Tips for more accessible presentations

- Creating accessible documents is a legal requirement in countries around the world. Businesses, public sector bodies and government organizations increasingly understand that documents they share must be available to the widest possible audience. However, it's all too common to see accessible version available on request. Imagine that for a moment. You're online looking to get something done or access some information for a project you're working on. You find the document that you think will help you move on with your research and halt. You now have to request the information and wait. In today's instant online world, the consumer in particular will not wait. They'll go elsewhere. And you've lost a customer. Accessible documentation is a deliverable now. If you're presenting at a Microsoft global event, we now request the all collateral is made accessible by the author. This spreads the load. And honestly, it's not much to ask. In the same way we might ask that you use the correct branding, that you use appropriate language, that you provide clear information in a large enough font, a style guide. Then it's just a few extra clicks to deliver accessible. Have a think about your business, your organization. What moments might you make the same request? A parents evening for a school. Parents have disabilities. A local council meeting, an industry body event. But how do you do it? Well, first I suggest that you create an expectation slide in all of your organization's templates. That's what we do here at Microsoft. I want to show you a few things you should look out for. First, you see color contrast. There are freely available tools to help you check this. Once you have an eye for this, it becomes fairly obvious, fairly quickly. Next, the shape and color. Don't just use color to convey meaning. You won't land your messaging with the one in 12 people who are color blind or others who have vision disabilities. Then you have Alt Text. This is all about composing image descriptions for shapes, pictures, charts, tables, and smart arts. Quick tip here, all icons in Office 365 and stock images already have basic image description included. Then there's slide layout and reading order. Ensure easy navigation for people tabbing around content. This is mainly for people with physical and vision disabilities. Finally, run the accessibility checker. This will pick up most things you miss. And all of the corrections are in line. Meaning you don't have to go searching for the setting to fix errors. There's a great option in Office 365 to run the accessibility checker live in all documents. If a document becomes inaccessible, an icon appears in your document task bar. If you're creating PDFs from Office, file export to PDF. We also have a great banner to help you avoid including permanent accessibility errors. Finally, as an organization you should speak to your newsletter teams, internal and external. In my experience with organizations large and small they run these off templates. And as soon as they know there's a policy of accessibility for wider comms audiences, they are often the best early adopters. So reach out to your comms teams and have a chat. And there you have it. A few key ways to help make your documents and your presentations more accessible and inclusive.