Facilitating Accessible Meetings and Workshops

Introduction

Leading virtual meetings is hard – workshops even more-so. They have the potential to be boring, low-energy affairs, filled with people surrounded by distractions. Our job as virtual facilitators is to be more exciting than an email – a surprisingly high bar.

Be it a multi-day workshop, a retrospective, or just a 1-1, our workshop activities should provide a new lens through which to view a problem, and attendees should come away feeling like the activity was valuable, and the time was well-spent. Value follows from cultivating enthusiastic participation, but if that metaphorical lens is smudged – if something is hindering that enthusiasm – at best we lose value, and at worst we get none.

Strategies for cultivating enthusiastic participation abound, though I have found the topic of accessible facilitation sorely overlooked – a gap I aim to fill. By researching tangential material, interviewing specialists, absorbing feedback from participants, and meditating on the impact my own disabilities have on my work, I have developed a few strategies which have helped attendees get more value from these important community forums. I am by no means an expert, nor is this list exhaustive, but in a political climate that’s growing increasingly hostile towards inclusivity and diversity, I hope that sharing what I’ve learned may help others support their teams and participants, whether they think they need the support or not.

What is accessibility?

Accessibility is the practice of ensuring that everyone can easily and equally access and benefit from information, activities, and environments. Some obvious measures include wheelchair ramps, elevators, talking crosswalks, and automated doors. Others often taken for granted may include universal iconography, large print books, and closed captions and sign language on TV. Similarly for braille on banknotes, keyboard shortcuts, and screen reader code tags for web pages and apps. You may not always see or appreciate them, but they are everywhere.

Efforts promoting accessibility are deeply important on an individual, and organisational level. They allow us to reach new markets, create welcoming spaces for our customers, build trust with our clients, and show respect and appreciation for the diverse cast of characters that make up our communities.

Whether we realise it or not, everybody has benefited at least some accessibility features. We only appreciate their inadequacy (or absence) when we need them – and some people notice more than others.

Legal accommodations

A virtual workshop is more than filling out a pretty whiteboard activity – it’s a community discussion. The first thing I think about is getting everyone into the (proverbial) room, which includes understanding their basic accommodations.

Employees are entitled to have disclosed accessibility requirements met, and it is important to ensure their rights are being respected. This must be approached tactfully – don’t press for sordid details, or put people in a position where they need to “out” themselves or their colleagues. It’s appropriate to ask a supervisor, “On a high level, are there any accessibility accommodations within the team that I should be aware of that could impact this session?”

Reading and verbal comprehension

This can be tricky to navigate because the difference between peoples’ reading and verbal comprehension is not always obvious. Whether this is due to a language barrier, or auditory, visual, or learning difficulties, we still must ensure that everyone understands the expectations of the activity at hand.

Here are some things to keep in mind to make workshops accessible for people with these barriers:

Spoken languages are always full of contractions, regional slang, and idioms, all of which can be difficult to follow – especially for people for whom it is a non-native language. Speak deliberately and clearly, and avoid rushing.
Write instructions in B1 or B2-level language.
Always read critical text aloud – especially instructions, section titles or sticky notes.
Circulate minutes and presentations after the meeting for people to read through at their own speed.

Colour blindness

According to Colour Blind Awareness, a non-profit formed to raise awareness of the needs of colour blind people, 4.5% of the UK has partial or complete colour-blindness (1 in 12 men (8%), and 1 in 200 women). The most common variety is red/green colour blindness, where people can confuse any colours which have some red or green as part of their makeup.

Given that it is estimated that 74% of the tech workforce are men, there is a reasonable chance that we are working with someone with this disability – and it’s not unlikely that they themselves are unaware of it.

When we are designing virtual whiteboards keep these in mind:

Verify colour contrast for text, shapes, and their backgrounds – especially in colour combinations with black/grey, grey/white, red/green, red/black, and blue/yellow. If unsure, review your colour palette with tools like this one.
Review your reliance on colours – label boxes, and experiment with line thickness and line shape (eg dotted/dashed/solid).

Neurodivergence

This is an emerging topic – but broadly, it’s a kaleidoscope of different ways a person’s brain processes information. Notable forms of neurodivergence in the common eye today include ASD and ADHD. However, there are many others that fall under the umbrella, such as APD, dyslexia, OCD, stammering, and more.

We must be careful to not make prescriptive statements about what will be good for everyone; no two brains are the same, neurodivergent or otherwise. However, I can share some feedback team members and attendees identifying as neurodivergent have freely shared with me in the past:

Provide detailed descriptions to your meeting invites. This helps participants understand the tone of the meeting, allowing them to prepare ahead of time, which can reduce anxiety.
Share the activity the day before. Not everyone thinks well on their feet, and may freeze when faced with the pressure. This does not mean we must grant edit access – just encourage them to come prepared with notes. They will feel less anxious, and take more ownership of the outcomes.
In virtual whiteboards, set up grids of sticky notes rather than preferring free placement. The constant movement of elements on the board – especially of different colours – can be distracting and overwhelming.
Show participants how to hide named cursors, which can be equally distracting.
Take breaks every 30-45 minutes. This is especially important for people who struggle to maintain focus for long periods of time.
Don’t let attendees interrupt each other, and don’t do it yourself. Not only is this a matter of respect in general, it can be especially discouraging, confusing, or frustrating for people who struggle with the language, have auditory processing disorders, or have speech impediments.
Do not call on team members who are uncomfortable speaking. This will break the trust of our participants – not just the quiet person, but those that may fear they are no longer allowed to be quiet themselves. If they are not participating it may not be because they don’t want to, but because they are unable to. Check with them privately afterwards, and ask if everything was okay. Respond to their feedback next time.

Accessibility in virtual whiteboard tools

Many virtual whiteboards have accessibility features and controls in-built. It’s worth reviewing their capabilities them based on your chosen platform:

Miro and Mural each have comprehensive documentation about their accessibility controls and improvements.
Figma has a huge library of community-driven accessibility tools and plugins.
Miro has a native accessibility checker for your whiteboards and drawings.

In conclusion

We have a long way to go to make our communities and projects more inclusive and accessible, but of the ways we can start to dismantle structural and systemic issues that affect participation in our communities – making our community forums safe, accessible places is an easy first step.

Remember that we are not dealing with people who need accommodations – we are supporting everyone, whether they know they need it or not. Barriers of any variety still impact people who take them for granted. When we have the opportunity to remove them, there’s no reason to not do it.

There are no catch-all solutions here. Accessibility and inclusivity are complicated, and it’s not always clear what’s missing until it’s too late. All we can do is our best for the people that rely on us, and iterate and improve. For such a small price, it’s worth the effort.