WordPress Accessibility Day 2026

WordPress Accessibility Day 2026 Speakers Packet

Welcome speakers! We’re so excited that you will be joining us as a speaker for WordPress Accessibility Day 2026 in October. In this packet, you will find all of the information that you need to know about this year’s event.

Table of Contents

Event Timing and Location

WordPress Accessibility Day (WPAD) will run from 14:45 UTC (9:45 AM central) on October 7th through 15:00 UTC (10:00 AM central) on October 8th. We’ll have brief opening remarks, then dive into the content.

WordPress Accessibility Day will be viewable as a Zoom Webinar. Attendees (and speakers) must be registered for the webinar to watch the conference. 

All session blocks will begin on the hour with a 10-minute break between sessions.

Recording of the presentation of pre-recorded sessions and live Q&A will be done through Zoom. We will simultaneously record a local copy and a cloud copy of every session. There is additional information on this in the Day of Logistics section.

Presentation Formats/Requirements

Full-Length Talks (Pre-Recorded)

Full-length talks occupy a 50-minute session block. You will be announced by an MC, we will play your pre-recorded talk, and then conduct a live Q&A. You will need to be available for your entire session block to interact with attendees in the chat and participate in the live Q&A immediately after your pre-recorded talk plays.

Please ensure your talk is as close as possible to 38 minutes in length (no shorter than 35 minutes or longer than 38 minutes) to allow approximately 10 minutes for questions, and for a break before the start of the next session.

Please see the guidelines below on presentation accessibility before creating your presentation slides.

Recording your session

Our organizing team will be coordinating a time to meet with you via Zoom for a 90 minute session to record your presentation. We will handle the editing of your session, polish the audio/video and add intros. Once completed, we will send the video back to you for approval.

Tips for Looking and Sounding Good

Whether you’re recording your talk in advance or giving it live, here are a few tips for looking and sounding good on camera to ensure that attendees can best receive the information you share.

  • Use our 2026 Accessibility Day Zoom background, which you can download here. For help setting your Zoom background check out this support article.
    • Note: Zoom backgrounds work best with just a single speaker. Custom backgrounds don’t perform well on Zoom when multiple speakers are present
  • Sit in a well-lit area, with natural light sources preferred over artificial light.
  • Keep the light source in front of you and not behind or above you.
  • Position your computer so that you are just barely an arm’s length away from the screen.
  • Position your computer so that your webcam is at eye level, rather than having to look up or down at the camera. You may try taping notes or a photo of a loved one/pet by the webcam to help with eye contact.
  • If possible, use an external microphone rather than the one included in your laptop.
  • Wear headphones to reduce feedback and echoes from the microphone picking up sounds coming through your computer speakers.
  • Check out this video tutorial for more tips about self-recorded video.

Presentation Accessibility (For All Speakers)

Best Practices to Follow

We have a conference branded slide template available, but you’re free to use your own template with your own branding and contact information. However, we do request that you consider accessibility best practices when designing your presentation slides and recording videos. 

Remember that as this is an online event, audience members will be viewing presentations on a wide array of personal devices, from high-definition monitors to tablets or phones.

Please follow WCAG requirements for digital content. Specifically:

  • Check your type and background colors to ensure you’re meeting appropriate guidelines for contrast. Use this Color Contrast Checker to verify your color selections. We ask that all presentations pass AAA color contrast.
  • Make sure your font size is large (minimum 18px), and be aware of the amount of type you are placing on a single slide. Choose simple, short, and large type size over complex, long, and small type size. Default fonts are easier to read than more elaborate fonts.
  • Limit animation and motion. Don’t use slide transitions, and don’t include any animation that plays for more than 5 seconds – this includes animated GIFs that loop.
  • Aim for unique slide titles. Rather than having two slides titled “Practical Takeaways” make the first slide say “Practical Takeaways: 1 of 2” and the second say “Practical Takeaways: 2 of 2”.
  • Add alt text to the images on your slides. Limit the use of decorative images; if they are included, indicate that they are decorative.
  • When using images on your slides to illustrate your point, include a reference to or description of the image while you are speaking, so those with low vision or those who can’t view your slides will still understand the substance of your point.
  • If you are demonstrating a screen reader, please slow down the speed of your screen reader so that it is paced closer to the speed of speech. It is also helpful to include the speech viewer on the screen to visually show what the screen reader is saying to people who may not be able to hear it.
  • Ensure all URLs and email addresses are hyperlinked.
  • The best format for creating accessible presentations is PowerPoint. If using PowerPoint:
    • Run the accessibility checker before finalizing slides (Review > Check Accessibility).
    • Title your presentation (File > Preferences > Summary > Title) – if this title isn’t set, then it will default to “PowerPoint Presentation”
    • Include titles on every slide, even those that you don’t want to have a visual title. Use “off screen titles”.

