Canada’s inclusive communication expert
Denis Boudreau is a consultant, trainer, coach, and speaker, specialized in helping organizations create truly inclusive digital experiences for everyone, including people marginalized by technology due to disabilities, ageing, or other circumstances. His mission is to empower people to truly connect with organizations, their brands, and the messages they convey.
Denis works with leaders who want to develop inclusive communication skills online or from the stage, for themselves, or for their teams. Over the years, he has spoken to and trained audiences on inclusive communication across Canada, the United States, France, Spain, Sweden, and China. He has worked closely with individuals from vastly different sectors and industries and has taken his expertise to hundreds of organizations around the world. To this day, he has delivered hundreds of workshops and training sessions in both English and French and has provided counsel to managers and management teams to help them increase the reach of their message to hundreds of thousands of people and has trained thousands more on inclusive communication principles.
Denis is a Certified Virtual Presenter, a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), a Certified Web Accessibility Specialist (CWAS), and a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA), a designation that only about 300 consultants worldwide can claim. As one of Canada’s top inclusive communications experts, Denis empowers busy professionals with powerful tools to communicate more inclusively with their audiences, by removing the barriers that can get in the way of up to 40% of their audience who struggle with our use of technology – including those who have disabilities or are simply getting older.
Over time, Denis has worked with professionals from companies such as Akufen Studio, Aldo Group, American Airlines, belairdirect, Bell Canada, Cathay Pacific, CCQ, CGI Group, Cirque du Soleil, City of Montreal, Deque Systems, Desjardins, Exo, Hydro-Québec, IBM, Intact Insurance, Investissement Québec, Knowbility, La Presse, Lightspeed POS, MACM, MCQ, Nurun, Parc Olympique de Montréal, SAQ, Sidlee, Simply Accessible, SPVM, Stikeman Elliott LLP, STM, Telus, Temesis, TFO Media Group, Turbulent, Videotron and dozens of organizations from both the Canadian Federal and Quebec Provincial Governments.
Denis’ credentials
- 25 years of focus on inclusion for people with disabilities, the elderly and those marginalized by technology in the digital space.
- 20 years of active thought leadership, professionally acting as one of the world’s top digital accessibility management consultants.
- Ranked by Onalytica as the 7th most influential voice in the industry on the topics of accessibility and disability inclusion.
- One of the first consultants worldwide to claim the CPWA designation from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals.
- World Wide Web Consortium invited expert, participating in the development and promotion of international accessibility guidelines.
- Regularly invited to speak in French and English at local, national and international events and conferences for over 20 years.
- Trained well over 15,000 people on inclusive communication and digital accessibility principles over the past 20 years.
- 2020-2021, Past-President of the Quebec Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS).
- 2022-2025, Acting Director of the National Board of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS).
- Co-author of the first-ever version of the Quebec Government’s set of mandatory digital accessibility guidelines.
- Author of the Amazon Best-Selling book “The Inclusive Speaker – How to truly connect with all of your audience…” (2023).
- Frequently recognized as one of the top writers on the topic of Diversity on Medium.
Professional designations – CVP, CPACC, WAS, CPWA
Certified Virtual Presenter Qualification (eSpeakers)
Denis is a Certified Virtual Presenter, confirming that he has developed the tools, the environment, and the skills needed to perform a high- quality remote presentation via live video. If you’re going to invest your valuable time, resources, and effort in a virtual speaker – for yourself, your team, or your client – you might as well ensure that this speaker will successfully deliver their message remotely, with as much impact as possible. This certification guarantees Denis can deliver on such a promise.
Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (IAAP – CPACC)
Denis is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies, a designation that represents broad, cross-disciplinary conceptual knowledge about disabilities, accessibility, universal design, and accessibility-related standards, laws, and management strategies. This certification means that Denis has internationally-recognized expertise relevant to domains such as the web and other digital technologies, architecture and the built environment, consumer and industrial design, transportation systems, and any domain in which thoughtful design, policy, and management can improve disability access.
Certified Web Accessibility Specialist (IAAP – WAS)
Denis is a Certified Web Accessibility Specialist, attesting that he has internationally-recognized expertise when it comes to evaluating and auditing the degree of accessibility of existing content or objects according to published technical standards and guidelines, as well as the skillsets required to provide detailed remediation recommendations to cross-functional teams and organizations. This certification means that Denis knows and uses the relevant techniques and technologies, to help his clients achieve their goals for digital inclusion and accessibility compliance with various international standards and laws.
Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (IAAP – CPWA)
This designation is earned by individuals who successfully pass both the Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) and the Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) exams. It means that Denis has internationally-recognized expertise relating to a broad, cross-disciplinary conceptual knowledge about disabilities, accessibility, universal design, and accessibility-related standards, laws, and management strategies, along with the technical expertise and hands-on experience to work with organizations on strategizing, writing, remediating, or identifying accessibility issues in code.
Did you know?
Findings from the Conference Board of Canada suggest that the share of people with disabilities in the overall Canadian consumer market will rise sharply over the coming years. In 2017, the consumer market for Canadians with physical disabilities made up about $165 billion CAD or 14.3% of the total consumer market in the country. By 2030, this share will reach 21%, with spending rising to $316 billion CAD annually. Is your business even aware of this untapped market?