A few simple tips can go a long way in making your presentation easier for everyone to follow. These guidelines are based on what we used at this year’s IA Conference to help ensure a better experience for both presenters and attendees. 

Design and layout

1. Provide adequate color contrast.

Your slides should meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards. You can use this color contrast checker tool, which has an eye dropper to easily pick up any color on your presentation. If you’re using Google Slides, the Grackle extension checks for color contrast and other accessibility standards.

Why this matters

Color contrast ensures that people can see visual elements easily. This becomes very important when the room conditions, like lighting, sunlight, and equipment, can affect color contrast. In some cases, be ready to adjust your slides accordingly, which is a good reason to use a template.

2. Use legible typefaces.

To ensure your slides can be read from a distance:

  • Avoid using serif fonts and thin-weight fonts
  • Use a sans-serif font at least a medium weight
  • Use a minimum 20-point font size

Why this matters

Serif fonts have little feet that can make it difficult to read text from afar. Similarly, characters in thin-weight fonts can “disappear” for viewers. Even if they’re mostly legible, it’s not fun to have the audience squint through your whole presentation. 

3. Keep the lower 1/4 of your slides empty.

Avoid putting critical text or visuals in this area. This area provides a space for captioning or could be partially obscured for folks sitting farther back.

4. Use motion and flashing lights sparingly.

Keep flashing lights or objects, motion, and animation to a minimum. This includes animated GIFs. If you must include them, give a warning on a slide beforehand. Here's some guidance on flashing content and some on motion.

Why this matters

Flashing lights or objects can trigger seizures. Motion or animation can create motion sickness. Animated GIFs can quickly lose their humor and become distracting when they loop on end, and you’re still talking. 

Content

1. Include an intro slide for your talk.

Most people do this, but at the very least, include the talk title, your name, and your pronouns. Some other things people include are their role, organization, or social media handle.

Why this matters

This provides context for your talk, who you are (in case people want to chat later or connect on LinkedIn), and sharing your pronouns makes the event inclusive. 

2. Provide trigger warnings.

If your talk includes potentially distressing content (e.g., trauma, violence, flashing lights, etc.), include a warning slide in advance. During your talk, thoughtfully mention what the distressing content is. Instead of: “By the way, trigger warning,” be more specific: “In this talk, I’ll be mentioning examples of racism.” Without context, you could make people generally more anxious than they need to be.

Why this matters

We want to make sure people feel welcome at events, but we don’t want to shy away from topics that could be tough to discuss. Providing a warning can help balance this. We also want to avoid causing physical harm to people (e.g., motion sickness).

3. Describe and/or provide alt text for your image.

For folks who can’t see, have vision impairments, or are stuck in the back of the room, describe the images on your slide. Work this description into your talk to make it more natural. When describing your image, keep in mind the intention of the image and what you want the takeaway to be.

For example, if you have a photo of an open bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, you can say, “Here’s my favorite snack, Cool Ranch Doritos” instead of “There’s a photo of an open bag of Cool Ranch Doritos in a blue and white bag, with 3 chips spilling out—this is my favorite snack.” While the description is accurate, that information isn’t relevant and can cause unnecessary cognitive overload.

If you’re sharing your slides with attendees before or after your talk, include alt text for your images. Here are some tips on writing great alt text.

Why this matters

Describing images and providing alt text helps those who can’t see or have vision impairments understand what’s going on. Providing good descriptions and alt text is also crucial in ensuring attendees get the right intent of your information.

4. Provide attribution for your content.

If you’re using content that you didn’t create, attribute the original author. Include names and links when possible, and credit photographers or illustrators for visuals. 

Why this matters

It’s the right thing to do. Additionally, folks might want to look up the original information to learn more about it.

5. Avoid large blocks of text.

Try to keep your slides visually clear. Use bullet points, headlines, and visuals to guide the audience through your ideas. If your slide starts to get information dense, consider breaking it into multiple slides. Everyone will complain about a dense slide, but people will rarely complain about sparse slides.

Why this matters

Information-dense slides are overwhelming, especially if you’re neurodivergent. Even if you’re neurotypical, these slides can make people check out of your talk, especially after a long day of talks.

Quick checklist for accessible presentations

Putting this all together, here’s what to keep in mind:

Design and layout

  • Ensure elements have a color contrast that meets WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards.
  • Use a sans-serif font with at least a medium weight
  • Use a 20-point font size at minimum.
  • Keep the lower 1/4 of your slides empty.
  • Use motion and flashing lights sparingly.

Content

  • Include an intro slide for your talk.
  • Provide trigger warnings.
  • Describe and/or provide alt text for your image.
  • Provide attribution for your content.
  • Avoid large blocks of text.

What are some other tips to make your presentation more accessible?

Did I miss anything? Let me know so I can update this article. Holler if you have questions or tried this—I’d love your feedback.

If you’re a speaker or event organizer, please feel free to share this with other colleagues or speakers. The more people create accessible presentations, the better all our events will be! 💜