Conversation Calendar

Bring your calendar to life.

Your organization’s calendar tells members what’s happening. Vorail gives them a place to talk about it, meet the people coming, and stay connected afterwards.

Every event starts a conversation—before, during, and after.

Give your events a voice

Your calendar might be a webpage, a PDF, a newsletter, or a Google Calendar. It helps members find a date, a time, and a place.

The Conversation Calendar builds on that familiar idea. The host introduces each event in their own voice. Members sign up by saying their name and what they are looking forward to. They can hear who is coming, ask questions, and start getting to know one another before they arrive.

After the event, that same conversation stays open. A question asked during a workshop can become a discussion the next day. A class can become a community that keeps talking long after the final session.

Keep the calendar your organization already uses. Use Vorail to give your events a place where people connect.

Arrive already knowing someone

When you create an event, you record a short introduction: what it is, who it’s for, and what to bring. Your voice is what members hear first.

To sign up, each member records a short answer with their name and what they are looking forward to. That spoken introduction is part of joining every event.

Members can listen to the people coming and exchange questions and ideas. Someone arriving for the first time can already recognize a few voices—and those people can already know what brought them there.

Members can also ask for a buddy and be paired with someone else who asked, giving them a person to connect with before the event.

For blind members, hearing someone’s voice offers a direct, personal way to become familiar with them.

A conversation that stays open

Every event has a conversation where members can ask the host questions, introduce themselves, and follow up afterwards. It stays open before, during, and after the event.

Members who cannot attend can still say, “I can’t make it, but…” and join the discussion.

For recurring classes and events, one conversation continues across the whole series. When a class ends, it becomes the alumni conversation. Everyone who attended can keep talking there for as long as they like.

Organizers can also record a closing question, such as “What is one thing you are taking away?” It is posted automatically to the town square when the event ends, inviting members to keep the conversation going.

A calendar your members can hear

Inside your organization’s private town square in Vorail, the Conversation Calendar sits alongside the Questions and Answers feeds.

Events appear in a simple spoken list, grouped by when they happen: happening now, today, tomorrow, this week, later, and past.

Each event reads naturally:

“In 2 days, Thursday, September 17 at 7:00 PM. Screen-reader help session. Hosted by Ron. 5 coming.”

Open an event to hear the host’s introduction, listen to who is coming, sign up, or join the conversation.

Members can add an event to their phone’s calendar with a reminder, or add it to Google Calendar. They can also subscribe to the town square’s whole calendar in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook. New events, time changes, and cancellations then appear automatically.

Events and their conversations are private to your town square’s members.

What organizers can do today

• Introduce an event by voice. Record what it is, then add the title, date, time, duration, and location.
• Bring people together in different places. Hold events in person, by phone or video call, on Vorail, or in person and online at the same time. Hybrid events include an address and a link to join online.
• Share something before the event. Attach a link to an article, song, video, or page with more details. Supported audio and video play inside Vorail; webpages open at their source.
• Manage places. Set a capacity. When the event is full, members can join a waiting list and move up automatically if someone drops out.
• Offer buddies. Members who ask for a buddy are paired with another member who also asked.
• Run a recurring event or class. Add the next session with one tap. The original recording carries over, and the conversation continues between sessions.
• Invite reflection afterwards. Record a closing question that posts automatically to the town square when the event ends.
• Keep members informed when plans change. Edit or cancel an event, or end a class. A cancelled event’s conversation stays open so you can explain the change in your own voice.

What members can do today

• Hear about an event from its host. Listen to the organizer’s own introduction.
• Join with an introduction. Say your name and what you are looking forward to.
• Get to know who is coming. Listen to members’ introductions, ask questions, and exchange ideas.
• Ask for a buddy. Connect with another member who has also requested one.
• Participate even when you cannot attend. Leave a “can’t make it, but…” message and stay part of the conversation.
• Keep events in your usual calendar. Add an individual event to your phone’s calendar with a reminder an hour before, or add it to Google Calendar.
• Subscribe to the whole calendar. Receive new events, changed times, and cancellations in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook. Each member’s subscription link is private and stops working if they leave the town square.
• Explore material the host shares. Listen to or watch attached media, or open a linked webpage.
• Follow the conversation. Subscribe with the bell. When you return to the town square, you can hear how many new answers have arrived since you last listened.
• Record that you attended. Tap “I was there” after an event, even if you did not sign up beforehand.
• Stay involved after a class. See how many sessions you attended and, when the class ends, indicate that you are happy to answer questions from newcomers to the next run.
• Keep in touch with people you meet. Follow a member to be told when they ask something new.

The Conversation Calendar uses the same familiar actions as Vorail’s main feeds: listen to all answers, answer, like, subscribe, and access Follow, Block, Mute, and Report.

Built to work with VoiceOver

The Conversation Calendar is fully accessible with VoiceOver.

There is no month grid to navigate. Each event is a single element that reads naturally, with relative dates first—“in 2 days”—followed by the full date. Actions are available through the actions rotor.

When a recording includes a link, members hear that a link is attached and which site it goes to before deciding whether to open it. Calendar subscription steps are spoken too.

Works alongside your existing calendar

You can continue using your webpage, PDF, newsletter, or calendar service to announce events. Creating those events in Vorail gives members a place to introduce themselves and talk.

The Conversation Calendar includes the practical essentials: dates, local time zones, locations, capacity, recurring events, and subscriptions for members’ usual calendar apps.

Its focus is the connection around each event. Month grids, drag-and-drop scheduling, free/busy times, email invitations, and access for guests outside your town square are left to your existing tools.

What could come next

These possibilities will be shaped by feedback from organizations and members:

• Introductions for buddies. Today, paired members see each other’s names and can send a message. Vorail could make that first introduction for them.
• A welcome for first-time participants. A “new to the square” mention in the roll call could help regulars know whom to welcome.
• Recognition on the event itself. Members could hear “your fourth session” directly on the event row.
• Connections between class groups. A new class could link to the previous group’s conversation and suggest alumni who are happy to answer questions.
• Invitations for alumni. Past participants could be invited back to welcome a new group.
• Classes that end automatically. A class could close its scheduled run after the final session while keeping its conversation open.
• A host for one event. Organizations could appoint an event host without making that person an organizer of the whole town square.
• Closing questions inside the event conversation. Today, closing questions post to the whole town square. They could move into the event’s own conversation.
• Voice hours on Vorail. A timed session of host prompts and member answers could let organizations run events without a room or video service.
• Listen to the whole week. A play-all option could read upcoming events one after another, including in Car Mode.
• Reminders inside Vorail. These could complement reminders from members’ phone calendars.
• Android availability. The Conversation Calendar is coming to the Android app.

Bring your calendar to life

Your organization gets its own private town square inside Vorail, with an invite code for members.

Creating your first event takes about two minutes: record an introduction, add the details, and put it on the calendar. Members join by introducing themselves in their own voices.

To set up your town square or see the Conversation Calendar in action, contact Vorail.