Facilitating inclusive synchronous presentations

When you are giving a live presentation, you might not know who is in your audience and what access requirements they have. That is why it is important to be intentionally inclusive of people with a physical or intellectual disability, people with low or no vision, people who are hard of hearing or deaf, or neurodivergent people.

While inclusive practices are critical for some, they will enhance the experience for all your audience. Any steps you can take towards this will be meaningful; aim for progress over perfection.

This recorded presentation video demonstrates key inclusive and accessible synchronous presentation practices. Under the video you can find the transcript, presentation slides and a presentation template slide deck.

Inclusive and accessible practices for synchronous presentations © 2025 by University of Technology Sydney is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Video transcript – Inclusive and Accessible Practices for Synchronous Presentations

Video slides – Inclusive and Accessible Practices for Synchronous Presentations

Template slides – Inclusive and Accessible Practices for Synchronous Presentations

The checklist below provides practical strategies you can implement immediately to make your next presentation more inclusive and accessible.

Decide early whether your presentation will be held online, in person, or hybrid, as each format requires different facilitation.

• Online: most accessible because no travel is needed and the presentation can be recorded and shared more easily.
• In person: only adds value for networking or engaging a local group in a shared experience.
• Hybrid: offers choice but requires careful planning to ensure online and in-person attendees have an equitable experience.

Plan logistics and tech to ensure equitable access and reduce surprises during the live presentation.

• Ask attendees if they have access requirements or adjustments (e.g. in registration form).
• If you’re in-person, ensure physical spaces are accessible: flexible seating, adjustable lighting, mobility access, and support for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who have low or no vision.
• Use a platform like Zoom or Teams that allows live captioning, transcription and recording so the audience can follow live and review the presentation later.
• Test and practice with technology in advance, especially with guest speakers.
• Check audio and visuals are clear, minimise background distractions, use a microphone and make slides easy to read from a distance.

Provide equitable access to information via shared slides, documents or other materials from the presentation.

• Share resources in advance to allow attendees time to access materials with assistive technology.
• In presentation slides:
  • Use preset layouts and formatting to improve readability. Keep text brief, concise, and well-spaced, and minimum font size 18.
  • Add meaningful alt text or descriptions to all images and diagrams
  • Choose high contrast colours.

This presentation template slide deck includes suggestions and wording you can copy and adapt for your own use.

During the presentation, adjust your verbal and non-verbal communication to anticipate and respond to the needs of your participants.

• Describe or narrate appearance and relevance of visuals like images and diagrams. You could also describe your physical appearance.
• Keep a steady pace. Rushing through content can confuse or overwhelm your audience.
• Use orientating phrases, e.g. “one question in the chat asks…” to direct audience attention.
• Make your face visible to support lip reading and non-verbal cues.
• Seek feedback:
  • pay attention to audience engagement.
  • directly request feedback, for example on audio quality.
  • give participants a way to give feedback after the event.

Interaction

Some presentations enable limited interaction between the presenter and attendees, or provide an online synchronous chat. Establish clear expectations for how you would like your audience to interact.

• Provide interaction guidelines, e.g. when and how to ask questions. Find examples in the demo and template slide decks.
• Enable attendees to choose to interact verbally or via a chat/Q&A platform.
• Encourage accessible online chat interaction, e.g. minimising emoji use and labelling all links. Find an example in the template slide deck.

More information

This resource is a quick reference for key synchronous presentation practices. For more detailed information, check out Inclusive and Accessible Events – ADCET.