Making AER Meetings and Conferences Accessible to All

1. Making AER Meetings and Conferences Accessible to All Brought to you by your AER International Accessibility Committee

2. Topics to Cover • Accessibility Checklists • Conference Site • Hotel • Way Finding and Orientation • Proposal Submission • Registration and Check-in • Program Materials • Presentation • Presenter Handouts • Creating accessible PowerPoints

3. Conference Site • Use checklist to evaluate site • A “no” on any of these criteria might mean: • The site is not appropriate • Need to find an accommodation • Need to alert attendees during orientation

4. Conference Site Checklist • Sample items from checklist • Wheelchair accessibility • Stairs • Well lit • Railings available • High contrast on risers • Elevators • Labeled (braille/large print) • Audible tones

5. Conference Site Checklist (continued) • Sample items from checklist • Wheelchair accessibility • Stairs • Well lit • Railings available • High contrast on risers • Elevators • Wheelchair accessibel • Labeled (braille/large print) • Audible tones

6. Conference Site Checklist (continued) • Sample items from checklist • Wheelchair accessibility • Stairs • Well lit, railings, contrast on risers • Elevators • Labeled (braille/LP), audible tones • Dog relief areas • Acoustics / ambient noises • Meeting rooms • Labeled

7. Hotel Accessibility Checklist • Sample items from checklist • Guest rooms • Wheelchair accessible • Accommodations for hearing loss • Door labels • Tactilely accessible keys • Disability awareness training for staff • Nearby restaurants • Training for food servers

8. Way Finding and Orientation Accessibility Checklist • Sample items from checklist • Identify challenges • Orientation sessions for attendees • Notification of orientation availability • Volunteers at strategic points • Conference signage • High contrast • Bold • Large print

9. Proposal Submission Accessibility Checklist • Sample items from checklist • Accessible proposal submission forms • Test access of on-line submission • Screen reader • Screen magnification • Accessible review process

10. Registration and Check-in Checklist • Sample items from checklist • Paper registration • Printed registration forms • San-serif font • Clutter-free background • Registration forms in alternate formats • Contact info of form for assistance • Options for accessible materials listed on form

11. Registration and Check-in Checklist • Sample items from checklist • Online registration • Tested with • Screen reading software • Screen magnification software • Contact info of form for assistance • Options for accessible materials listed on form

12. Registration and Check-in Checklist • Sample items from checklist • On-site registration • Adequate signage indicating registration • Registration materials in alternate formats • Name tags • Sans serif font • High contrast • Clutter free background • First name as large as possible

13. Program MaterialsAccessibility Checklist • Sample items from checklist • Are members aware of choices • Electronic file names clearly identify contents of file • Electronic file formats • CD • Flash drive (USB stick) • On-line • Are advertisements, announcements, and other “last minute” program materials available in accessible formats?

14. PresentationAccessibility Checklist • Sample items from checklist • Make sure presenters are aware of • Items in this checklist • Accessible presentations webinar • http://mangold.aerbvi.org/past_events.htm • Simple non-cluttered design • Simple layout • Sans serif font • High contrast • 5-7 bullets per slide • 5-7 words per bullet

15. Presentation HandoutAccessibility Checklist • Sample items from checklist • Handouts in alternate formats • Sans serif font • High contrast • Dark ink on pastel paper • Braille properly formatted and proof-read • No print handouts unless available in alternate formats

16. Accessible Power Point Presentations • Available on AER website • http://mangold.aerbvi.org/past_events.htm

17. Guidelines for CreatingAccessible PowerPoint Presentations

18. Topics to Cover • Part 1: Making Your Presentation Accessible • Slide design & layout • Dealing with graphics, tables, charts, etc. • Slide transitions • Delivering the presentation • Part 2: Preparing accessible handouts

19. Making Your Presentation Visually Accessible • Use simple, non-cluttered design template • Use simple layout • Use sans serif fonts • Be mindful of color contrast issues • Avoid conveying information with emphasis or color alone • Limit quantity of text per slide

20. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Slide Design Selecting a design template • Simple • Non-cluttered • Good examples • Orbit, Refined, Beam, Slit • Bad examples • Competition, Proposal, Fireworks

21. Orbit Design Template Good example • Some color variation • Some background variation • Do not interfere with readability of text

