How can you ensure accessibility during outreach activities?

1 Define your goals and audience

Before you plan and implement any outreach activity, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. This will help you tailor your content, format, and delivery to suit the needs and preferences of your target group. For example, if you want to promote your digital literacy programs to older adults, you might choose a different approach than if you want to introduce your maker spaces to teens. You also need to consider the potential barriers and challenges that your audience might face, such as language, literacy, disability, culture, or location.

2 Choose appropriate venues and platforms

Another key factor in ensuring accessibility is choosing the right venues and platforms for your outreach activities. You need to consider the physical, technical, and social aspects of the places and spaces where you will conduct your outreach. For example, you need to make sure that the venue is accessible by public transport, has ramps and elevators, has adequate lighting and sound, and has enough space and equipment for your activity. You also need to consider the platform or medium that you will use to communicate with your audience, such as flyers, posters, social media, podcasts, or webinars. You need to make sure that the platform is accessible, user-friendly, and compatible with assistive technologies.

3 Use plain language and clear visuals

One of the most effective ways to make your outreach activities more accessible is to use plain language and clear visuals. Plain language is a style of writing and speaking that is easy to understand and avoids jargon, technical terms, and complex sentences. Clear visuals are images, graphics, or videos that support your message and make it more engaging and memorable. Using plain language and clear visuals can help you reach a wider audience, especially those who have low literacy, limited English proficiency, or cognitive impairments. You can also use captions, subtitles, transcripts, or translations to make your content more accessible for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speak a different language.

4 Involve and consult your community

Another important strategy to ensure accessibility is to involve and consult your community in your outreach activities. This means that you seek feedback, input, and collaboration from the people and groups that you want to reach and serve. By involving and consulting your community, you can learn more about their needs, interests, preferences, and expectations. You can also build trust, rapport, and relationships with your audience and partners. You can involve and consult your community in various ways, such as surveys, focus groups, interviews, co-design workshops, or advisory boards.

5 Evaluate and improve your outreach

Finally, you need to evaluate and improve your outreach activities based on the feedback and outcomes that you collect. Evaluation is a process of measuring and analyzing the effectiveness and impact of your outreach activities. Evaluation can help you identify what worked well, what didn't work, and what can be improved. You can use various methods and tools to evaluate your outreach, such as observation, questionnaires, interviews, or analytics. You can also use the evaluation results to improve your future outreach activities and make them more accessible and inclusive.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?