During Accessible Meetings
Meeting Rules
Communicate and enforce the following rules for accessibility.
Speaking guidelines
- Speak clearly
- Take intentional pauses
- Say the speaker's name every time a new person is speaking
- Allow only one speaker at a time
- Use simple language
Managing Conversations
- Don’t let certain voices dominate
- Encourage the use of the raise hand feature
- Queue participants
Roles and responsibilities
There are several roles and responsibilities that can ensure your meeting is inclusive, and the larger the meeting, the more attendees are required to create an accessible experience.
Presenter
For smaller meetings, the presenter or meeting host should be responsible for accessibility needs. However, for larger meetings, everyone should play a role in accessibility. Some considerations for the presenter include:
- Silence non-Zoom related notifications
- If possible, share your secondary screen not primary
- Multiple presenters need to coordinate
- Use a back-channel communication with Slack or another system
- Use high-quality video
Video
- Video positioning: Position your camera towards your face
- Room background: Ensure a clutter-free background without any items that can cause distractions or issues for attendees such as ceiling fans
- Avoid virtual backgrounds
- Clothes: Don't wear stripes or patterns as they can create a Moiré pattern. Also avoid standard 'chromakey' colors, such as blue and green, and instead pick neutral colors
Presenter audio
- Use a dedicated microphone, such as a headset, instead of relying on the microphone on your laptop.
- Conference room audio can be terrible, even with conference systems
- Big room audio is even worse
Meeting leader/facilitator
When the meeting has more than 5 people in attendance, consider adding a meeting leader or facilitator to ensure the meeting runs smoothly and inclusively. This is role should be mandatory in hybrid meetings.
Tasks include:
- Providing structure to the meeting
- Welcoming participants
- Conducting accessibility check
- Managing attendees
- Promoting inclusion
Chat monitor
When the meeting gets larger than 10 people, add a chat monitor to take over these tasks from the meeting leader.
Tasks include:
- Monitoring the chat
- Calling out raised questions
- Sharing documents
- Promoting inclusion
Technology Troubleshooter
When the meeting gets even bigger with 15 or more people, consider adding a troubleshooter. This way all the other roles can concentrate on the meeting content while the troubleshooter helps individuals with their technology issues.
Tasks include:
- Helping attendees connect
- Monitoring the captions/interpreter/etc.
- Monitoring the chat
Notetaker
Another role may be a notetaker, often required for governmental reporting or other compliance issues, can also benefit your meeting. For example, the notetaker can provide a summary rather than a transcript, making it easier for attendees with disabilities to follow along during the meeting.
Attendee
It is important to note that attendees could be on a wide variety of different devices (desktop, mobile, tablet, etc.) and therefore, might need different types of accommodation. Also, don’t require video to be turned on–some may not feel comfortable on camera.
