By: Dalena Nguyen, Project Analyst and Anne Sittner Anderson, Director of Communications for the Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing (MNCDHH)

Accessibility, including communication access and equal opportunity, is at the heart of the work of the Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing. When MNCDHH hosts events and conferences, we make accessibility a priority.

Beginning with our calls for presenter proposals for an upcoming conference or event, we make it clear that presenters must provide accessible slides and handouts for their presentation. This is the only way we can ensure that all our audience members have equal opportunities to access the content before, during, and after the event.

MNCDHH also provides information on how to make material accessible, provided by the Minnesota IT Services’ Office of Accessibility. Check out their /mnit/about-mnit/accessibility/electronic-documents/powerpoint.jspAccessible PowerPoint Presentations page. If you would like a condensed version, visit their /mnit/assets/CompleteSetAccessibilityQuickCards2017_tcm38-294078.pdfAccessibility Quick Cards (PDF). Scroll down to find the PowerPoint quick card.

Why Accessible Presentations Matter

When people think about accessibility, they may think of curb cuts or automatic doors. Some presenters may already be strong advocates for captioning and sign language interpreters.

Unfortunately, many presenters do not realize that document accessibility is just as important as curb cuts and captions.

MNCDHH has experienced resistance from some presenters about making PowerPoint presentations accessible. This is a common experience also shared by many conference organizers.

Here are the three most common objections MNCDHH has received from presenters:

1. Making my presentation accessible is hard and time-consuming.
2. It will make my presentation boring and ugly.
3. It does not matter because the people who see my presentation will not need it to be accessible.

If you are a conference organizer, you may have received these same comments. Here are MNCDHH’s counteracting points.

Making presentations accessible is hard and time-consuming.

This doesn’t have to be true. Making an accessible PowerPoint is not hard and will not consume a lot of time if the built-in accessibility tools are used as the document is being created. It might be harder to add accessibility after a PowerPoint is created, but exactly how hard depends on what the presenter put in the PowerPoint and how the presenter structured the presentation.

It will make my presentation boring and ugly.

An accessible PowerPoint can have photos and designs that make a presentation aesthetically pleasing. There are ways to achieve this that you can find in the /mnit/assets/PowerPointQuickCard2017_tcm38-294083.pdfPowerPoint Quick Card (PDF).

It does not matter because the people who see my presentation will not need it to be accessible.

Yes, it really does matter. There is a portion of the human population that depends on accessibility for equitable access. Creating inaccessible PowerPoint presentations excludes them from being equal participants during the session. Most of the time, presenters do not know who will be in the room during the presentation, and they do not know who will be accessing the PowerPoint on the conference website or app. With 20% of the U.S. population having some type of disability, the chances are high that the accessibility features will make a meaningful difference to some members of the audience.

This is especially important for the deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing population with whom MNCDHH works. At least 40% of deaf people have additional disabilities, as was noted by MNCDHH’s board member, Jamie Taylor, in her message, “Why Presenters Need to Make Accessible PowerPoints.”

How to get support for accessible presentations from presenters.

What are the best practices for conference and event organizers to follow while working with their presenters? Along with our tips, MNCDHH is sharing tips from Jeremy DePew, Minnesota IT Services Senior Designer and Communications Advisor and Ryan Odland, Regional Representative of the North Central Region, Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults (HKNC).

Set a list of minimum requirements for presenters.

I try to set minimum requirements of what needs to be done to their slides before I’ll review their PowerPoint.

Jeremy DePew

Here are some minimum requirements that conference organizers can share with their presenters:

• Add alternative text to all images.
• Use a unique title for all slides.
• Add labels to all pie charts and other graphs.

Provide presenters with a pre-built template.

First, the presenter needs to use our agency’s PowerPoint template, which has been optimized as an ‘accessible starting place.

Jeremy DePew

An accessible pre-built template is a great starting point for presenters, who can then customize the template to fit their presentations. This also forces presenters to pay attention to some of the requirements from conference organizers, saving time and energy for everyone. Presenters will still need to make their added content accessible, such as images, titles for slides, pie charts, etc.

Be a gracious teacher.

If they are brand new to accessibility, I’m pretty lenient, but am sure to use my interaction as a teaching opportunity, so they can do more on their own the next time around. 