22. Refined Design Template Good example • Varied text layout • Thick and thin borders • Do not interfere with text • Change bullet color

23. Beam Design Template Good example • Some color variation • Some background variation • Do not interfere with text

24. Slit Design Template Good example • Some color variation • Some background/texture variation • Do not interfere with text

25. Competition Design Template Bad example • Too much color variation • Too much in background • Text will be difficult to read across the slide

26. Proposal Design Template Bad example • Too cluttered • Space lost to non-essential graphics

27. Fireworks Design Template Bad example • Too much distraction with fireworks • Uses italics

28. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Slide Design Simple, non-cluttered design template • To find template names • Open Format menu • Select Slide Design • Hover mouse over thumbnail, name pops up

29. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Slide Design Simple, non-cluttered design template • Another option to find template names • Launch Windows Explorer program • Open Program Files folder • Open Microsoft Office folder • Open Templates folder • Open Presentation Design folder • Design templates listed by name

30. Making Your Presentation Accessible - Fonts • Use sans-serif fonts • APHont • Verdana • Tahoma • Arial?? • Uppercase i, lowercase l, (Illusion) • Use Bold

31. Making Your Presentation Accessible - Fonts • Don’t use • Times New Roman, Courier New • Avoid Italics • Titles of slides: 48-64 point bold • Bullets and text: 24-46 point bold • Save often

32. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Text and Background Color Be mindful of color contrast issues • Use light text on a dark background • yellow on black • white on dark blue • white on black • light yellow on dark green

33. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Text and Background Color Be mindful of color contrast issues • Avoid dark text on light background • Looking into bright light • Pupils may constrict • Hard to see text

34. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Text & Background Color Samples of contrast: text and backgrounds High Contrast High Contrast Low Contrast Very Low Contrast

35. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Color / Emphasis Conveying information with color and emphasis • Here are some important words • Emphasize text in verbal presentation (loudness, pitch), or • Say: “The phrase ‘important words’ is colored red and emphasized with underlining.”

36. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Colored Text If color used to convey information… Explain information conveyed Example:Product List (green= new) • Web weenies • Prompt junkies • PowerPoint prodigies • Touring trainers • Inspiring ice breakers (read list, say "prompt" and "touring" are new)

37. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Quantity of Text • Limit number of bullet points • 5-7 bullets/lines per slide • Total quantity of text per slide • Maximum 5-7 words per bullet/line • Make points short and concise • Save often

38. Making Your Presentation Accessible - Levels • Promoting and demoting text • Makes reading easier for everyone • Use levels • Under bullet points • When desired • Each sublevel uses smaller text

39. Making Your Presentation Accessible - Levels • If slide has only a few points You can • Adjust font size to fill slide

40. Example: Retirement • Traveling • Around the world • Relaxing • In a hammock • Visiting • Children and grandkids

41. Unfortunately there’s no honoraria

42. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Slide Layout • Title & Text layout is probably best • Others can work • Some elements may need • Verbal descriptions • Extra step for handouts

43. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Slide Layout Will slide content be accessible? • To check • Select Outline view • Left side of screen • Is all text viewable? • Check carefully (text boxes) • You’re good to go

44. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Slide Layout Will slide content be accessible? • Checking? • If not • You’ve probably used graphical text elements • How to fix • Add description with “alt” text • (see later slide)

45. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Slide Layout • Graphical elements • Photos • Clip art • Graphs • Charts • Diagrams • Text boxes Example of a text box with a border.

46. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Graphic Description • Add descriptive “alt” text for accessibility • Select graphic element • Right click, or • Press Shift+F10 • Opens menu, choose “Format …” • Picture, Text box, Object, etc.

47. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Graphic Description • Add descriptive “alt” text for accessibility • Select the “Web” tab • An edit field opens • Press Tab key or left click in field • Type description of graphical element • Press Tab key & Enter • Or choose OK button

48. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Slide Transitions • Use sound transitions • Audio cue for slide change • Easier to follow • Use subtle sound

49. Making Your Presentation Accessible – Slide Transitions Here’s how • Open the Slide Show menu • Select Slide Transition… • Under Modify transition • Select Sound drop down menu • Choose sound (Good / Bad sounds) • Further down select Apply to All Slides

50. Delivering the Presentation • State that presentation will contain • Text on screen • Graphics on screen • Invite viewers to move forward • Turn off lights close to screen