Creating Accessible Presentations: Getting Started

March 16, 2023

By Megan Sellmer, Melody Shih, Tobe Duggan, and Riane LaPaire

Land Acknowledgment

“Our presenters today come from across this land, living and working in what we now know as Canada. We respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples and will continue to honour the commitments to self-determination and sovereignty we have made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples. We respectfully ask for you all to take a moment to acknowledge the lands on which you reside.”

Common Presentation Programs

• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Apple Keynote
• Google Slides
• Other Options (e.g., Prezi, Slides, Visme, Canva, etc.) will not be covered in this series.
  • Most of the guidelines in this and upcoming webinars can be applied to other presentation programs, such as formatting font accessibly.
  • Ensure that any presentation can be downloaded in PowerPoint format so screen readers can access it.

Select an Accessible Template

• In PowerPoint
  • You can search for “accessible” presentation templates.
  • Accessible examples include Universal Presentation, Geometric Presentation, Colourful Abstract Pitch Deck, etc.
• In Keynote and Google Slides
  • Templates/themes are not searchable by accessibility.
  • Use the formatting guidelines in this webinar series when choosing your theme in Keynote and Google Slides.

Exporting Templates

• In the other presentation programs, you can open templates/themes from PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides. For example:
  • You can save a PowerPoint template and open it in Keynote.
    • Select File > Save as Template
    • To open it in Keynote, select File > Open > File Name
  • You can export a blank Keynote theme/presentation in a PowerPoint format and open it in either PowerPoint or Google Slides.
    • Select File > Export To > PowerPoint… and choose where to save it.
  • You can upload PowerPoint templates into Google Slides.
    • Open a new Google Slide Document, select Import Theme > Upload > Choose File.

Layouts

• All slides should have a unique title/heading.
• Use the preformatted slide layouts provided by PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Slides.
• Limit the amount of text on each slide, which can be distracting.
• Ensure that the slides’ contents are in the correct reading order.
  • This will be covered in further detail next week when we discuss the PowerPoint Accessibility Checker.

Colour Contrast

• Your presentation should have good colour contrast in both the design of the presentation and the font.
  • The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) state that the contrast ratio should be at least 4.5:1.
  • The colour contrast ratio is a measurement calculated by comparing the brightness (or luminance) between two colours.
  • For example, black text on a white background is accessible, but light grey text on a white background has low contrast and is difficult to read.
• There are tools you can use to check the colour contrast ratio.

Colour to Convey Meaning

• Don’t use colour alone to convey meaning in your text.
  • One option is to use both colours and symbols.
  • For example, the number of books purchased in March 2022 is in purple and enclosed in **.

Formatting Your Presentation Font

• Formatting the Presentation Font
  • Use a large font size that attendees can see from the back of the room: at least 20 points or larger.
  • Use sans serif fonts like Arial, Verdana, or Helvetica.
  • Ensure adequate line spacing and lots of white space in the slides.
  • Limit or avoid the use of all caps.
  • Justify the text to the left when possible, especially for large chunks of text.

Font Recommendations from Persons with Lived Experience of a Disability

• We had our expert accessibility testers with lived experience of a disability (low vision) share their thoughts on different font attributes in presentations.
• Their preferences are:
  • Font: Any sans serif font
  • Font Size: Large as possible (at least 20 points).
  • Font Attributes: Regular or bolded font (when applicable).
  • Font Colour: White text on a black background or vice versa.

Readable/Understandable Text

• Use plain and simple language in your presentation.
  • Avoid jargon, and always spell out an acronym when you use it.
• Use inclusive language.
  • Use gender-neutral languages like “everyone” and “attendees” instead of “hey guys.”
  • Determine the language preferent of your audience.
    • For example, person-first (e.g., a person with a disability) or identity-first (e.g., a dyslexic person).

Use Lists!

• Use lists to organize your information.
  • Lists break the information into chunks of consumable content, and screen readers can easily navigate through them.
  • Use direct formatting options to create
  accessible lists. Screen readers will not identify manually created lists as lists.

Defining the Language of the Text

• Define the language of the text in your presentation.
• Text marked up in different language(s) will be recognized by screen readers and pronounced correctly.
  • In PowerPoint, highlight the text and select File > Tools > Language > Choose language.
  • In Google Slides, highlight the text and select File > Language > Choose language.
  • In Keynote, highlight the text and select File > Advanced > Language & Region > Choose language.

Accessible Hyperlinks

• Ensure that the hyperlinks in your presentation are accessible.
• Hyperlinks need to be informative for users of assistive technologies who navigate using links.
• For the presentation display, use the shortest URL possible and use the camel case format.
  • For example, AccessibleLibraries.ca
• For digital handouts of your presentation, use informative text.
  • For example, to learn more, visit the Accessible Libraries website.

Demonstration: From a Person with Low Vision

Video demonstration to be added.

Demonstration: Screen Reader User

Video demonstration to be added.

Thank You!

• Thank you for attending the first webinar in the “Creating Accessible Presentations” series.
• The next webinar is ”Presentation Features and Tools” on March 23, 2023, at 2:00 pm EST/11:00 pm PST.
• Questions?

References

WAI Making Events Accessible: Checklist for meetings, conferences, training, and presentations that are remote/virtual, in-person, or hybrid: www.w3.org/WAI/teach-advocate/accessible-presentations/.

WebAim Accessible PowerPoint Presentation: https://webaim.org/techniques/powerpoint/.

Microsoft: Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/make-your-powerpoint-presentations-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities-6f7772b2-2f33-4bd2-8ca7-dae3b2b3ef25.

Create accessible documents, spreadsheets, or presentations with Pages, Numbers, or Keynote: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210563.

Google Docs: Make your document or presentation more accessible: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6199477?hl=en.

Presenter Toolkit by Rebecca Shortt: https://opentextbc.ca/presentertoolkit/chapter/presenting-practices/

Virtual Presentation Accessibility Guidelines by the America Anthropological Association: www.americananthro.org/VirtualPresentations?navItemNumber=25891