Guide to Planning Inclusive Meetings

Meeting organizers, chairpersons and presenters help set the tone of the meeting. They are in the best position to ensure accessible and inclusive communication. Keeping things simple and applying a little extra attention to detail can help put all those attending the meeting at ease. Here are some tips that can help achieve this goal.

• Make sure interpreters, interveners, advisors, note takers and captionists are introduced to the participants for whom they are providing service.
• Check to see if your organization or department has an adaptive technology centre or research person.
• Plan the meeting space to ensure there is room for participants who use mobility aids to move around freely. Make sure there are space allowances made for participants who use wheelchairs (e.g., remove chairs from a couple of places so participants can more easily join the group).
• If food is to be served, keep in mind that people with mobility or agility impairments can find buffet-type service challenging. Solutions to this could include offering a sit-down service, or ensuring that volunteers or staff can assist people at the buffet.
• Make sure the agenda includes regular health breaks. Breaks can be up to 20 to 30 minutes depending on the length of your meeting.
• Promote a scent-free environment by asking presenters and participants to refrain from using perfumes and scented toiletries. Include this request in the original invitation.
• Keep in mind the needs of various participants and their service providers, such as seat allocation nearest to the sign language interpreters for people who are deaf, deafened and hard of hearing.
• Provide, and have the chairperson mention, a feedback mechanism, such as an e-mail address, to all participants at the start of the meeting or in the meeting materials.
• Ask for advance copies of presentation materials from presenters to forward to service providers (e.g., sign and simultaneous language interpreters, advisors, note takers and captionists) and all participants before the meeting.
• Prepare event signage using large print and contrasting colours (e.g., directions to meeting rooms and restrooms, scent-free environment poster, emergency exits, participant nameplates and name tags).
• Ensure the presence of attendants and interpreters during networking breaks to allow inclusion and participation for all those attending.
• Find participants willing to help people with disabilities who would require assistance in the event of an emergency evacuation.
• Provide high-contrast name tags to all participants if it is a large meeting.
• Provide a copy of the list of tips and best practices to the chairperson and to the presenters to help them prepare communications and make presentations that are accessible and inclusive.

• Advise all participants of the services available (e.g., sign language interpretation, attendant care, note taking, captioning) at the start of the meeting.
• Ask attendants to identify themselves at the beginning of the meeting for anyone requiring assistance.
• Ask participants to identify themselves each time they speak for the benefit of participants who have a visual impairment.
• Inform participants of the nearest emergency exits and accessible restroom facilities.
• If the meeting room is physically large, make sure that an audio system is installed and that all participants use the microphones provided.
• Encourage all presenters to speak clearly and at a moderate pace to make the information easier to understand and communication easier for interpreters, interveners, note takers and captionists.
• Some people take longer to express ideas than others; allow time for people to respond at their own speed.
• Briefly describe the content of the agenda and handout materials.
• Clearly indicate changes in topics, health breaks and adjournments during the meeting.
• Advise participants to minimize interruptions. Interpreters, intervenors, captionists and note takers need to concentrate.
• Advise participants that interpreters will say everything that is signed, and sign everything that is said. Interpreters will not add words, edit or censor a conversation.
• Remind participants that the event is scent-free.
• During question and answer periods, remind people to speak slowly and clearly and state their name before beginning.

• Adhere to a planned schedule.
• Work with the meeting organizer to make arrangements to produce handout materials in alternative formats, such as Braille, DAISY, audio, large print, diskette, CD, DVD or flash drives. If alternative formats are not available at the meeting, send them as soon as possible. Make sure you ask specifically what type of format the participant requires.
• Try to provide conventional print and electronic handouts to the meeting organizer well before the event so that other formats can be produced and distributed before the meeting.
• Prepare audiovisual aids using at least 18-point sans serif fonts— such as Arial or Verdana—with high-contrast colours (black type on a white background is best). For more information on sans serif fonts, see chapter 4.
• Ensure that video material is captioned for participants who are deaf, deafened and hard of hearing. Provide descriptive narration format for people who are blind or have a visual impairment (particularly for charts and graphs).
• Speak clearly and at a moderate pace. Be sure to face the audience during the presentation.
• Periodically check with the audience to see if the message and presentation material are understood. Clarify as needed.
• Allow adequate time for people who are deaf, deafened and hard of hearing to process on-screen messages and for the interpreters to communicate the spoken word through sign language.
• Use plain language and presentation materials that are crisp, to the point and concise. Slide presentations that are too busy can cause information overload.
• During question and answer periods, remind people to speak slowly and clearly and state their name before beginning.