Checklist for Accessible Events

Planning Accessible In-Person Events

Requirements Prior to Event

  • Videos, clips, and/or media played during the event must be captioned beforehand.

  • Prep material including a list of speakers/recipients, speeches, introductions, agenda, sponsors, etc. or song lists, and lyrics played during the event must be provided a minimum of 48 hours prior to the event and sent to Aberdeen (caption@abercap.com).

  • Gain early access to the event location to set up and test equipment. Contact person from AV/Tech Department to set up the event. Have microphones for the audience for any questions/participation. Access a video monitor when it is requested.

  • An audio feed from the event needs to be available to Aberdeen. To do this is set up a web conference for the time of the event (e.g., zoom, skype or similar). Send Aberdeen the conference audio information. If the event will be live-streamed, provided the video live stream to Aberdeen along with the audio information (caption@abercap.com).

  • In case of problem be on-site, or have an agreement with the event site staff, to monitor the audio conference (and if being live streamed) and the video-stream to be sure the stream/feed doesn’t drop. Identify who is to be contacted at the venue if the audio feed collapses.

  •  Aberdeen should have the onsite contact’s phone number for testing and in case of an emergency. Event coordinator and/or the onsite contact should have the Aberdeen Emergency Line. Any issues regarding the audio feed or captioning data, contact the Aberdeen Emergency Line (949-302-0004). 

  • Aberdeen will provide a link for the captioning stream, and you or your event liaison will need to provide this to the students (https://www.streamtext.net/player?event=UCBDAC). This link will be used unless there are concurrent events.

Event Set-Up

Task 1: Set up a laptop computer with the web conference for the audio (e.g., zoom, skype or similar). All speakers and presenters much use a microphone in order to be captioned.  Aberdeen will join the event 5 mins before the scheduled event time. They will then call the event POC to ensure captions are passing and audio is clean.

Task 2: To have a clean audio feed, the laptop must be plugged into the speaker system that is controlling the microphone that the performer is using. This way the captioner gets ‘internal audio’ and doesn’t pick up ambient noise. The liaison will want to talk to the event site contact ahead of time to determine what tech person is there to help with the plug-in part.

Task 3: If captions are going to be projected onto a screen, ensure there is a screen, a table and chair, an electrical outlet available. If slides/videos are being used and captions are being provided on the same screen, StreamCast can be downloaded onto the computer to provide captions. This is found on the StreamText website.

Be creative where no speaker system to plug into!! Some places, like Paulie Ballroom, do not have an accessible speaker system so you can’t plugin. Instead, the laptop will have to be placed on a podium next to the speaker/presenter. Advise the speaker/presenter.

Planning Accessible Remote Events

Due to COVID-19 and the related campus closure, our community is holding many campus events remotely, and posting recordings of these events to their websites more than ever. Several people have asked for guidance on how to have ADA compliant and accessible remote events webpage embedded event recordings. Please see the following and contact us if you have further questions.

  1. Remote events that are open to an audience beyond staff and faculty need to have language on the invites/advertisements inviting potential participants that we can and will provide ASL or CART (remote captioning) on their request;

  2. Someone who is involved in setting up the event will need to be or appoint an Access Coordinator. This person:

    1. Ensures that this required ADA language is put on promotional materials: "If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) to fully participate in this event, please contact [name of AC] at [contact information phone number and email] with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event."

    2. To gather the necessary information from anyone who requests the accommodation, and contact our office through our website communication request portal.

    3. To talk to the remote captioning service person we will connect them to, and confirm the details so the accommodation is provided by the vendor.

    4. Make the request on the Disability Access & Compliance site at: https://dac.berkeley.edu/services/communications-accommodations

  3. If you are going to post the/a recorded remote event on a website, you should have language on the page where it is posted stating: "If you require captioning to access a pre-recorded event on our site, please contact [name of webmaster] at [contact information phone number and email]. Please expect 7-10 days for captioning to be provided." The webmaster will then need to contact our office via the website communications request portal. We will connect them to our remote captioning service provider who will caption the recorded event.