Jeremy DePew

Sometimes presenters do not know how to make their PowerPoint presentations accessible and it is a barrier for them. Like Jeremy, MNCDHH is always willing to help our presenters learn how to use the built-in accessibility tools that PowerPoint offers. It is important that all conference and event organizers are willing to provide that same support.

Remember the “teach a man to fish” philosophy. A presenter who grows in his or her understanding of accessibility will continue improving for the presentations they provide in the future.

Provide ample time to review presentations for accessibility and return them to the presenters for any needed accessibility fixes. Give presenters a reasonable timeline for completing those fixes.

Essentially, if you have another person edit your PowerPoint, you lose out on the quality of information you hope to capture during your presentation. To make the changes yourself, you take the full control of the process and create a lasting imprint on your audience with the information you wish to convey.

Ryan Odland

If the presenters balk at having to make these fixes, connect with them directly (a phone call or in-person meeting may be better than email) to learn about the presenter’s concerns. If the presenter is concerned about his or her time, work with them to craft a doable timeline. If the presenter does not know how to do the fixes, provide guidance.

Overall, it is much better for everyone if presenters fix their own accessibility issues for their one PowerPoint than for the conference organizer to fix multiple PowerPoint presentations from different presenters.

Be reachable for both presenters and conference attendees.

This process is a two-way street. To ensure that the participant has the accessible material, it is important to maintain an open communication far in advance to give the presenter ample time to prepare their materials in an accessible format for the participant.

Ryan Odland

Make sure that both presenters and audience members know how to reach your organization in advance so that they can communicate their questions and needs to you.

Promote empathy for audience members.

Because there are so many people who need accessible PowerPoints, making your PowerPoints accessible is not about convenience, it’s about equality.

Jamie Taylor

Share, straight from the horse’s mouth, why accessible documents make a difference! This year, MNCDHH worked with our board member, Jamie Taylor, to craft a special message for future presenters (video). We plan to send this video to all our presenters so they understand why we are requiring accessible documents. Our hope is that Jamie’s message will create empathy and support from presenters and motivate them to learn how to create accessible documents.

You are welcome to share this resource with your presenters too!

Demonstrate the real-life impact of document layouts.

I try to relay to the presenter how their quirky layout choices might impact a real person using assistive technology. For example, by using multiple returns to create extra space between paragraphs (instead of simply adjusting the paragraph spacing option by a few points) the presenter is forcing a screen reader user to listen to “blank, blank, blank” over and over. Annoying, right? This tends to make it real for them.

Jeremy DePew

This is another critical step of building empathy and having a clear communication channel with your presenters.

Appeal to the side of efficiency and effectiveness.

Efficiency and effectiveness are the keys. As a presenter, our purpose is to deliver information in the best way possible so they may take away valuable knowledge and tools to enhance their own. The quality of information depends on how accessible the media is to your audience. Do you want this information to be used? If yes, consider how to create such a device that meets your purpose.

Ryan Odland

Our time and energy are valuable. Presenters are busy professionals who genuinely want to reach their audience. If they understand that creating accessible documents from the beginning will yield the most wins, this should help conference organizers get buy-in from their presenters.

Other Options

Suppose the time has come to post the accessible PowerPoint presentations on the conference website and/or app, and there are presenters who refuse to make their documents accessible. What should conference organizers do? We see two options for state entities:

Option 1: Conference organizers can decide to remediate the presentation(s) themselves if they have the staff time and resources to do it. While this may create work for your team at the expense of other projects often at the expense of other projects, conference attendees will have access to accessible documents.

Option 2: Take a firm line and leave the presenter’s PowerPoint as is. Do not post the PowerPoint on the conference website or app. Conference attendees will, unfortunately, not have access to the presentation and may complain. However, this approach demonstrates that your organization clearly supports accessibility.

As you can see, there is no easy solution. Therefore, supporting our presenters, maintaining a good relationship with them, and getting buy-in is critical to the success and usability of our conferences and events.

If you have additional ideas, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us at dalena.nguyen@state.mn.us and anne.sittner-anderson@state.mn.us.

Learn more about how to create accessible PowerPoint presentations.