A complete guide to make your virtual events accessible

Live Captioning, also known as live transcription, provides real-time subtitles for the video content. Captioners listen to the audio and convert them to text. Most beneficial for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.

Live Subtitling on Zoom translates from the source language into the language of your choice. Eg. English to Spanish subtitling. Bilingual linguistics is employed for subtitling and is one of the best approaches for ESL speakers. 

Are you conducting an event on any video conferencing platform and streaming it on social media? We have options to include real-time captions in either your video conferencing or social media platforms. This keep’s your audience engaged throughout.

For all your events on Medical, Legal, Educational, Business, and Government, we provide ASL interpreting services that are highly regulated. Our certified interpreters provide in-person and virtual interpreting services for deaf and hard of hearing.

Do you have pre-recorded Zoom videos in your library? Bring them to us. We have better methods to reproduce your Zoom videos. We help you to reach wider audiences by making these videos more accessible. 

You need no special equipment or software with Streamtext. If you wish to make your captions appear on a separate window or device without disturbing the original source, just use the unique Streamtext URL to enable live captions.

Are you trying to communicate over the phone with someone else of a different language, maybe for a business or personal purpose? Hire our remote telephone interpreting services where we support as many as 50+ languages.

Do you know someone who is deaf but needs to communicate with another person using speech reading and speaking?  You need the help of our oral transliterators, who can translate the message of a deaf person to a hearing person and vice versa.

Get your free verbatim print materials in 48 hours after your Zoom session. These materials are carefully proofread by our editors and the final error-free version is sent to you for further documentation and other post-production activities.

Never miss anything in a meeting or live lecture.  We are ready to take notes on the go. Go paper-free with CaptioningStar, that could save your time and hassle. Notes can be auto-generated or prepared manually by our transcriptionists.

According to CDC- Centers for disease control and prevention, almost 61% of adults in the US report some physical accessibility issues. It can be invisible, moderate, or even acute. Some of the common barriers:

• Visual impairments ( vision loss, partial loss, legal blindness)
• Hearing loss or impairments
• Speech impairments (a disorder of sound, fluency, or delay)
• Motor impairment ( partial body part function, lack of muscle control, poor stamina)

Learning or neurocognitive disorder focus on comprehension, concentration, and remembrance of new things. It may also be any difficulty that hinders the learning process, for example, autism, ADHD, dyslexia, etc.

According to the four main principles of WCAG, the content must be POUR:

Perceivable- Design the user interface in an easily perceivable, adaptable way.

Operable- Smooth interaction and navigation

Understandable- Simple and neat formatting with input assistance

Robust- Compatible and assistive technology-friendly

For example, using contrasting colors, large font and format for headings, sufficient explanatory words, interactive elements, and easy navigation options can help you meet the web content accessibility requirements. Must include controls for playing and pausing videos and such.

Choose a content management system that contains accessible template designs, interactive elements, and communication flow. The event platform also needs to be considerate about accessibility. Look for the interactable UI design, live captioning services in the virtual event platforms.

Hire a sign language interpreter capable of conveying your content in sign language, body posture, and facial expression. This way, you could eliminate any last-minute hunt for an interpreter. In a way, it would make your content hearing-impairment friendly in general and welcome a diverse audience to your event.

Captions are an easy way to increase viewership. When it acts as an accessibility requirement, it also helps in several other ways. It makes your content globally available and repurposes your videos into blogs or posts in no time. Studies have shown that 80% of the television audience who use captions are not deaf. But instead, they find it of great use as it is easier to follow. Captions permit them to grasp the content despite the nature of the environment and increase involvement.

The power of captions is reliable on the effectiveness of its usage. Choose a professional captioning service provider to yield more benefits out of captions and subtitles. CaptioningStar provides high-standard captions, subtitles, and live captioning services.

According to statistics, 77% of marketers prioritize email accessibility for branding. Drafting an ADA-compliant email with illustrations, responsive design, and color symbolism can improve your business altogether. Reach out to the participants who need some additional guidelines. Ask them about accommodation demands and seating arrangements in advance.

Sending invitations with event details- length of the program, interactive elements planned out for the event, the format of the event, etc. This way, the attendees can prepare themselves for what is ahead.

Another great way to prepare the participants for the event is- distributing the event content beforehand. Especially for people with visual impairments, it helps to familiarize themselves with the given information using screen readers and voice assistants. 

 Few practices to customize an accessible event can be- using semantic coding, giving examples, embedding screen readers code. Accessible forms mutualize opportunities for everyone to register. It has a strong command in boosting confidence to the attendees in how accessible your events would be.

An inclusive content should include a wide range of diversity – all races, sex, age, sexual identities, body size, socio-economical status, learning behavior, and difficulties. In visual or video representations, be unbiased and include illustrations inclusive of different cultures and gender.

Invite speakers and guests of diverse demographic backgrounds to deliver directly relatable experiences and inclusive content.

While it is easier to maintain conduct about the cliche topics, the newer trends need more additional delicacy. Sometimes the speaker may not intend to do an inconsiderable or offensive action, and they may slip out due to the force of habit. Despite the personal beliefs and background, the employees must articulate in a trained, inclusive manner of all people and their differences.

 In in-person events, this refers to the physical venue. But in virtual space, environmental accessibility denotes the platform choice, surrounding of the host, and the participants. According to the American press institute, 85% of Facebook videos are mute while watching. Facilities like live captions, chat options, and audio/video turn-off options eliminate the threat of noisy ambiance.

 Virtual events are relatively low-cost compared to traditional events. The rent for the physical venue, food, and beverages costs are cut-down. Budgeting accordingly, hosting sponsorship events can help further in providing economic events.

Not all participants afford to log in from well-performing devices. So it is crucial to conduct events in a robust, compatible, responsive platform that does not compromise on the functionality of features. 

Record the sessions without fail and arrange access to the recorded sessions for the participants. Send over transcriptions or embed captioning to the recorded videos. VOD could be a great reference material for the audience that they can rewatch whenever needed as per their convenience.  

According to Markletic, 64 % of event managers refer to the sales team’s feedback to determine audience satisfaction. Gratifying your audience is very important for them to retain back to your future events. And sometimes, the best outcome of communication comes from listening. Post-event feedback can play a crucial role in improvising your events. 

Request feedback via electronic mail and casually draft Q/A sessions into the mail. Popping up these sessions can quickly survey reviews. For example, agree to disagree or Yes/No/Not really type of questions. Narrowing down to the repetitive comments can give a broader view of your event performance- the strong and weak points of the program. 

Solving the problems or even attending to comments and feedback make the audience feel heard. Intrusiveness drives away the customers instantly. So keep an eye on the FAQ and repetitive comments to serve impeccably. 

Accessible events are transforming to be one of the essential features for attracting a diverse audience. And captioning your content is the first step to making your events accessible on multiple levels. CaptioningStar can take your virtual event journey to a more profitable path with brilliant captioning services. Check out our services.