How To Create More Accessible Presentations 

A practical guide to inclusive slides, language and delivery  

Are you about to present at a meetup or conference? Do you want to create a truly accessible presentation? Of course you do, you’re cool 😎. Here are some top tips for improving your presentation’s accessibility, making both the content and delivery of your slides more inclusive! 

Slide content 

Do we want our slides to look appealing? Yes. Are they the main reason people are sitting in the audience? No. 

People come to a presentation to hear what you have to say, not to simply read it off a screen. We want our slides to be clear and simple, so that people can get what they need quickly, and keep their attention on your words. 

In this section, we’ll go through the key ways to keep slides clear and accessible, following best practice for presentation accessibility. In short, we want simple content, in plain language, with appropriate alternatives. 

Text 

Keep people’s attention on the main point by having just a little text on each slide. 

  • Keep each slide short and to the point. Do you have just one point per slide? 
  • Make sure each slide has a unique and meaningful title (either on screen or in the metadata). This helps create screen reader compatible slides that are easier to navigate. 
  • Keep links in slides short. Could you use a link shortener or a QR code? 

Language 

Use simple and inclusive language at a suitable reading level.  

  • Use plain language. Try and avoid jargon, acronyms, unusual words, and abbreviations. Can you expand acronyms and abbreviations, and use clearer synonyms for complex or unusual words? 
  • Pairing images with text can increase understanding. Could you add icons to your text points? 
  • Check the reading level. Is it pitched too high? 
  • Use inclusive language and don’t make assumptions about your audience. Are you sure your content isn’t sexist, racist, ableist, or offensive? 

Non-text content (images, video, audio) 

Provide alternatives for all non-text content in your slides, both when sharing and presenting.  

  • Provide text alternatives for content images (often called alt text for presentation images). The text alternative should convey the function and meaning of the image. It should answer: why is this image here? 
  • Summarise and explain any complex visual information like graphs or charts. One way to figure out what to say is to remove the visual: what’s lost? 
  • Include a version of these descriptions in your verbal presentation, so that everyone gets the same information. Is all of your audience getting an equivalent experience? 
  • Provide captions and audio descriptions for videos. Are people able to choose the media format that suits them? 

Slide formatting 

It’s not just about what goes on your slides, but how it goes on your slides. We want to make sure that everyone can easily perceive the content we’re presenting, so they don’t have to play Presentation Audience Member on hard mode. 

Many of these tips align with WCAG presentation guidelines used across digital accessibility practice. 

Text styles 

Use large readable text in sentence case, without much formatting. 

  • Use large text. Probably bigger than you have it right now! Could you read it from the back of the room? 
  • Choose a readable sans serif font. Use bold sparingly, don’t use italics, and don’t use ALL CAPS. Can you read it without squinting? 
  • Avoid putting content at the bottom of slides. Could you read the content if a tall person was sitting in front to you? 

Colour and contrast 

Use text and non-text content that have high enough contrast, and use more than just colour to convey information. 

Ensure high enough colour contrast ratio between the text and the background. Take extra care with text over images. Is the contrast ratio 4.5:1 or higher (as required by WCAG 2.1 SC 1.4.3 Contrast – Minimum)? 

Ensure high enough colour contrast between adjacent colours on and in images. Is the contrast ratio 3:1 or higher (as required by WCAG 2.1 SC 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast)? 

  • Don’t use only colour to convey information. Use icons and text too, or instead of colour. Is information conveying using shapes, underline, borders or icons? 

Animations 

In short: please don’t! They’re distracting for many people, sometimes painfully so, and carry risk of migraine or seizure. Don’t use big transitions or animations, including animated GIFs. 

  • Don’t use slide transitions. 
  • Avoid animations for slide content. 
  • Use animated GIFs sparingly, or not at all, and don’t set them to loop. 

Presenting your slides 

Your slides are finished, but that’s just one part. Creating accessible presentations includes both your slide design and how you deliver the content. 

How you present your content to your audience makes a big impact on your presentation’s accessibility. Here’s a couple of quick bonus tips for when you get up on that podium. 

Audio description 

Audio description of meaningful content is essential – but there are ways to do it better! 

  • Verbally describe anything meaningful on the slides (that’s text, images, graphs, etc) for people who can’t see it. Is everyone getting the same information? 
  • But you don’t need to redescribe slide content that’s already covered in your talk. Can you work your audio-description into your speech in a natural way? Example: “Sometimes this project feels like a sinking ship, much like this image of the Titanic.” 
  • Try not to over-describe unnecessary detail and flood the audience with useless information. Do they actually need to know that your hair colour is blonde and your font colour is purple? (The answer might be yes, but consider why you’re telling them first!) 

General presenting 

How you present your information will affect how much the audience understands and remembers. 

  • Give people a brief overview of what your presentation contains. Providing structure aids comprehension and focus. 
  • Speak at a slow to moderate pace, with pauses for people to process information. Can everyone keep up without getting mental overload? 
  • Make sure your slides are in an accessible format (note: an accessible PDF will usually be better than a PowerPoint). Have you checked that your file content can actually be accessed by everyone? 
  • Share slides at the beginning of your presentation so that people can follow along. 

But wait, there’s more! 

Also highly recommended: Inclusive Design For Accessible Presentations by Allison Ravenhall. It was written in December 2018 and still reads very fresh today!