Presenters: How to Deliver an Inclusive Presentation
The CSCW conference is becoming increasingly diverse, with attendees from all over the world who represent varied gender, racial, ethnic, disability, and other identities. As a presenter, there are steps you can take to ensure that your message can be heard and understood by the widest possible audience. The following guidelines draw from and extend Kyle Rector’s Accessible Presentation Guide. Please refer there for more details.
When designing your slides, please:
- Use a large font (size 18+) and adequate color contrast.
- Use minimal text on each slide.
- Check that slides are suitable for color blind audience members. Consider using a simulator like Colblinder.
- Add accurate closed captions to embedded videos.
When presenting your slides to the audience, please:
- Turn on and test auto-captions before you present (Google Slides, Microsoft PPT)
- Speak clearly into the microphone. Please test and adjust before you begin. Be careful not to turn your head away as you speak when, for example, referring to the projection.
- Speak at your normal speed, unless a sign language interpreter asks you to slow down.
- Speak every word on the slide, or otherwise verbally cover all the information.
- Avoid using jargon or regionally-based idioms that may confuse an international audience.
- Use the room’s speakers to process any audio in your presentation, to help make it audible to hard of hearing audience members.
- Verbalize a description of the diagrams, photos, and videos in your presentation which are used to convey important information (not just decorative). This will assist blind and low vision audience members, as well as those who do not have a clear line of sight to the projection.
- If an audience member does not speak into the microphone, always repeat the question into the mic before answering.
- If applicable, warn the audience if you will be presenting sensitive content in your talk.
If you have any questions or concerns about accessibility, please feel free to reach out to this year’s Accessibility Chairs: Vaishnav Kameswaran, Tiffany Knearem, and Arthur Theil.