Presentations

Guidance

2 liner summary

1. Minimise the amount of text and number of slides.

2. Avoid multiple bullet points.

3. Include a variety of communication methods.

4. Test content with people using mobiles.

Use good visual contrast.

Use large fonts.

Use alt text for images on slide decks that are distributed outside of the talk.

Call out all visual elements on your slides and in the space you are presenting in.

Don't over-use Gifs and animations.

Consider using a live captioning service.

Repeat questions from the audience

Speak slowly and clearly

Pause at the start of each slide, then read out the text

Face your audience

Use a mic. Test all audio equipment before the talk.

Don't use pointers on your slides.

Usability evidence

1. Minimise the amount of text and number of slides.

Try summarising each point you want to make in 1 sentence. And make the text on each line no more than 7 words: this is optimal for readability. Keeping the text to a minimum allows audience to follow the speaker, not the slide. When you create your slide content, consider people who'll photograph them to refer to or share later.

Too many slides can be distracting. On average we only remember around 20% of what we are presented with. Why make it harder?

2. Avoid multiple bullet points.

They're great for organising but bad for presenting, as it's harder to absorb and remember multiple points from a presentation slide at a time. Consider 1 image or point for each slide.

3. Include a variety of communication styles.

People will be more likely to absorb and remember content from your presentation if you use a range of methods, for example: visual, textual, speech.

4. Test content with people using mobiles.

Find out how they interpret and interact with the content. Did you write something that can be understood in different ways? Did anyone use their mobile in ways you did not expect?

Use good visual contrast 3:1 - various tools to check this. Powerpoint has tools built in.

Use large fonts. Text needs to be easily read from the back of the room - 36pt minimum, use non-serif of a size larger than you might think - sit as far away from the screen and squint to test.

Use alt text for slide decks that are distributed outside of the talk. Regardless, explain all images regardless of how obvious you think they are including context, reference to source material etc. Describe pertinent parts of graphics, videos, and other visuals. Describe them to the extent needed to understand the presentation. (You usually do not need to describe decorative images.). 

Remember when asking for people to raise their hands you need to describe the reaction.When using graphs describe the most important point which the graph demonstrates, make sure all labels are as large as possible. twice as large as you think they should be! Avoid 3D graphs - harder to read. Don't use pie charts - hard to read.

Don't over-use Gifs and animations - can be distracting especially if they loop, always explain what is happening. Having explanations of video content at the ready also mitigates for them not loading or playing properly.

Use captions for video content. 

Consider using a live captioning service for all of your spoken content. Allowing for the time it takes to translate. Auto captioning by Google or Powerpoint requires a good internet connection and is not nearly as accurate as a dedicated live caption service.

Repeat questions from the audience, not everyone will hear the question, which makes the answer unintelligible.

speak slowly and clearly - this helps with interpreter / lip readers / 2nd language / cognitive impairments. Your delivery will seem slower than it is if you are nervous: slow down. Sign language interpretation means that someone who needs this can only focus on one thing at a time (presenter, interpreter, or slide) and translation takes time so allow for this when referring to slides. Pause between slides - give people time to process the information.

Pause at the start of each slide to allow for deaf and hard of hearing to read it. Then start by reading it for the blind or partially sighted.

Face your audience, as close as possible - helps especially with lip-readers, but we all have less cognitive load when we can see the face of the person speaking. 

Use a mic. Some assistive tech will require it. For example: ALDs/hearing loops and remote CART writers.

Take audience questions via a mic so that everyone can hear. Note that asking questions in a crowd can be intimidating and hard for many reasons like disability - consider using alternatives like Slido so people can type their questions. Avoid "Can you hear me OK?" This is not a question everyone will be comfortable replying to.

Test the amplification, speakers, and mics before the talk. 

don't use pointers on your slides - they are distracting

Usability evidence

Sig Access Accessibile Writing Guide http://www.sigaccess.org/welcome-to-sigaccess/resources/accessible-writing-guide/

W3C How to Make Your Presentations Accessible to All https://www.w3.org/WAI/teach-advocate/accessible-presentations/#basics-for-organizers--speakers

WebAIM PowerPoint Accessibility https://webaim.org/techniques/powerpoint/