Quick Start Workshop: Integrating Audio Description into Presentations and Videos

This hands-on workshop will help you integrate Audio Description (AD) into your workflow, making visual content accessible from the start rather than as a post-production fix. You'll learn to replace vague cues like “As you can see here” with rich, meaningful descriptions that enhance accessibility and reduce technical hurdles.

By the end of this workshop, attendees will be able to:

• Identify the fundamentals of audio description practice
• Write and voice visual aid descriptions in your discipline
• Optimize presentation preparation and workflows to reduce and eliminate audio description

• If you present visuals during teaching/presenting (most often a PowerPoint with images), please bring a sample presentation. We’ll leverage small groups to apply concepts and offer feedback.
• If your context is more video/media production, bring a representative sample of that work.
• If you do not have a sample presentation, we’ll guide you in our workshop on alternatives to facilitate your participation.

Full Workshop Description
Audio Description (AD) is a practice of using words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative to convey visuals; benefitting people who are blind or have low vision. The visual is made verbal. Producing descriptions after presentations are recorded, or after videos are finalized, incurs many technical hurdles and educational limitations. Conversely, if material is presented with AD included (a variation known as “integrated description”), several post-production and video dissemination steps are assuaged alongside additional benefits! In this workshop, we’ll build skills in writing and integrating description into your existing workflows; turning your inadvertently inaccessible “As you can see here,” into a description rich with context and significance.