More resources on accessible conference presentations

Inclusive Language

WordPress Accessibility Day promotes inclusion and kindly asks that you be mindful of the words you use during your presentation. 

Language or phrases that may not seem harmful to you can be to others who have different lived experiences from your own. Harmful language can be perceived as harassment, which is a code of conduct violation. Please work to avoid language that is harmful to people with disabilities, that is of a sexual nature, that leverages racism, or gendered language.

When creating your presentation slides and delivering your presentation, look for examples of language that may exclude folks, and then look for a more inclusive alternative.

Here are some examples of how common statements can be rephrased to be more inclusive:

  • “…so that we couldn’t just ask the web guy to do it…” VS “…so we couldn’t just ask the web person to do it…”
  • “…we were going into the project totally blind…” VS “…we were going into the project with no information whatsoever…”
  • “…our first designs were so lame…” VS “…our first designs were really awful…”

Industry jargon and technical acronyms are often appropriate and necessary in an accessibility presentation, but be sure to include an opportunity to quickly explain or describe the term for those in the audience who are not already familiar.

Keep in mind that during the conference, attendees will be participating from all over the world. Be careful not to assume knowledge of United States or North American laws, or to assume that everyone is in the same time zone.

It’s OK to include an in-joke or pop culture reference in your presentation but think about the folks in the audience who are not in on the joke. Let those who get the reference laugh, but also include an explanation or some context to bring new people in, rather than leave them feeling left out.

More resources on inclusive language and conference presentations

Deadlines for Recordings, Slides, and Materials

We require speakers to submit their presentation slides and schedule recording session by Sunday, August 9th. 

Optionally, if you would like to provide people with any supplementary handouts, we’re happy to include links to them on your session page on the website. If you’re opting to send additional materials, please submit them to WPAD along with your slide deck by the deadline to ensure we have time to post them on the website before the conference.

Please note that WPAD will not review your submitted materials for accessibility; we encourage you to keep accessibility in mind as you create them.

How to Submit Your Presentation Materials

The easiest way for us to receive your presentation materials is to upload them to the following Google Drive folders. 

Please ensure that your first and last name and the name of your presentation are included in the name of your shared materials.

For any supplementary handouts please upload them along with your presentation deck to the 2026 WPAD Presentation Decks folder. Please ensure that your first and last name are included in the file name of the files you upload.

If you have any questions about providing us with materials, please contact speakers@wpaccessibility.day.

Day of Logistics (Live Sessions)

Live Streaming Platform

This year we will be using Zoom Events as our live streaming platform. We will not be simulcasting the sessions to YouTube, due to the lack of support for streaming the ASL signer into YouTube. The videos will still be released on YouTube after the event.

Schedule

On the day of WPAD, the stream manager will touch base with you via the #speakers Slack channel around 30 minutes before your session, just to make contact and share any last-minute information. 

You’ll be expected to join the session 10 minutes before your session to do a last video and audio check before starting.

At the top of the hour, the session host will introduce you briefly, extracting introduction information from the bio you provided. You’re certainly welcome to add to those introductions in your talk, but you don’t need to, and we encourage you to keep introductions brief so you can focus on the substance of your talk.

We will then play your pre-recorded session, during which there will be a moderator who will watch the chat and Q&A feature and pass questions to the host to read them to you, however we encourage you to engage with the live chat while your pre-recorded session is playing.

Accessibility for Speakers

We’re doing our best to ensure that this is an accessible experience for everyone – including our speakers. If there are specific accommodations that you need during the event that you did not submit on the speaker confirmation form, please email us at speakers@wpaccessibility.day.

Slack

WordPress Accessibility Day has a Slack channel for all attendees and participants. If you need to get in touch with an organizer leading up to the conference or on the day of the event, this is a great way to do it. Use this link to Join the WP Accessibility Day Slack. Then look for the #speakers-2026 channel.