HOW TO MAKE YOUR CONFERENCE ACCESSIBLE – AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE!

IDENTIFY NEEDS EARLY

It will be easier for you to accommodate people’s needs if you are aware of them early on. Ask on the attendee or speaker registration form if they need reasonable accommodations. This will give them a chance to explain their needs and give you an opportunity to meet those needs.

You can do this by providing a free form textbox for people to tell you what accommodation they need. You could also provide a series of checkboxes with some of the most usual requests for accommodation (in no particular order):

·       Wheelchair access

·       Allowing a personal attendant to get in for free

·       Sign language interpreter

·       Video captioning

·       Alternative formats (Braille, large print, electronic formats)

·       Dietary restrictions

·       Scent free

·       Do point out that you will attempt to provide the accommodation but that you make no promise! If for any reason you end up being unable to hire an interpreter and you promised one, it will not only make for a bad experience for the Deaf attendee, but reflect badly on your event.

CONCLUSION

If you’ve read this far, you realize how many things could be done to reduce barriers to participation at your event.

As I said early on, this is not an exhaustive list. It is a series of items to help you get started on your journey to improving accessibility. Don’t be daunted. It could feel overwhelming. You might decide that perhaps if you can’t do all these things, you might as well do none. In fact, you are better off implementing as many as you can, even if it’s just a handful.

How have you made your conference more accessible for all people?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca

HOW TO MAKE YOUR CONFERENCE ACCESSIBLE – AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE!

SOCIAL EVENTS

Conference often have official social events in the evenings. There are also social events organized by sponsors or attendees. These events are part of the conference experience, whether official or not and should be as accessible as possible. When selecting a venue for a social event, whether it is the speaker’s diner or a networking meetup, keep in mind the accessibility of the venue, like you would for your conference venue.

I remember being invited to a speaker dinner, held on the second floor of a posh restaurant that had no elevator. There were a couple tables setup on the ground floor for “overflow”, and that is where I ended up eating, with a handful of other people. It was an embarrassing experience for me, and I imagine for the event organizers as well.

TRANSPORTATION

If you offer transportation from the airport to the venue, consider whether or not the shuttles are wheelchair accessible. It is obviously not always possible to organise accessible shuttles or busses (lack of availability or high cost). When that’s the case, think of alternate solutions: Can you organize taxi vouchers for your attendees/speakers who are using wheelchairs? Can you rent an accessible van to organize pick up and drop off at the airport?

SCENT FREE

More and more people are having problems dealing with scents. Some people may have allergic reactions that cause lips to tingle, nausea, severe headaches, or full blown asthma attacks. Even for those who don’t have such strong reaction, it can be really unpleasant to be sitting near a guy who bathed himself in Lynx!

Make your event scent free. Advertise this on your website and on the registration form so everyone is aware ahead of time.

How have you made your conference more accessible for all people?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca

HOW TO MAKE YOUR CONFERENCE ACCESSIBLE – AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE!

SLIDE DESCRIPTION

I like to ask at the start of each presentation I give if there are people in the audience that would benefit from a description of the slides. If they have a vision impairment, even if they sit in the first row, they may not be able to tell what is on the slide. If anyone signals that they would like it, I take a few seconds to describe the visuals on the slide.

HANDOUTS

Are there handouts available during the presentation? Ensure that speakers provide them in alternative formats. Braille is an expensive proposition, and while it’s always neat to have that available if you have someone who could benefit from it (only about 10% of people with sight impairments rely on Braille as their primary reading medium). A more affordable method would be to provide the handout in electronic format on a website – as long as the site itself is accessible and the handout text is also accessible (especially if it’s a PDF).

This goes for speaker evaluations often handed out at the start/end of each presentations.

QUESTIONS

If questions are permitted, ensure that the speakers repeats or rephrases the question before answering it. A lot of people, even without hearing impairment, can’t hear the questions being posed, particularly when they are seated towards the back of the room.

Alternatively, provide portable microphones with volunteers to deliver the mikes to people wanting to ask questions. This is better than a microphone on a stand at the front of the room as moving to the microphone may not be easy.

VIDEOS OF THE PRESENTATIONS

If you film the presentations and make the videos available afterwards, consider providing closed captions and/or transcripts. This will help people with hearing impairments, but also those of us who don’t have time to sit through a video and can read faster than listen at a whole presentation. It will also help people who do want to watch the video, but are in large open offices or busses that either can’t have the sound turned on or can’t hear the sound well because of the environment they are in.

How have you made your conference more accessible for all people?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca