Overview

This lesson walks through the steps to make sure your webinar and virtual meetings are accessible for people with disabilities (and better for everyone attending).

Core Concepts

Webinar Platform & Access Options

Webinar platforms can be tricky to navigate for folks using assistive technology. You're probably already familiar with the distraction that chat boxes may create when trying to follow a presentation - now imagine if you had to listen to the chat and navigation options on top of the presentation audio. There are a lot of moving parts in a webinar and it's helpful for all users if you mitigate some of the confusion and keep participation and navigation as simple as possible.

Luckily, most webinar platforms allow call-in options. This can be the best approach for some folks, as it means that they can access the audio portion of the webinar in a simpler and more user-friendly way. Sending out webinar materials, like your slide deck or handouts, beforehand can further assist folks calling in. If that's not possible, just be sure you cover all of the info on the slides/screen verbally while presenting (that's just good presenting).

Simply put, always include the call-in info when sending a webinar or Webex invite.

The Invite/Announcement

When preparing for a meeting or webinar, determine if you need to have folks register beforehand. If it's a small group and you're familiar with everyone and have already determined that no one will need accommodations, then a calendar invite will usually suffice.

If you're holding an event for a larger audience, it's recommended that you have participants register. This is beneficial in that 1) you know how many people to expect, 2) you can add a question about accommodations to the registration, and 3) you have a collection of participant emails in which to send webinar materials and recordings afterward.

Sample accommodation question for registration:

This webinar will be held in Webex. Please let us know if you need any of the following accommodations:

Live captions
Digital/text versions of webinar materials
Other

If you're holding a meeting or webinar open to the public and do not want/need to have participants register, then you should plan with accessibility in mind from the start. It's safe to assume that when dealing with the general public about 10% of your audience has some form of disability (when offering webinars to our system and other state agencies, I've consistently had about 12% of participants request live captions). If you forgo a registration process where you can allow participants to identify the need for accommodations, then you should be prepared to provide them.

Many people ask about having participants contact the host for accommodations. This is a common strategy, but you're putting the burden on the person with a disability to take time out of their day to tell you to do the right thing. If I sprain my ankle I don't need to call work, the grocery store, or any other public or government agency asking them to remove the stairs and add an elevator. The burden is on the host to ensure an accessible venue.

Webinar Materials

Just like any other resources, design your webinar materials with accessibility in mind. Review the Accessible Design Principles, Creating Accessible Word Documents, and Creating Accessible PowerPoints for assistance.

Live/Real-time Captions

If your participants have noted that they will need live captions, or if you're holding a meeting/webinar open to the public, you will need to coordinate with your department's contract person to arrange live captions.

Live captions (also called CART and real-time captioning) allow someone unable to access the audio to follow along by reading text of the audio on the screen. This is necessary for participants with hearing loss or deafness, but it's also incredibly valuable when someone's audio fails them, or if the speaker is hard to follow/a fast talker, and in some cases you can scroll back through captions, allowing you to review any audio you may have missed.

When you arrange for live captions, you'll want to provide the webinar materials to the caption provider. They use your materials to ensure that names, acronyms, and meeting specific language is spelled correctly in order to make sure the captions are as accurate as possible.

If you are holding the webinar in Webex, your live caption provider may give you a link that allows folks to access the live captions. I recommend sending this link out with the webinar/meeting reminder or announcement - this helps ensure that all participants know how to access the live captions from the start and will not need to interrupt the presentation to get the link from you.

I also recommend having someone to monitor the webinar chat and provide the link via the chat as people enter the room. Late arrivals do not have access to previous chat messages and may have missed your announcement about live captions being made available. Having a chat monitor is always helpful in allowing the presenter to focus on the presentation while someone else is on hand to assist with troubleshooting.

Webinar Recordings

When sending out a webinar recording you will want to make sure the recording is captioned. If you receive the transcripts of the live captions, you can review the transcript for any mistakes (there are always mistakes with live captions), correct any mistakes, then upload it to YouTube where YouTube will automatically sync the text with the audio. Review Creating Accessible Videos: Captioning for step by step instructions.

If you do not have a transcript of the live captions, you will want to use the SBCTC Caption Hub to request captions for your video.

Additional Tips

Describe images and graphics when giving a presentation (this will benefit folks that have to call in, in addition to people with vision impairment) - just pretend like half of your audience called in and can't see the screen.

Have people identify themselves before they speak.

If you know them, provide the keyboard shortcut when asking participants to complete certain tasks (e.g. "Please be sure to mute your microphone if you are not speaking by clicking on the microphone icon or press Control + M on your keyboard.")

Disable entry and exit tones (it's annoying and distracting for everyone).

Explain how the webinar materials have been/will be distributed at the start of the webinar.

If live captions are available, make note of how to access them in the webinar invite and at the start of the webinar (and again through the chat for those that arrive late).

When responding verbally to questions in the chat, read the question aloud first for folks that cannot see or do not have the chat box open.

Allow people options for how to ask questions - through chat, the microphone, etc.

Additional Resources

Accessible webinars – making online work for everyone - What is most valuable about this resource is that it points out some of the stresses or obstacles that people with disabilities may face in a webinar/web conference setting. I disagree with some points (this is a good example of how there's not full agreement on some practices), but all in all, they make solid points.
Webinar software round-up – are there any accessible options out there? - This review is a year old, but it does a great job of walking you through the criteria that evaluators look at when considering how accessible a webinar platform is.
Webex: Tips and Tricks for Using Audio - Scroll down for instructions on turning off the entry and exit tones.
Accessibility Checklist: Webinars - A checklist to help you plan and host an accessible webinar. This also links to a resource that you can share with any guest presenters that might not be familiar with accessible practices.

Face to Face Events (Optional)

This training focuses on digital accessibility, but for those interested in how to apply accessible practices to face to face events, check out Accessible Meetings & Events.