Hold an Accessible Virtual Meeting

Before the meeting:

• In the meeting announcement, notify people who want to attend that reasonable disability accommodations can be arranged if requested at least 48 hours before the meeting. You can use the Accessibility tab of the organization contact element on your department homepage to automatically include a reasonable accommodation message in all your calendar events.
• Post on your department website accessible versions of all meeting materials that will be displayed in the meeting so that people can read them in advance.
• If the content is technical or involves language that is not common, for example, medical, engineering and some legal terminology, automated captions may not provide correct spellings for these.
  • Obtain a stenographer to provide real time transcription, or if this is not possible, task a colleague with typing out the technical terms in the meeting chat. Contact the Office on the Disabled for assistance with this.

At the beginning of the meeting, regardless of whether someone requested accommodations:

• Announce where meeting materials can be found.
• Instruct all people who speak and have cameras to keep their cameras on, at least when speaking.
• Invite anyone who needs accommodations to post requests in the chat or let you know verbally.
• To reduce background noise, tell participants to mute their microphones when not speaking.
• Tell participants how to turn on automated captions. 
• Instruct each participant who speaks for the first time to identify him or herself and describe their appearance – for example, attire style and color, glasses, hair color, etc. 

During the meeting:

• Instruct each speaker who talks again to say who is speaking before each further statement.
• Display captions on any presented videos.
• Describe any visual aids being shown in the meeting.
• If the audience is invited to make comments or ask questions orally or in the chat, a moderator or other speaker should repeat the comment or question before responding.

After the meeting:

• If possible, share meeting notes and videos with participants.
• Solicit feedback on any accessibility issues people had in the meeting.

Sources:

• University of Washington: Virtual Meetings and Trainings
• NYC Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities: Accessible Virtual Meetings Guide
• Section508.gov: Create Accessible Meetings
• Harvard University: University Disability Resources

Before the meeting:

• Post in the shared calendar event all meeting materials that will be displayed in the meeting so that people can read them in advance.
• If employees are not familiar with Google Meet, send them the ITSA Guide to Using Google Meet and Chat for City Employees

At the beginning of the meeting, regardless of whether someone requested accommodations:

• Announce where meeting materials can be found.
• Instruct all people who speak and have cameras to keep their cameras on, at least when speaking.
• Invite anyone who needs accommodations to post requests in the chat or let you know verbally.
• To reduce background noise, tell participants to mute their microphones when not speaking.
• Tell participants how to turn on automated captions. 
• Instruct each participant who speaks for the first time to identify him or herself and describe their appearance – for example, attire style and color, glasses, hair color, etc. 

During the meeting:

• Instruct each speaker who talks again to say who is speaking before each further statement.
• Display captions on any presented videos.
• Describe any visual aids being shown in the meeting.
• If the audience is invited to make comments or ask questions orally or in the chat, a moderator or other speaker should repeat the comment or question before responding.

After the meeting:

• If possible, share meeting notes and videos with participants.
• Solicit feedback on any accessibility issues people had in the meeting.

Sources:

• University of Washington: Virtual Meetings and Trainings
• NYC Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities: Accessible Virtual Meetings Guide
• Section508.gov: Create Accessible Meetings
• Harvard University: University Disability Resources