Dry run

Physical events

When possible, have a walkthrough of the venue to check for possible access and other barriers, or call ahead and try to check for other issues with venue staff.

Common issues may include:

• Lack of accessible rooms
• Technology barriers
  • Cannot use in-house equipment, do not allow personal flash drives, incompatible equipment, older wiring that does not allow plug-ins, sound issues if playing videos

Digital events

You may want to do a practice run if doing a digital event as well, perhaps even more so than an in-person event to troubleshoot possible technology issues.

Have all relevant staff test software you will be using, and watch for the following barriers:

• Do you know how to use the captioning and other accessibility features?
• If using an outside captioner, can you add them to the meeting?
• Can you describe access features to participants?
• Do you know how to mute/unmute participants? Add speakers? Share screen? Split break-out rooms if using them?
• Is it possible to have a practice date before the event for participants (at least those who have RSVP’d) to practice connecting and participating ahead of the actual event?