Key tips

• Ask communication support about break needs before the start of the event
  • Typically if there are two British Sign Language (BSL) or two Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreters they will rotate every 20 minutes or so. Usually, you will not need to stop the event for this - clarify before the events starts.
• Control the timing
  • People may relay on medication, food or support needs at certain times, so meeting or events that run over can cause distress. Check the contingency arrangements for extending the session, and always ask participants if the time between breaks extends beyond 5 to 10 minutes if they are happy to continue.
• Facilitating lip reading

  It is important that anyone speaking:

  • remains as still as possible whilst speaking or presenting
  • blurs the background to allow the focus to remain on their face
  • ensures their face is well lit
  • avoids wearing dangling earring, zigzag patterned ties or loud graphic prints
  • trims back moustaches
  • avoids glossy lipstick
  • tries not to talk with their hands over their mouth.
• Questions and Answers
  • For those using a screen reader, the chat function in both Microsoft Teams and Zoom can be difficult to follow. If there is a question and answer section to your event, try using the question and answer box instead. This allows the audience to submit questions to the host, the host can choose to publish those questions, as well as to either orally respond or to type the answer.

  Simple instructions for Microsoft Teams Question and Answer are available online. This facility is also available in Zoom, but not in the basic package.

• Captioning
  • Captions can be used to aid those who have a hearing impairment or for those who are trying to work in a noisy environment. If you are using Microsoft Teams for your online event, you can simply turn captions on or off if you are the meeting host, and individual guests can also choose to turn on captions privately. This information should be included in the joining instructions that you send to your audience. Instructions on how to use this feature are available. If you are using the Zoom platform, it facilitates the use of closed captioning.
  • It is worth noting that for the deaf community the artificial intelligence (AI) automated captions are OK to a point, but their success depends on the content, how technical it is, pronunciation and accents.
  • To get the most out of live captions, you should ensure background noise is kept to a minimum, and wherever possible one person speaks at a time.
  • You may prefer to procure live captioning services (which are created by a person remotely, rather than via AI creation) - these need to be booked and confirmed well in advance.
• Recording
  • Providing a recording or a transcription can be invaluable to those who need it. Be aware that you must keep General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance in mind.
  • Both Microsoft Teams and Zoom have the facility for recording online events.

  Please see below for useful links:

  • Recording on Microsoft Teams
  • Recording on Zoom
  • Creating event transcriptions on Microsoft Teams
  • Creating event transcriptions in Zoom (note that this function is not available in the free Zoom package)