Inaccessible hybrid meetings

Choose accessible meeting spaces

• Select venues with accessible entrances, restrooms, elevators, and parking.
• Provide seating for wheelchairs, quiet areas, and easy access to exits.
• Use lighting so that people can see faces and interpreters.
• Reduce background noise where possible.
• Offer breaks and allow people to step away without judgment.
• Provide quiet rooms where assistive technologies can be used.
• Ensure access to tech support, adapters, charging stations, and different plug types.
• Avoid working discussions over meals in noisy or informal spaces unless accommodations are provided.
• Remind members not to hold important conversations unless the full committee is present.

• Inaccessible hybrid meetings
• Inaccessible in-person meetings
• Lack of training and support for chairs and facilitators

Make remote/virtual/online meetings accessible

• Platform & Tools
  • Use reliable platforms with accessibility features (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams).
  • Ensure platforms work with screen readers, braille displays, hearing aids, and other assistive technologies.
  • Encourage the group to choose collaboration tools together and decide how they will use them to best accommodate everyone. For example, many screen reader users prefer to have the chat feature disabled in a video conference or used very sparingly so that they aren’t listening to a speaker and the chat at the same time.
  • Allow flexibility and customization so tools can work with individual needs and assistive technology.
• Documents & Materials
  • Share all documents before the meeting in accessible formats.
  • Avoid live editing that screen readers or translation tools cannot follow or make sure to read out and describe all changes that are being made
  • Use screen sharing consistently and describe visual content for people who are blind or have low vision.
• Speaking & Participation
  • Remind participants to say their name before speaking.
  • Make sure only one person speaks at a time; raise hands before speaking and avoid talking over others.
  • Use inclusive language.
  • Explain jargon and abbreviations.
  • Keep captions on for everyone.
  • Ask participants to mute themselves if not speaking to reduce background noise.
  • Offer ways to participate without speaking such as chat, email, shared documents.
  • Repeat questions or comments from participants for clarity.
• Meeting Management & Inclusivity
  • Provide breaks and allow people to step away without judgment.
  • Allow anonymous feedback or a way to talk directly to the chair.
  • Share clear meeting rules so everyone knows how to take turns and ask questions.
  • Check in with quieter members to make sure they are included.
  • Offer virtual attendance for all meetings so people with mobility, transportation, or health challenges can participate.

• Inaccessible hybrid meetings
• Inaccessible virtual meetings
• Lack of training and support for chairs and facilitators
• Limited meeting times and time zone exclusion

Plan meetings so people worldwide can join

• Use UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) as the main time reference, because it stays the same all year and does not observe Day Light Saving.
• Rotate meeting times so the same region is not always stuck with late-night or early-morning meetings.
  • Some meetings can work best for North America and Europe
  • Other meetings can work best for Asia and the Pacific
• Consider having two meetings at different times which cover the same topics.
• Check regional holidays and observances when scheduling meetings. Try to avoid major holidays in different regions, or offer alternative ways for people to participate if a meeting falls during a holiday period.
• Check in with members often to make sure the meeting times still work, and change them when needed.
• Record meetings and share the recording and notes afterwards.
• Share agendas and documents early, so people in different time zones can review them.
• Allow people to give input in writing, not only during live meetings.
• Use tools that work well in many countries and do not require special paid accounts.
• Make sure meetings start and end on time.
• Avoid using local terms like “10 am my time” and include UTC and a time-zone converter link.

• Inaccessible hybrid meetings
• Inaccessible virtual meetings
• Limited meeting times and time zone exclusion

Provide translation and interpretation for everyone

• Offer translation and sign language/interpretation support from the start and make it normal for everyone to use.
• Test whether transcripts are working in advance.
• Use the automated transcript feature in video conferencing applications and save transcripts to share after the meeting. Check the saved transcripts for any errors or discrepancies after every meeting has ended.
• Give extra time for discussions and allow follow-up later, especially in international groups.
• Rotate meeting languages based on members’ needs, and provide interpretation when needed.
• Support smaller working groups in members’ native languages so they can participate more fully.

• Inaccessible hybrid meetings
• Inaccessible in-person meetings
• Lack of training and support for chairs and facilitators
• Lack of training and support for committee members
• Difficulty receiving and communicating information

Set meeting language captions correctly

• Set the video meeting language (Zoom/Teams/Webex) to the language people have agreed to speak. This helps automatic captions work better.
• Test the caption settings before the meeting.
• Ask everyone to set their caption language correctly.
• Start the meeting by checking that captions are on and set to the right language.
• If more than one language will be used, tell people before the meeting.
• For important meetings, use a human captioner or note taker, not only automatic captions.
• Ask people to speak clearly and not too fast.
• Put key words, names, and links in the chat.
• Save and share the transcript after the meeting.

• Inaccessible hybrid meetings
• Inaccessible virtual meetings

Use accessible hybrid meeting practices

• Start meetings with a reminder that all voices are welcome (both online and in-person).
• Use a camera that shows the whole room, so remote people can see who is speaking.
• Ensure high-quality microphones and speakers are installed for hybrid meetings
• Ask in-room speakers to say their name before they speak.
• Use good microphones and speakers so everyone can hear.
• Assign two different facilitators:
  • One to watch the online chat and support remote participants.
  • One to support in-person participants
• Repeat questions or comments from in-room participants for online members and vise-versa
• Use screen-sharing consistently and narrate visual content for those who are blind or have low vision
• Use lighting so that people can see faces and interpreters.
• Reduce background noise where possible.

• Provide virtual or hybrid attendance options for all meetings - in-person meetings often create more challenges for members with disabilities, including those with mobility or transportation barriers.
• Ensure all core work can be completed virtually, not just discussed during in-person meetings

• Inaccessible hybrid meetings