Accessible Presentations Creation

This is meant to serve as a starting place, rather than an end-all, be-all to access. Accessibility should be considered throughout all parts of the presentation design process, and designing accessible compositions benefits all people, not just those with disabilities.
 

With teaching, you might not have much flexibility in choosing your presentation spaces. However, you likely have control over how you engage participants within your presentations and class periods. For example, consider: 

• Lighting: The lighting in the room should be adequate and flexible. You may want to ask the following questions:
  • Can you adjust lights to minimize glare near screens?
  • Are any of the lights flickering (which may affect those with migraine or seizure disorders)? If so, can you change the lighting for that day until the flickering can be fixed?
     
• Pathways into Space: The pathways to get to and around the space should be flat (or ramped) and free from obstruction. Remind students to leave their belongings and charging cords out of the way of movement. At the beginning and end of class, the doorways should be able to be propped to ease entry.
   
• Restrooms and Personal Health Rooms: At the beginning of the presentation, remind students where the closest access to personal health rooms, restrooms with disability access, and all-gender restrooms are.
   
• Seating: The seating in the space can be moved for access to the tables. The seating should also have non-arm options to be flexible for different body types. The table heights (for both presenters and participants) should be between 28 and 34 inches from the floor.
   
• Pathways for Engagement: Consider access before requiring certain forms of engagement from participants. This includes reflection before asking them to stand up, look at visuals/listen, walk around, talk with others, etc. These pathways may be exclusionary from some who don’t have the ability to move or be in a place to communicate with others. In general, it’s recommended to have alternative pathways for engagement that will not exclude participants.
   
• Smells: Avoid as the educator wearing scented fragrances on days of the presentation.
   

Template Slides

We have created template slides for educators to use and adapt for their contexts. These template slides guide the user through accessibility considerations and were designed to be more accessible.

Planning for Accessible Presentations

In addition to the template, there are additional considerations for access with presentations.

Handouts

Any additional materials can be circulated electronically or in print. Consider bringing a few large print versions of the handout in 20-point font.

Captioning

Have a plan for captioning the presentation. Recorded presentations and any videos/audio within them should have captions. To caption real-time presentations, there are many options:

• Captioning with PowerPoint
• Captioning with Google Slides
• Captioning with Zoom

Content Warnings

Certain topics of discussion or multimedia depictions can trigger trauma reactions. For these, consider if they are necessary to the presentation, and if they are, give content warnings for the information.

Inclusive Delivery

There are many considerations for presentation delivery:

• Always use the microphone whenever it’s available, even if you have a loud voice. For participants who may not have a microphone, repeat their question or comment into the microphone before moving on. You will also want to have a conversational speaking speed, inclusive speech, and aural indicators.
• Acronyms should not be used without first defining them. The work should avoid jargon and idioms that are not understandable to a wide audience.
• Avoid using language that excludes and/or harms participants, such as genderist language (e.g., “ladies and gentlemen,” assuming the gender of a participant).
• Keep your speaking speed at a conversational level
• Integrate multimedia descriptions that are equivalent to the multimedia's alternative text verbally as you deliver the presentation