As we're all transitioning to online events, I have some reminders about making sure that everyone who wants to attend and participate can do so, and that all your speakers can give the talks they were accepted to give. 1/n

First up is captioning! Conferences have made great strides in this area, and it's been wonderful to see. Captions help attendees process information that otherwise wouldn't have been as accessible -- or accessible at all -- to them. #accessibility #a11y 2/n

Captioning often takes place remotely, so setting up captions for virtual talks should be fairly straightforward. If you're not providing captions (and why aren't you), be clear about that with attendees so that they can choose to not attend your event. #accessibility #a11y 3/n

Platform! You're probably paying quite a bit for whatever conference platform you're using. Is that platform accessible for various setups? Screen readers? Does it obey system settings for contrast, font size? If you don't know, ask and insist that it does. #MakeItAccessible 4/n

Let's talk slides. Speakers spend a lot of time on them. For speakers with disabilities (yes, we exist), we may rely on assistive tools/technologies/tricks for our presentations. Your normal workarounds may not work for highly customized setups. 5/n

Give us several options so that we can pick the one that works best. This may mean falling back on screensharing, but that's sometimes okay. With enough notice, we can usually work something out. We just want to give the best talk we can give for attendees. 6/n

Being prepared is everything, for disabled speakers and attendees alike! Give us a way to test our setup prior to the event, iron out wrinkles, ask questions, and get tech support. No one wants to have to troubleshoot the day of talks. 7/n

As an organizer, you don't want to exclude people because they're disabled, and you're the one making the technical decisions. Like building a product, you should prioritize #accessibility from the start. And by asking it from the platforms you choose, you help everyone. 8/n

Anyone have anything to add to make online events accessible for disabled speakers and attendees? Chime in here!

#MakeItAccessible #accessible #a11y