Presentations

A guide to accessible publishing

This information refers to Microsoft Powerpoint and instructions may relate to specific versions. The same principles apply to other software packages.

Audio

Make your presentation audible as well as visible:

announce the title of each new slide
talk through all the text or graphics on your slides
if you point at things, describe them
set PowerPoint to play a sound when a new slide appears.

Sound

The sound for a new slide should be short but not annoying, clearly audible but not too loud. Choose a sound that matches the formality of the presentation. PowerPoint has default sound that you can select:

Go to ‘Slideshow menu > Slide transition dialogue box > Sound’.
Select a sound file from the drop down list.
Loop until next sound by leaving the box unchecked.
Check ‘Apply to all’ button.

Make sure the computer running the PowerPoint presentation is connected to speakers.

Handouts

Provide handouts to accompany your presentation. Print them using the Clear print and large print standards. To produce handouts in PowerPoint:

Go to File menu > Print > Print dialogue box
Print what: select Slides
Scale to fit paper: check the box
Black and white: check the box
Frame slides: check the box
Pure black and white: leave box unchecked

Text only versions

Create a text only version of your slide show presentation for access technology users or Braille transcriptions. There are two methods for converting slides to a text only document.

Method 1:

Copy slide show to clipboard and paste into a word processor.
Go to View menu > select Outline view.
Go to Edit menu > check Select All.
Go to Edit menu > select Copy.
Open Microsoft Notepad or a word processor like MS Word.
Go to Edit menu > select Paste.
You should now see the text of your slide show copied into the document, but you will still need to:
number the slides next to the slide title
remove unnecessary line breaks if you see short lines
remove black squares in Notepad - these indicate a line break which may not need and you will not see these markers in Word.

Method 2:

Save the slide show as an Outline RTF file.
Go to PowerPoint File menu > Save As.
Save as type: select Outline RTF.
Click the Save button.
Reopen the saved RTF document using MS word.
Add paragraph breaks at the end of lines.
Check for line breaks within sentences.

You can then send the text files via email attachment or in the post via a floppy disk, memory stick or CD-ROM.

Braille transcriptions

Send the Braille transcription agency a text only version of your slideshow. They will produce the Braille version and post it back to you. This process can take between several days and several weeks, depending on the agency.

Make sure you book in advance so that you will have the Braille version ready in time for your presentation.

Images

Briefly describe important images, screen shots or video clips when they appear in the presentation. For example, ‘Image of a bar chart showing 10 per cent growth in customer satisfaction over a one year period'.

If you are unsure how or what to describe, think why you included the image in the first place.

Text only versions of slides will not include any images. If an image conveys useful information, type a brief description of it at the point where it appears.

Animation

Briefly describe any functional animation. For example, ‘There is a flying arrow circling around. It settles on X to show that is the preferred option'.

Notes

Use the notes field to clarify content presented on the slides, including any graphics, images and animations. For example, you can use the notes field to explain the content of a graph and the reason for its insertion.

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Page last reviewed: 04 November 2010