Meeting Everyone’s Needs: Tips for Creating Accessible and Inclusive Meetings
In today's world, it is more important than ever to create environments that are accessible and inclusive to everyone. This includes hosting accessible and inclusive meetings. Ensuring your online and in-person meetings are accessible helps remove barriers that can prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in the discussion and decision-making. It also helps organizations create a collaborative environment and a culture of belonging.
While the following list of tips and best practices is not exhaustive, consider them to ensure that your meetings are accessible and inclusive for people with different abilities.
Preparing for Your Meeting
Hosting an accessible and inclusive meeting starts with including accessibility in the planning process. To do so, I recommend choosing a digital or physical space that is accessible. This may mean asking attendees before the meeting if they have any requirements and then ensuring that those accessibility accommodations are in place.
Digital Meeting Considerations
For online meetings, choose a digital platform such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams that have built-in accessibility features such as:
- Closed captioning. This is a feature that allows text displayed on the screen to represent the spoken or audio content. This is not only helpful for people who are D/deaf or hard of hearing but also helps clarify spoken language where attendees might have different accents or speak quickly.
- High contrast mode. This feature supports people with low vision as it helps them better visualize what is being presented on the screen.
- Magnifier tool. Another useful feature for people with low vision is the magnifier tool, which allows people to zoom in on areas of the screen.
- Transcript. A transcript is very helpful for everyone following the conversation to go back and review what was discussed.
- Chat mute. Screen reader users receive a message from their software every time a message appears in the chat, thus disrupting the conversation. Muting the chat allows everyone to focus on what is being presented without distraction.
All these accessibility features empower people with disabilities to easily participate and engage with content at the same time as everyone else.
In Person Meeting Considerations
If you are hosting your event in person, some considerations include:
- Choose a location on the ground floor or with an elevator.
- Ensure that the site has accessible parking spaces.
- Ensure universal washrooms are located close to the meeting room.
- Ensure emergency exit procedures and strategies for people with disabilities are in place, including visual fire alarms and other visual and audible notifications.
- Consider the seating arrangement of speakers to ensure all people are included (e.g. have all speakers seated).
- Ensure there are diverse seating options (e.g. seating with armrest and back support, seating at tables with knee clearances), and wheelchair users are not forced to sit in the back of the room.
- Ensure there is a clear and wide path of travel throughout the event.
All About Accessible Communications
Once the digital/physical space has been selected, now is the time to consider how to make your meeting communications accessible to all participants:
- Include an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter and live captioning at all events and for virtual attendees.
- Reconsider using podiums for speakers, as not all people will be able to use them.
- Consider the use of lapel mics instead of handheld ones.
- Depending on the size of the space, provide hearing loops located throughout the meeting space so people who are hard of hearing / use hearing devices can better participate.
- Ensure your meeting materials, such as agenda and slides, are accessible (e.g. use good colour contrast, use a dyslexia-friendly font, and provide alt-text for images).
- When possible, share electronic meeting agendas and the content of slides or presentations in advance. • Use accessible and plain language. Simple words and short sentences are the way to go.
- Ask the speaker to clearly communicate the content on each slide so that participants who are blind or have low vision can access all the information.
- Share recordings of the sessions following the event with captions and ASL interpretation embedded.
Tips for Meeting Hosts
Incorporate these best practices to ensure that your meeting is accessible and inclusive:
- If you have an ASL interpreter, ensure they are positioned in clear view.
- Have people identify themselves before they speak so that the audience knows who is speaking.
- Describe any images or graphics projected on slides.
- Ensure participants position themselves close enough to the microphone to be heard clearly.
- Ensure participants speak slowly and clearly.
- Repeat or paraphrase any questions to make sure everyone can hear them.
- Ensure someone monitors the chat and reads out comments so everyone can hear them.
- Remind participants to be mindful of posting emojis in the meeting chat as they are disruptive to people using screen readers.
- Avoid using light-coloured markers.
Making meetings accessible and inclusive is not just about accommodating differences. It’s about harnessing the power of diversity to create a stronger and more united team.
