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Learning Outcomes | Program Type Descriptions | Accessiblility Guidelines for Presenters | Submitting Effective Proposals | Writing Learning Outcomes | Tip Sheet

NASPA is committed to ensuring our programs activities are accessible to and usable by any individual with a disability. We would like conference presenters to follow the guidelines listed below for their presentations in order to allow each attendee to maximize their conference experience without limitations.

• Be aware that when presenting to an audience which may include people with visual, learning, and cognitive disabilities that all visuals need to be described verbally.
  
  
• It is helpful for you to upload your presentation or handouts ahead of time (e.g. outline of presentation, PowerPoint slides, statutory language, or essential definitions that are the subject of the presentation). 
   
• Fonts. All documents, including PowerPoints, must use a sans serif font such as: Arial, Tahoma, Verbena, Helvetica (do not use Times New Roman because it is NOT a sans serif font). The minimum font size is 12 pt for standard-size copies, 18 pt for large print copies.
  
  
• Italics, bullets, justification. Please do not use italics, as they can be hard for persons with low vision to read. Please use left-justified text with a ragged right edge which is better for screen readers. Bullets and numbering may be hard for a Braille reader to follow if indented. Please used indentations sparingly.
  
  
• PowerPoints. Use a sans serif font that is at least 22 pt; A light colored background with dark text is preferred; Use a plain background without any watermark, photo, or design behind the text; Use as an outline for your presentation, using short sentences and/or bulleted phrases (about 4 lines of text / 40 words per slide); Avoid long sentences; Keep it short. As a rule of thumb, 1 slide for every 2 minutes of speaking time; Photographs, images, clip art, graphics, maps, and charts cannot be read by screen readers. They need an Alt Text description embedded in them, and need to be verbally described during the presentation
  
  
• Videos. Only videos with close captioning should be used.
  
  
• Word and WordPerfect. Most documents created in Word or WordPerfect are accessible for screen readers if they only contain text (that is, no photos, graphs and clip art are used).
  
  
• Adobe PDF. Documents converted to Adobe PDF format may or may not be accessible (however, see below regarding scanned documents). To check whether an Adobe PDF document is accessible, click on the “Select Text” icon. If you can select the text with your mouse, then the document is accessible. If you are unable to do so, the document is not accessible.
  
  
• Pictures and Non-Text Media. The use of pictures or any non-text media in an otherwise accessible document will make the document inaccessible. However, this can be resolved by including a text description of the picture or non-text media. There are two ways to add alternative text descriptions to an image: (a) text that explains the image can be manually added, such as a descriptive caption under a photo; or (b) inserting an “alt text” tag that is not visible on the printed page but which can be read by a screen reader.
  
  
• Tables and Graphs. To the extent possible, please avoid the use of tables and graphs. Graphs are similar to photos and are not accessible. They must be accompanied by a text description and/or an alternative text tag. Tables are most accessible when the information is presented in a logical order that follows how a screen reader tabs through the rows and columns.  Also, keep tables simple, using as few columns as feasible.