Accessibility for Zoom Live Events

When planning events that will be held live on Zoom, all schools, departments, business units, and University-related entities are expected to take accessibility into consideration. Live captions and post-event captions make it possible for deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members to participate in your event.  Class sessions held on Zoom must be made accessible to students with disabilities upon request and in accordance with the procedures of campus disability services offices.

When to Provide Live Captions

Is your Zoom event open to the public?

If someone can join your event without pre-registering, providing an RSVP, or receiving a specific invitation, your event is open to the public. This includes events where participation through Zoom is restricted but there is a livestream to Facebook or YouTube.  In such cases, you may be required to provide live captions, depending on audience size, as explained below.

Are you expecting 200 people or more to watch the stream?

Yes, you will need to provide captions by default.

Are you expecting less than 200 people?

You do not need to provide captions by default, but you must include a statement in your promotional messages and websites that lets individuals know how to request live captioning in advance and how to obtain an accessible recording or transcript after the event. If you get a live caption request, you must provide live captions.  Sample wording and guidelines are provided below.

Is your event open only to GU community members or invited participants? Do you require an RSVP?

If your event of any size is open only to members of the GU community (students, faculty, employees) or invited guests, or if you require an RSVP to receive connection information, you do not have to provide captions by default. You must include a statement in your promotional messages, invitations, and RSVP confirmations that lets individuals know how to request live captioning in advance and how to obtain an accessible recording or transcript after the event.. If you get a live caption request, you will need to provide them. Sample wording and guidelines are provided below.

Providing an Accessibility Statement

Include a statement such as this one that lets people know whom to contact and when to request captions.

Accommodation requests related to a disability should be sent to [event sponsor email] by [date]. A good-faith effort will be made to fulfill requests. A captioned version of this presentation will also be made available shortly by [date] at [website].

Your statement should be included in email promotions, event websites, invitations, and RSVP confirmations. If you request pre-registration or RSVP through a form, add a question that lets the submitter make a request.  

How to Live Caption in Zoom

Zoom Meetings and Webinars both support live captions provided by a meeting attendee or by a third-party professional. Any meeting attendee who has sufficient captioning skill can type captions directly into the Zoom app on a computer. Third-party professional providers of live captioning services can type captions through the Zoom app or using their own software and a special API key provided within the Zoom app. The cost will be approximately $3/minute.

Georgetown’s preferred live caption provider is Ai-Media. The following documents include instruction for ordering captions.

Post-event Captioning

If you intend to make a recording of your event available after it is over, you should have the recording re-captioned to improve the accuracy for future viewers. Options for post-event captioning include: