Accessible Presentations & Content

Designing and Delivering Inclusive Presentations

Helpful tips for designing accessible presentations and delivering inclusive presentations from our experts at Central Washington University and Western Washington University.

Five Tips for Accessible Presentation Material

1. Use Clear and Consistent Design

Use a consistent layout for slides to help your audience anticipate the structure of your presentation. Choose a simple and clear design template for your slides with good color contrast. Avoid busy backgrounds and use font color that is high-contrast text (e.g., dark text on a light background).

2. Provide Descriptive & Consistent Structure

Use meaningful and concise slide titles that convey the main point or topic of each slide. Structure your content using clear and hierarchical headings (e.g., heading styles in presentation software like PowerPoint). This helps screen readers and users with cognitive disabilities navigate your slides more easily.

3. Use Consistent Font Style and Size

Choose accessible fonts that are easy to read, such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Avoid decorative or overly stylized fonts. Use a font size of at least 24pt for body text and larger for headings to ensure readability, especially in larger presentation rooms. This will also help you avoid putting too much textual content on one slide.

4. Alternative Text for Images and Graphics

For images, graphics, and charts, include descriptive alt text that conveys the essential information for screen readers and individuals with visual impairments. If you use icons or symbols, provide a legend or textual explanation for their meaning.

5. Provide Descriptive and Meaningful Hyperlinks

Use descriptive anchor text that clearly conveys the purpose or destination of the link, making them descriptive enough so that screen readers and individuals with disabilities can understand their purpose. Avoid generic terms like "click here" and instead use specific and concise language. Ensure that the hyperlink leads to a relevant and trustworthy source, providing valuable information or context to the reader.

Five Tips to Delivering an Inclusive Presentation

1. Speak Clearly and at a Moderate Pace.

Rushing your speech risks overwhelming your audience with too much information. Speaking at a slower pace will help your audience process the content of your presentation and improve engagement.

2. Use Plain Language and Avoid Technical Jargon

Clear and simple language benefits all attendees, including those who may not be familiar with specialized terminology.

3. Provide Opportunities for Both Reflection and Interaction

Encourage questions and participation from your audience, allowing individuals to seek clarifications or provide feedback if needed. Give space for brief quiet reflection, as well as an opportunity to talk to a neighbor to hear another perspective. This helps everyone feel included and engaged in the discussion.

4. Use live Captioning or Subtitles During Your Presentation

Representing language visually supports not only persons who are deaf and hard of hearing, but also those who struggle with auditory processing. Learn how to live caption in Google Slide and how to turn on subtitles with PowerPoint. Keep in mind, you need the web version or an Office 365 subscription to access the subtitle feature in PowerPoint.

5. Use Visual and Verbal Descriptions

Offer verbal descriptions of visual content, such as images, charts, and graphs, so that those who cannot see the visuals can still grasp their significance. For example, you might say, "In this chart, the blue bars represent X, and the red bars represent Y."

More Tips & Tricks for Making Your Ideas Accessible

Microsoft Enable offers a wide range of videos on how to make your words and ideas available to anyone who wishes to explore them. Searching for more accessibility training? Check out the training videos on LinkedIn and our Accessibility Fundamentals course.

- LinkedIn: aka.ms/modernworkaccessibility
- Accessibility Fundamentals Course: aka.ms/accessibilityfundamentals

Google Accessibility offers its own library of videos. Watch accessibility updates and product demos, hear stories from the community, and get an inside look at how we work to build for everyone.

Accessible Slides in PowerPoint

Accessible Slides in Google Slides

Delivering Presentations with Accessibility in Mind

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