1. Think about who will be in your audience and what their access needs might be. If you’re struggling to figure this out, look at the conference website and, if relevant, the website(s) of any associated organisation(s). If that doesn’t help (or doesn’t help enough), ask the conference organisers what kinds of people usually attend and what their access needs may be. This kind of preparation is important and useful, but it won’t necessarily inform you about everyone’s access needs, so don’t assume you know them all even if the audience is very familiar to you.
   
2. Encourage people to move around, stim, take breaks in a quieter space, or do whatever else they can to meet their own needs. This might mean someone with back pain standing rather than sitting; a neurodivergent person crafting or stimming with a fidget toy; someone needing to leave the room for a short while to take an urgent call. Don’t let yourself be distracted or put off by people moving within the room, or leaving and returning; every member of your audience has the right to meet their own needs, though they also have the responsibility to do so with as little disruption to the group as possible. If there are conflicting access needs (including your own), the responsibility for managing these should be shared between the people concerned.
   
3. Use appropriate and inclusive language. One point I always make to ICRMC keynote speakers is that our audience is quite diverse. We have researchers from academia, statutory and third sectors, independent researchers, research agencies, and from all over the world. This means that presenters need to use plain language and define any technical terms, which is generally good practice unless you are talking to an audience of specialists. If you’re a paediatric intensive care nurse addressing an audience of paediatric intensive care nurses, you can use all the relevant jargon you like, but otherwise, aim for clear and inclusive language. Avoid assumptions and stereotypes, use gender-neutral language when gender is unknown, and acknowledge alternative viewpoints – even those you disagree with.
   
4. Don’t assume everyone in your audience will have perfect vision. If you are using slides or offering handouts, make sure they are as accessible as possible. Use a sans-serif font such as Arial or Helvetica for ease of reading, and at 14-point size for handouts. For slides, use dark text on a light background (or vice versa) and avoid colour combinations that can cause difficulties for colour-blind people such as red and green. Ensure there is enough white space around your text and images for them to appear clearly. Describe any visual elements in words. And give a brief description of yourself at the start of the presentation.
   
5. Don’t assume everyone in your audience will have perfect hearing. If there is a mic, use it. If it is a hand-held mic, make sure it is always touching or almost touching your face, with the surface of the mic just below your bottom lip at all times. If you hold your mic at a distance, or move your head away from the mic – such as by turning towards your slides – without moving the mic with you, people using hearing loops or anyone attending online will lose the sound. Check with the audience whether they can hear you, including anyone online.
   
6. If you’re using PowerPoint, there are some very useful options for increasing and checking accessibility including real-time, automatic captions or subtitles. Subtitles can be in your own language or another language, so this can also help if you have speakers of another language in the audience. Do test captions or subtitles in advance, though, to ensure that they are sensibly configured. And think about sensory access too: avoid unnecessary animation, flashing effects, background music etc, and give advance notice of sudden loud sounds or other strong sensory elements.
   
7. Use a variety of methods within your presentation. There is evidence that this helps audiences to understand and remember the points you make. If you are only using slides and talk, try to vary the slides (text, diagrams, images etc) and the talk (including stories or anecdotes can be helpful). Show a short, relevant video, with captions or subtitles switched on. Seek audience participation, whether through low-tech methods such as shows of hands, or high-tech methods such as polls. If you have the skills, you could introduce creative elements such as mime, song, dance, improvisation etc. If you want to include an interactive element or group activity, make sure people are aware of this before they attend so they don’t have an unpleasant surprise – even if you think the element or activity is delightful, not everyone will.
   
8. Manage your time effectively. Practice and time your presentation to ensure you don’t over-run. Make time for questions, and manage those inclusively. Clarify at the start when and how people will be able to offer questions or comments to manage expectations and reduce anxiety. You could provide sticky notes so people in the room can write down their questions, which can make asking questions more accessible for people who are shy or not feeling confident. Encourage questioners to use a roving mic, or repeat their question into your own mic, so that everyone can hear. If your session is hybrid, ensure that people online can ask questions and receive answers too. Offer a way to ask questions later for people who need more processing time, such as by speaking to you after your presentation, using email, or sending a message on social media.
   
9. Don’t assume everyone has a smartphone with a functioning camera, or indeed a digital device at all. The techlash means people are increasingly rejecting technology. Alternatively, someone may have a device but the battery has just run out or the device is broken. If you want to use a tool such as a QR code or an online poll, make sure there is an alternative available for people who need a different mode of access.
   
10. Face the audience so that your mouth is visible, and speak at a clear, unhurried pace. Facing the front helps lip-readers. Speaking slowly is useful for audience members who have a different first language from the one you’re using, or who need longer than average for auditory processing. Pauses are useful too, especially after you have made a key point; a little time for that point to sink in aids comprehension. You do not need to make direct eye contact to engage people, and audience members do not need to make eye contact with you to show they are listening.

What have I forgotten? Please let me know in the comments.

With thanks to Niobe Dodd and Caitlin Murphy of The Work Inclusion Project for very helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this post.