Accessible PowerPoint presentations
- Author Benjy Stanton
- Date (updated 5 March 2024)
- Categories
A collection of tips for making PowerPoint presentations more accessible. Created (and crowdsourced) by the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) Inclusive Design team earlier in the year. Many tips will be useful for other presentation tools too.
Make your slides available
- Share your slides
- Before the meeting starts ideally
- Or at the beginning of the presentation
- So people can follow at their own pace
When speaking
- Turn the camera of the person speaking on
- Speak clearly (but not slowly)
Sounds and music
- Avoid sounds and music where possible
- Especially if it might make it difficult to hear other people speaking
Make content available in different ways
- Add speaker notes
- Turn on auto subtitles or captions if you can
- Consider sharing alternative formats like HTML or audio
Turn on accessibility checker
- On the tool bar, go to “Review” then “Check Accessibility”
- Or search for “Accessibility”
- Keep it running while you work
- Re-open checker from link in bottom left
Graphic design
- Keep the design simple
- Use a legible font, like Arial
- Minimum 18pt font size
- Avoid low contrast text
- Avoid using colour as the only means of conveying information
- Avoid using text in images
- Add an off-white slide background colour for people with dyslexia
Content
- Aim for no more than 6 words per line
- Aim for no more than 7 lines per slide
- Add alt text to images (unless they are decorative)
- Explain visual information when presenting
- Use simple language
- Check reading order
- Add meaningful hyperlink text
- Give every slide a unique title
- Warn users about sensitive content with TW (trigger warning) or CW (content warning)
Tables
- Use tables for simple data
- Don’t use tables for layout
- Don’t merge cells or nest tables
- Make sure tables have header rows with descriptive text
Animation and transitions
- Avoid using animations and transitions
- Use gifs sparingly, and stop them from repeating forever
Further reading
- How to create accessible PowerPoint presentations from GOV.WALES
- All about the presentation: don’t let accessibility slide from TPGi
- Contrast Checker from WebAIM
- Doing the hard work to make talks readable from Government Digital Service (GDS)
- Accessible Speaking Best Practices from Deque
- How to do presentations by Anne Shewring and Russell Davies