utilized the documentation she created, and I always found it to be accurate and of high quality. Meryl is a valuable professional with excellent communication skills, creativity, and polish. I recommend… Read full testimonial “Tracy Haver, Sr. Tech Team Lead, SBC (AT&T)”

Tracy Haver

SBC / AT&T

Meryl provides an awesome menu of digital marketing to help firms. The thoroughness of Meryl’s work is what really impressed me – quick turnaround, corrections and in addition – she provides the Why behind the suggestions that really open up the conversation. Loved the process!

Sue Lemm PMP®

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Heidi Medina

Talk to Heidi

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Louisa van Vessem

Workflow Virtual

In addition to being an accomplished writer herself, Meryl is a researcher supreme if you need someone knowledgeable about all things. She is fast, responsive and always ‘gets it’ with a minimum of communication. I recommend her services highly. She is a pleasure to work with.

Debbie Weil, founder and author

Wordbiz LLC

Meryl Evans has been an outstanding freelancer for PC Today Magazine. Her understanding of mobile technology has made her one of our go-to writers. Not only that, she’s extremely prompt and professional. It has been a pleasure to work with her.

Nate Hoppe, editor

Sandhills Publishing

Meryl Evans is the hardest working Managing Editor I have met. She is very proficient at her job and always meets if not exceeds my expectations. If I needed to hire a freelance editor, I would hire Meryl before anyone else.

Nick Finck

UX pro

Meryl K. Evans is not only a great editor and writer, her love for the Web and its denizens is apparent in all her activities. Whether keeping up with design and development issues via her own blog or other venues, Meryl is a leading voice in the cry for sensible, contemporary, and standards-based design.

Molly Holzschlag, author

It is a delight to work with Meryl. She delivers high quality work with great turnaround. I recommend her highly!

Judy Schramm, CEO

ProResource, Inc.

Meryl’s thoroughness and attention to detail have been key ingredients to the success of the book projects that we have worked on.

Todd Marks, author

Meryl is a joy to work with, whip smart, delivers her work on time and exceeds expectations, and is a great all-around person too! She has written several articles for a new Web site and takes pride in her work. I highly recommend her for this type of work. She truly is a content maven.… Read full testimonial “David Strom, writer and speaker”

David Strom, writer and speaker

David Strom, Inc.

I have a good stable [of contributors] — but not as many true writers who also know marketing, which is where I’d put Meryl.

Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer

MarketingProfs

Your work is super and you are responsive and dependable. I wish we could clone you. Meryl is also talented, fast, smart, reliable, a good communicator, and honest. A precious combination.

Bill Moore, CEO

Zello

When I think of “professional writer,” I think of Meryl. When I think of “personable” writer I think of Meryl. When I think of a “Git’er Done” writer, I think of Meryl. When I think of a truly caring and sharing person, in business and life, I think of Meryl. And … When I think… Read full testimonial “Steve Kayser, marketing and media relations pro”

Steve Kayser

Kayser Media