Making Virtual Events Accessible
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Teams are coming together to celebrate the past 12 months, plan the next, and gear towards some well-deserved time off.
Our team has been busy working with our colleagues to make sure all of VMware’s events are accessible. My colleague Sheri Byrne Haber wrote a great article about making in-person events accessible.
What about virtual events? The pandemic is still causing organizations to hold most events online. The good news is that it is easy to make online events accessible to everyone if you remember to bake it in from the start. Below is a list of things to consider to ensure everyone can participate in and enjoy the experience.
Virtual event accessibility checklist
Planning a virtual event
- Most invitations are emailed or posted to social media. If you are adding images to your invitation, ensure those images and logos have alternative text — image descriptions — for people who use screen readers.
- Mark headings and use the correct heading hierarchy to make it easier for screen readers.
- Provide a space for attendees to make accommodation requests. It can be as simple as adding in your invite: “If you require any accommodations, please reach out to xyz”.
- Add captions if you have video.
- If you are using an invitation tool like Eventbrite, check the tool for accessibility.
- Provide a link to attendees to access slides before the presentation.
During the virtual event
- Make sure everyone can participate. Start the event with presenters stating their names and short visual description before they begin speaking. This orients participants who cannot see the screen.
- Noisy events can make it difficult to hear. Mute individuals when they are not speaking.
- Some people might prefer written vs verbal communication. Provide the chat option to comment or ask questions and assign a moderator to read notes made in chat out loud.
- If you use chat or polls, read questions out loud and give attendees plenty of time to respond.
- Provide captions during the event. Captions make content accessible for attendees who are deaf, hard of hearing or English language learners.
- If you are using PPT or going to share other documentation during the presentation, check all content for accessibility. Microsoft and Google have great resources on how to make presentations accessible to people with disabilities.
- Make sure to provide a resource document with any links mentioned during the presentation.
- When presenting, make sure you summarize key takeaways, images or bullet points.
- If you are showing videos, make sure they are captioned.
After the virtual event
- Ensure the event recording is captioned.
- If you are posting any images taken during the event, be sure to add alt text.
- If you are posting on social media, here is a good resource on making your social media accessible
Using these simple best practices will allow everyone to participate, not only this December but year round.
Happy holidays and here is to an inclusive and accessible 2022.
