What do you do when you are at a conference and captions are not provided? First, you probably get angry or frustrated, especially if you tried to arrange accommodations in advance. There is no excuse for a conference to not be accessible, but sadly it still regularly happens.
I experienced this myself recently, but rather than quit or leave or yell, I decided to improvise. Luckily the on-site planners were willing to experiment and together, we created a free workaround that displayed auto-captions on the main presentation screen using the built-in captioning feature in PowerPoint.
While this was not a perfect solution, it certainly worked in a pinch.
PowerPoint Captions are Easy to Use
Free auto-captions are built right into PowerPoint. You just need to turn them on.
To enable captions during a Slide Show in fullscreen mode, click on the CC button at the bottom of the slide. Click it again to turn them off. If you prefer that captions are always used or if you will be playing your Slide Show in window view (on Zoom, for example), tick “Always Use Subtitles” in the Slide Show settings tab.
You can set the location of the captions as shown in the image. (This image is from a Mac computer so the location might be slightly different for Windows or Web users.) I usually choose “Above Slide” when I am presenting in-person so they are visible in the back of the room as well.
You can also choose the Microphone that PowerPoint will use to “listen” to the speaker and change the look of the captions under System Caption Preferences (Mac). Find more instructions for a variety of platforms here.
Other Conference Workarounds
Until all conferences are routinely accessible—as they should be—it pays to have a few tricks up your sleeve. The first is advance planning. If you need captioning, request it well in advance. The longer an organizer has to comply, the more likely they will.
Should you be caught without, PowerPoint captions are an option. While not perfect, at least the subtitles appear on the same screen as the slides making it easier to follow along. An up-to-date version of Microsoft PowerPoint is required.
If PowerPoint subtitles are not an option, try using a speech-to-text app on your phone (sometimes the distance from the speaker can be prohibitive) or ask the speaker to wear a remote microphone (if you have one) so their voice will play directly into your devices. And of course, choose a seat up front where you can see the speaker for speechreading cues.
Readers, what accessibility tricks have worked for you when you find no captions at a conference?
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So Powerpoint has mic capability like Zoom? I’m trying to understand how it produces captions.
Powerpoint uses the microphone on the computer to produce the captions, similar to Zoom. Thank you for your question.
Shari, this is good for presenters to know. Can you just confirm that the captioning must be turned on by them – or we in the audience will not understand what is said from the podium (in the absence of other assistive technologies)?
Also, if we with hearing loss are giving the PowerPoint, won’t we still have very limited access to questions and comments from the audience, again absent a CART display we can read from or other assistance?
Jerry
The presenter and/or conference operator (whoever controls the computer that is being used) must turn this feature on in PowerPoint. It is not a perfect solution for Q&A when we are presenting, but is an interesting workaround when we are in the audience. Thank you for your questions.
Thanks for this info, Shari. At my son’s UCLA graduation this past weekend, I was not successful in getting a captioner, but was seated in the front row (directly in front of the ASL interpreter) and given a cue book, which contained transcripts of all the speeches – it was very helpful and no doubt an option at conferences as well.
Thank you for sharing an option that worked for you. And congratulations on your son’s graduation!
GOOD to know, thanks!!!
You are welcome! Hope it helps!
I’d be delighted if seminar organizers would simply save the first row or two of seats — in front ot the speaker — for use by hearing impaired attendees. We save special parking spots for the disabled, why not reserve seats at seminars and conferences for hearing impaired persons?
Interesting idea. That is something we could request in advance as well. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
This is great to know! Thank you.
Wonderful! Glad you found it helpful!