ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES (In-Person)

Please keep in mind that you may not have direct knowledge of accessibility issues among your audience or the people you interact with. For the conference to be as inclusive as possible, all attendees should follow the accessibility guidelines. 

ChLA’s Accessibility Liaisons will be available throughout the Conference to support our members with disabilities as well as those with chronic illness, mental illness, and/or learning disabilities get their access needs met. They will also be available to help ChLA members follow the accessibility guidelines and/or answer questions that ChLA members have about accessibility at the conference. If you need assistance, look for the people with purple ribbons on their name badges or contact us through the Accessibility thread on the Whova app. More information on Accessibility Liaisons and how to reach them onsite will be provided as we get closer to the Conference.  

Throughout these guidelines, we suggest various written and video tutorials. To watch those tutorials, check out this page of resources.

GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTERS 

AS YOU PREPARE FOR YOUR PRESENTATION 

• Prepare an access copy of your presentation, whether print or digital. An ideal access copy would most simply be your written paper. However, if you do not read from a paper directly, an access copy can also take the form of: copies of your slides, an outline of your talk, and/or any notes you use for reference during your presentation. We understand that, in today’s cultural and political climate, some scholars may be worried about their work being shared outside ChLA. To help mitigate these fears, here are some options to protect your work: 

• This year, we are requesting that everyone shares an electronic access copy through Whova (for more information on how to share your accessibility copy through Whova, please see our resources page). Sharing through Whova will ensure that only conference attendees can access your access copy. On Whova, you can either upload the full document or a link to an online version of your access copy.

• If sharing a link, please use a shortened url, rather than the full url itself (for more information on how to create a descriptive link, please see our resources page). You can also include this link at the beginning of your presentation and/or in your slides but do not have to.

• Electronic access copies should be hosted on the individual’s preferred cloud platform (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.) for the duration of the conference. To address concerns about unauthorized distribution of access copies, note that on most cloud platforms, you can restrict viewers’ ability to download, print, or copy-and-paste text from your shared file. Please see our resource page for examples and instructions for restricting sharing options. 

• You are also welcome to distribute printed access copies at the start of your talk. You or any Accessibility Liaisons in attendance can collect them again at the end to ensure that they are not shared beyond the conference.

• Attendees should take note that all access copies are under the sole copyright of their respective owners and should not be shared without the express permission of the presenter. 

• Access copies can be a great place to share additional links, resources, references, etc. relevant to one’s conference presentation!

• While designing slides:

• Do not use Prezi or other media with motion, zoom, or strobe effects, as these pose accessibility problems. PowerPoint or a similar slide program is recommended. (Templates and built-in accessibility checkers are great!)

• Use a high-contrast color scheme, i.e. black background with white font or the reverse. 

• Use a sans-serif font, such as Arial. Maintain a font size of 18-point or larger.

• Provide minimal text on each slide. 

• Include image descriptions or alt-text either printed on the slide next to images or embedded within them. Guides on how to generate image descriptions can be found in our resource page. 

IF RECORDING YOUR PRESENTATION

• If you are a scholar currently living outside the US and taking advantage of 2026’s limited emergency remote option, you will need to record your presentation ahead of time.

• For recorded presentations, you are required to do one of the following (though doing both is preferred):

• Create an access copy as described above and put the link and/or QR code for that access copy in Whova and/or at the beginning of your presentation.

• Ensure your video has captions. See our resources page on how to include them.

• You are not required to show your face in your recording. If you choose not to show your face, please ensure that your video has captions for people who would normally lipread.

• While making the recording, eliminate as many background noises as possible which may interfere with your sound quality. We recommend recording alone in a quiet room and not in public spaces. 

DURING YOUR PRESENTATION

• Please use the microphone provided, regardless of room size and the volume of speaking voice. Please ensure that your microphone is close to your mouth when speaking. Presenters have the choice to sit or stand, and microphones will accommodate either option.

• When speaking, always face the audience; this is especially helpful for audience members who are lip readers.

• Speak at a moderate pace, neither too slowly nor too quickly. 

• Verbally describe all images, graphs, charts, or video included in your slides. For more information on image descriptions, please see our resources page.

• If you think your presentation may contain potentially sensitive content, consider giving a trigger or content warning. See our resources page for more information.

• During Q & A, either you or the panel moderator should repeat each question from the audience into the microphone before answering. 

GUIDELINES FOR MODERATORS

• Before the session, ask panelists if they have any accessibility needs, and check in with panelists about their plans for providing access copies.

• At the beginning of the session, as a part of your introduction, please read the access statement below: “A quick reminder to follow the accessibility guidelines. For presenters, this includes facing the audience, speaking clearly into the mic, and verbally describing all images. Presenters will also be sharing access copies. Please remember that these copies are not available for citation or distribution unless you have received the prior permission of the presenter.”

• During the presentations, do your best to address any access barriers and needs as they arise. 

• During the Q & A, either you or the presenter should repeat each question from the audience into the microphone to ensure that everyone can hear it. 

GUIDELINES FOR ALL CONFERENCE ATTENDEES

• Please avoid using scented products while at the conference.

• Individuals attending sessions should feel free to stand, move about, get water, or vocalize as necessary during presentations.

• If a service dog is present, be sure to approach the dog calmly and ask its human partner before addressing or touching the dog.

• Do not touch or otherwise interfere with other attendees’ assistive devices such as canes, wheelchairs, walkers, listening devices etc, unless explicitly asked.

• Attendees should take note that all access copies are under the sole copyright of their respective owners and should not be shared without the express permission of the presenter.