Accessible Presentations

Learn

Accessibility in presentations means that the core visual information is presented in more than one way.

• Visuals: If it’s on a slide or drawn on a tablet, it must be described out loud by the presenter.
• Audio: If it’s spoken, it must be captured in captions or a transcript, including transitions in who is speaking.
• Materials: All materials presented before, during, and after should also be accessible. This includes handouts, slide decks, recordings, and transcripts.

Adopt

Building Good Habits

You can develop more accessible presentations by adopting the following steps into your process:

Introduce: Set the Stage for Success

Don’t wait for a request; set the standard from the start.

• The Action: Before the presentation (in your class syllabus or meeting description, and / or at the beginning of every lecture or meeting) state introduce the accessibility features: “I have enabled live captions for this session, and a searchable transcript will be available with the recording.”
• Why it Matters: This reduces the “stigma” of needing accommodations and ensures every participant know exactly where to find the accessibility tools they need.

See it, Say it : Narrate the Visuals

Your voice is the “Alt Text” for your screen. If you are pointing to it, you must describe it.

• The Action: Avoid saying “Look at this here” or “As you can see.” Instead, be specific: “On this bar chart, the tallest column on the right represents our 2025 growth.” If you are writing on a tablet, say the equations or terms out loud as you write them. If you are describing a slide during a presentation, provide the key visuals for all participants.
• Why it Matters: This creates “Audio Description” in real-time, ensuring that blind or low-vision students (and those calling in by phone) don’t miss critical information. It can also help students with cognitive issues like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia.

Offer Alternatives: Share the Source

A PDF of a slide deck is often a “dead end” for assistive technology. Give your students a way to engage with the data directly.

• The Action: Always provide the original PowerPoint or Word file alongside any PDFs or handwritten scans. If you used a tablet to draw complex math, use Mathpix to provide a digital version of those notes.
• Why it Matters: Screen readers can navigate the “Live Text” and “MathType” in a Word doc much more reliably than a flattened image or a handwritten scan.

Archive

You likely have presentation materials that you reuse. Take some time to clean up your most used materials and leave the rest.

• Review Old Slide Decks and Handouts: Before reusing a presentation or handouts from three years ago, check for “Dead Links” and missing Alt Text. Use Grackle or Microsoft’s Accessibility Checkers to do a quick overview of the content before sharing with participants.
• Retire Handwritten Scans: If you have PDFs of old handwritten notes that aren’t searchable, archive them and replace them with a typed summary or a Mathpix-processed version.
• Review Media Content: For any media content like video or audio recordings, check to ensure there are accurate captions and transcripts available.

Update

Documents are living things. When information changes, accessibility must be preserved.

• Check Accessibility: Use the accessibility tools available in Grackle or Microsoft to find and remediate issues in documents and presentations.
• Convert Handwritten to Digital: If you have handwritten notes, use a tool like Mathpix to convert your content from an inaccessible version to a more accessible version.

Accessibility “rot” happens when a team stops paying attention. Maintenance ensures your standards don’t slip over time. Practice these habits to make accessibility a part of your presentation toolkit.

• Repeat the Question: In a meeting or classroom, always repeat questions from the audience before answering. This ensures the question is captured on the recording and heard by everyone.
• Introduce the Speaker: As speakers change, request that they introduce themselves. This not only helps participants learn names, it helps create a built in accessible caption and transcript file for any recordings.
• Provide Materials in Advance: When possible, share your slides before the meeting. This allows users with assistive technology to follow along on their own devices.