Attendee Information

Welcome 

Welcome! We are so excited to have you involved in the Accessible Publishing Summit. This document should help set you up for success for this virtual iteration of the Summit. The Summit will be run through Zoom, and while many are familiar with Zoom we nevertheless wanted to provide some guidance. Additionally, we will be using Slack to create a space for everyone to connect outside of the formal Zoom sessions. 

We will email the Slack and Zoom access links to all attendees in advance of the Summit. 

Zoom

Etiquette 

We will ask that attendees consider some basic Zoom etiquette over the three days:

  • If you do not have Zoom on your device, download the best version for your device through the Zoom Download Centre 
  • Those who have Zoom should check their Zoom is updated through the Zoom website
  • Remain muted when you are not speaking 
  • When you are un-muted and speaking: 
    • Avoid interrupting others 
    • Be cautious of any distracting background noise
  • Focus on the session you are attending, avoid distractions including email 
  • Do your best to be in an environment with limited distractions in the background
  • When you join the Zoom meeting, please update your name to this format: Leah Brochu (she/her) (NNELS). Screen readers can access and read these lists, so having a uniform list of participants will be helpful.

Recording Sessions 

Presentations (including panel discussions and expert perspectives/industry updates) will be recorded and made available publicly on YouTube following the summit. If you have any concerns about this, please let us know before February 14, 2021, so we can address them. 

Captions 

We will be using the Zoom automatic captions for the event, you can have these appear in two ways: at the bottom of the screen below the video or on the sidebar. You can turn them off and on as you’d like through the lower bar of Zoom.  

Internet 

Conferencing software is demanding on your bandwidth, so in ideal circumstances, your internet is hardwired into your computer. This doesn’t guarantee a faster connection, but it does guarantee a more reliable one. If hard-wiring isn’t possible, we ask that you be as close to your internet router as possible. 

If your internet is struggling during the Summit, we find turning off your camera often helps. If it is a consistent issue across the Summit’s participants, we may ask everyone to turn off their cameras for a period of time. 

Audio 

A good microphone is the key to success in virtual events. Simply put, we want to hear what you have to say.  

However, this doesn’t mean you need to invest in an ultra-expensive, professional microphone. We suggest you gather all the microphone options in your house (including those headphones with the microphone you won last year and even calling in on your phone). Test them all out by recording yourself speaking on them or with a colleague over a video call, you may be surprised with which has the best microphone! Once you identify the best microphone you have, keep it nearby and use it for your involvement in the Summit. 

Video 

Participants are not required to use their cameras throughout the Summit, however, we do encourage attendees to as long as you are comfortable, especially in the breakout sessions. 

Video is quite similar to audio — we suggest trying all your webcam/camera options to determine which gives you the best quality camera. (Quick tip: Before you go live, wipe your webcam with a cloth before you start, a clean camera makes a world of difference.) What will help significantly with your camera is your lighting. Natural daylight is the absolute best option for lighting but may not be possible, the next best thing is soft lighting and much like audio and video, take a look at your lamp and lighting options in your office and home. It is best to have the lighting source either in front or beside you but never ever behind you. Try testing them out around the same time you’ll be presenting to get a sense of what it will look like with the mix of natural light. For positioning, ideally, you are looking into the camera straight on (so no one is peaking up your nose), and you are visible from the chest or shoulders up (think something like a headshot). It is easy to distract attendees with odd camera angles. 

Again, test all your options by recording yourself or with a colleague over a video call for feedback.

Slack 

Etiquette 

We will ask that attendees consider some basic Slack etiquette:

  • When replying to someone, use the thread function to avoid making the channel overwhelming to read. This will also help with reducing the notifications that individuals receive.
  • When possible, aim to send longer messages instead of multiple short ones.
  • Please be judicious in your use of emojis. Stringing together a series of emojis can be frustrating for people who rely on screen readers to announce this data.
  • Try to stick to the topic being discussed in named channels. If you aren’t sure where something should go, likely the #general channel is best.