Planning accessible events and meetings

All events sponsored by SFU are expected to be inclusive of, and accessible for people with disabilities. When planning an event, take accessibility into account from the outset as opposed to considering accessibility as a compliance issue or an afterthought. Planning accessible events ensures that people with disabilities have equal opportunity to fully engage and participate at your function. Planning an accessible meeting or event will benefit all of your attendees.

SFU resources for planning accessible events

• Inclusive Events Checklist | SFU Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion - SFU Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion’s Inclusive Events Checklist provides information on how to make your events more accessible for people with disabilities. This checklist will ensure that accessibility related themes are considered when planning your event.
• How To: Accessible & Inclusive Events Planning | SFU Public Square - SFU Public Square’s How To: Accessible & Inclusive Events Planning resource provides information on how to make your events more inclusive for everyone and includes aspects beyond accessibility for people with disabilities when planning events.

Additional guides and resources

The Government of British Columbia’s Accessibility and Inclusion Toolkit contains information on hosting inclusive meetings and events. You can also reference the Guide to Planning Inclusive Meetings published by the Government of Canada for important information to consider before planning your meetings. The Council of Ontario Universities’ Accessible Campus website has an Accessible Event & Conference Planning guide which contains guides and checklists for everything related to accessible event and conference planning. For tips on making your virtual events accessible, see Prioritizing Accessibility in Organizing Online Events. Autistic United Canada has published an Auto-Captioning Starter Guide to help improve sound access in meetings, events, presentations, and lectures.

For information on using live-transcription for Zoom meetings and webinars, check out SFU IT Services’ Live transcription How-To Guides.