Conference Accessibility Guidelines
Accessibility is an important component of the in-person conference experience. Both presenters and attendees are encouraged to review the accessibility guidelines listed below.
Accessibility Checklist
- Service animals and assistive devices like canes, wheelchairs, listening devices are the responsibility of their owner. Please do not interfere with another person's assistive device without permission.
- Scented products can irritate the allergies of people close by and are discouraged at the conference.
- Please switch all audible electronic devices to the vibrate setting once in the conference building.
View Access Copies at the Electronic Dropbox
Are you looking for pre-event presentation information or post-event notes on a topic that interested you? Download digital Access Copies for select presentations at the event for display or auditory playback on your personal device.
**A link to Access Copies in an electronic Dropbox will appear here one week before the event.
Attendee accessibility feedback
Tell us which accessibility topics you would like to see considered at next year’s Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching by completing the feedback survey that will be sent to your email following the event.
Upload your Presentation Access Copies to the Electronic Dropbox
The online dropbox is where presenters can upload notes, presentation slides or other assistive documents for attendees before and/or after their presentation.
* Please upload only PDF, Word, Powerpoint or image files that show the title of your presentation. Review accessibility best practices for Word documents and presentations before uploading.
** A link to the electronic Dropbox will be posted here in early April. Please ensure that your copies are uploaded one week prior to the conference beginning.
Presentation Design
- Use a common presentation platform: Refrain from using presentation software with exaggerated animations or strobe effects like Prezi. Slides from Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides are usable across operating systems and can be easily uploaded and downloaded from the access copies drop box (link to be provided in early April).
- Designing your presentation: use a high contrast colour scheme, large font size and limit the use of Sans-Serif font. Please provide clear explanations of your topic.
- Captioning for video: Upload videos to Youtube or Yuja to create automatically generated closed captions that appear at the bottom of your video.
Learn how >>
Presentation Technique
- Microphone etiquette: Especially in large rooms or those with ambient noise, hearing the presenter can be challenging. Speak clearly into the microphone at a maximum of one head length’s distance from the unit.
- Face the audience: For hearing impaired individuals, reading a presenter’s lip movements and expressions is critical information for understanding what is being said.
- Speak at a moderate pace: Sometimes, conversation speed can disrupt an individual's ability to understand and contextualize the words. Speak at a moderate pace to ensure comprehension among the widest range of listeners.
- Verbally describe images: A brief description of an image can be helpful for sight-impaired individuals in the audience to understand your presentation.
- Content advisories: Consider adding verbal or visual disclaimers to images or content that may be upsetting to your audience.
Presenter accessibility feedback
Let us know how which accessibility topics you would like to see considered for presenters at next year’s conference by completing the post-event survey following the event.