Speaker Guide

About Accessibility Nottingham:

Accessibility Nottingham takes place around the Nottingham city centre and is an informative, light-hearted and a fun evening where you can learn about the importance of accessibility in the digital world.

The event is targeted at everyone, be that people who already have an interest in accessibility, someone living with a disability, or those who have never looked into digital accessibility before but want to make a change within their organisation. 

Location:

The Playwright 38,
38 Shakespeare St,
Nottingham,
NG1 4FQ

The address is subject to change for events in 2020

Dates:

Every third Tuesday of the month (excluding December and January).

General Schedule:

All times are approximate and subject to change.

  • 17:30 – 18:00 – Speaker Arrivals
  • 18:00 – 18:30 – Visitor Arrivals
  • 18:30 – 18:40 – Introductory talk, drinks and mingle.
  • 18:45 – 19:25 – Keynote speaker 1
  • 19:25 – 19:55 – Keynote 2 OR Entertainment
  • 19:55 – 20:20 – Food served
  • 20:20 – 21:00 – Keynote 3
  • 21:00 onwards – Drinks, mingle.

What to include in your talk?

Your talk needs to be engaging, not presuppose any prior knowledge, and clearly guide attendees through the importance of accessibility in the online world.

We would hope for you to interact with your audience throughout your discussion by getting them involved with activities, talking to them on and off stage, and asking them questions.  We appreciate that this may not be comfortable for you, so please do what works for you.

What we need from you:

Once you have been contacted with a date for your talk, we will require you to submit the following

As soon as possible (no later than 2 weeks before):

  • Your full name and job title.
  • A clear, high resolution, photo of yourself. This will appear on the events and the speaker page of the website.
  • If this is your first time speaking with us, we need a 150 – 200 word bio or introduction about you to feature in your speaker profile.
  • A 300 word summary of your talk. Please include a talk title and write in the third person.
  • Please send us your full presentation as soon as you have it ready.

No later than 7 days before the event:

  • We need your full presentation and a list of buzzwords and phrases (explained below)

Making your presentation as accessible as possible:

Firstly, please let us know what file format you will be using for your presentation. This will allow us to make sure accessibility features are well supported.

Visual Communication:

  • Make sure the font on your slideshow is large enough to be viewed from afar.
  • Provide clear headings and points of interest on each slide.
  • Avoid long line lengths, typically over 60 characters.
  • Do not rely on colour to convey information/meaning.
  • Maintain a suitable gap or spacing between words and characters.
  • Ensure clear contrast between foreground and background colours.
  • Please avoid flashing or fast-moving transitions.

Verbal communication:

  • Talk with a slow, steady pace
  • Face the front when talking to help with lip reading
  • Describe visual elements in your slides that would be missed by blind or partially sighted audience members.
  • Make sure the audience understands a section of the presentation before continuing to the next section.
  • Explain all content simply, avoiding ambiguous or long sentences. 

Captioning:

We will be creating real-time captions of your talk. Please follow these techniques to make the captioners job easier:

  • Make a list of the specialist, uncommon and unfamiliar phrases, jargon and acronyms that you intend to use before the event. Please send these with your presentation.
  • If it is possible, avoid using niche, uncommon or specialist jargon. Instead, explain things in plain and simple English.
  • If jargon is unavoidable, please define these terms.
  • Always define acronyms.

How we use your content:

With your permission, the following terms will apply to your talk and its content. These apply to the Accessibility Nottingham website, social media and YouTube channels.

  • Your name and company will be listed and announced as a speaker.
  • The talks will be recorded.
  • The use of written captions from the presentation.
  • The recording and the slides of the presentation will be viewable from the speaker and events page.

These terms are not a necessary part of speaking, and we would happily pause the recording process if you’d prefer.

If you need any advice on making your presentation accessible, please contact us for advice.