Make Your MLA '24 Presentation More Accessible

To provide the best experience for MLA '24 attendees and members, MLA asks ALL presenters to make their presentations as accessible as possible.

• Presenters may produce their own video recordings and upload an MP4 file.
• Tips for recording slides with captions are noted below.
• Live-streamed sessions will be captioned live and edited post-conference to provide better accuracy.
• Other accessibility options may be available depending on meeting registrants' needs.

Special thanks to the Accessibility and Disability Caucus of MLA for providing many of the resources below in 2021. Links checked 3/21/2024.

If you have other resources to share, please contact Kate Corcoran.

General Tips

• Create transcripts for audio presentations
• Presenters can use “Always use subtitles” in PowerPoint online or Google Slides’ auto-captioning option
• If you record a presentation using Zoom, make sure to turn on and show captions and edit it before submitting
• Your institution may have an accessibility officer or other knowledgeable person
  

Designing Presentation Slides

• Be selective. Cut unneeded details. Extra information clutters up your presentation.
• Do not use color as the only way to convey meaning or information
• Ensure the colors you use have a high contrast using the WebAIM contrast checker
• Use larger font size (larger than 18 pt) with sufficient white space
• Avoid putting too much text on one slide and instead break up the content
• If using PowerPoint, avoid using separate text boxes and use the predefined slide layouts
• Avoid animations or complicated slide transitions
• Make a unique title for each slide

During Your Presentation (Including Recording)

• Practice your presentation and the tools you will use. You will speak more clearly if you practice
• You're an expert on your content: remove any "upspeak" or "uptalk"
• Remove distracting fillers, such as "um", "like", or "you know"—and replace with pauses
• Pauses give people time to process what you have shared
• Be familiar with any tools you will use. You will better engage audience members if you test that tools you use work
• Use “Always use subtitles” in PowerPoint online or Google Slides’ auto captioning option
• Share a low-vision handout of your presentation with plain-text descriptions of non-decorative images
• Including alt-text of images is also useful. When you convert slides to handouts or PDFs, make sure the program embeds your alt-tags

Resources

General

• How to Make Your Virtual Conference Presentation More Accessible by the organizers for the Open Education Conference
  
• One-page accessibility resources from the National Center on Disability and Access to Education

Visuals

• Check the color contrast of your slides with the WebAIM contrast checker
  
• Download the WAVE accessibility browser plugin for Chrome or Firefox
• Use this simulator from color-blindness.com to understand how color choices impact those with color vision deficiency (CVD) or color-blindness
  
• Review the University of Colorado Boulder Office of Integrity, Safety and Compliance web pages about Providing Spoken Descriptions of Visual Content and on Understanding PowerPoint Accessibility
  
• Seven Steps to Creating an Accessible PowerPoint Slideshow by the University of Framingham Department of Rehabilitation
  
• The Tableau website provides information on designing for color vision deficiency (CVD) when presenting data
• Paul Tol is an Instrument Scientist with a PhD in atomic physics with normal color vision, but has provided scientific notes on colorblind-safe palettes

Readability and Understanding

• Use plain language: tips and definitions are on the plainlanguage.gov website
• Access the Center for Plain Language "Five Steps to Plain Language"
• Consider using the Hemingway App to improve readability