Welcome back to Ability Central’s “Accessibility 101” series, where our team identifies and offers solutions to the common accessibility barriers people face at work.
Online meetings are an everyday part of most workplaces, but how do we ensure these communication opportunities continue to be accessible after the meeting ends?
Continuing the conversation after a meeting helps everyone stay connected and prevents tasks falling through the cracks. For people with cognitive or intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD), certain follow-up practices can make comprehension much easier.
In our previous two articles, we discussed steps to take to make online meetings accessible, both in advance and during your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams session. In this article, we break down accessibility best practices to turn to after the meeting ends.
Follow-up Tips After a Virtual Meeting
The final step of ensuring accessibility and equity for virtual meetings is to send out a comprehensive follow-up after the call. Your follow-up should include things like:
A link to the video recording and transcript. Alternatively, file attachments of both the video and the transcript.
A bulleted meeting summary with key points every team member should know.
Any materials shared during the presentation, like meeting slides, materials shared in the chat, and links to any referenced outside resources.
Specific action items or reminders for team members, depending on the type of meeting.
Finally, don’t forget to ask for feedback about your session’s accommodations. If the meeting went well for everyone involved, excellent! You know what to do next time. If someone on your team asks for additional or alternate accommodations, work with them to find an effective communication method.
Make sure your team members feel comfortable and encouraged to speak up about communication challenges—and make sure they know their concerns will be addressed promptly and effectively.
Accessing Virtual Meeting Recordings and Transcripts
Recordings and transcripts of online meetings are critical resources to send out after your session. Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams all offer methods for storing, retrieving, and sharing recordings.
How to access meeting recordings and transcripts on Zoom
The best way to access Zoom recordings is through the Zoom web portal. To do this:
Log into your Zoom web portal.
In the navigation menu, click “Recordings.” Here, you’ll find a list of cloud recordings that you have started or stopped. (Note: These recordings have a short processing time before they’re available, so there may be a gap between finishing your meeting and accessing the recording.)
Search recordings by entering the meeting ID or topic. You can also enter keywords to search the text in audio transcripts.
On the individual recording’s page, click “Share.” A settings menu will pop up where you can change various permissions and recording settings.
Click “Copy” (also appears as two overlapped white squares) and paste the link into an email, social media post, or wherever you need to share the recording.
You can also download the meeting recording and transcript by clicking “more options” (also appears as “…”), then “Download.”
How to access meeting recordings and transcripts on Google Meet
Google Meet recordings automatically save to the meeting organizer’s Google Drive. It also sends an email to the event host, any co-hosts, and the person who turned on recording or transcription services with a link to access, download, and share both the recording and the transcript.
To access your recordings:
In Google Drive, navigate to My Drive à Meet Recordings folder. (Note: Recording links get sent to the original event creator.) In this folder, you’ll find meeting recordings.
Depending on what you need, you can Download, View, or Share the recording. If you plan on sharing the file, you’ll have the option to invite people to view the file via email, or copy a link to send to attendees directly.
To access your transcripts, open the meeting’s original Google Calendar event. You’ll find the transcript there as an attachment.
How to access meeting recordings and transcripts on Microsoft Teams
In Teams, meeting recordings are not available until after the meeting was scheduled to end, not specifically when the meeting ends. For example, if a meeting was scheduled from noon to 1:00 pm but ended at 12:30 pm, the meeting recording will be available after 1:00 pm. (For meetings that run long, recordings are available a few minutes after the meeting ends.)
To view a recording after a Teams meeting, there are three main options:
Open the meeting event in your calendar. Click on “Details” and select “View recording” from the drop-down menu.
If it was a channel meeting, go to the channel conversation and select the recording.
You can also select “More actions” & “More options” buttons on the meeting recording and choose “Open in OneDrive” if it was a chat meeting, or “Open in SharePoint” if it was a channel meeting.
Important note: To reduce storage needs, Teams meetings automatically expire after 120 days. You can turn off this setting by logging into the Teams admin center and clicking “Meetings” à “Meeting policies” à “Recording & transcription.”
When in Doubt—Remember to Ask
Accessibility varies from individual to individual. Accommodations are not achieved through a “one size fits all” approach—each person has their own set of needs that may change from meeting to meeting, or even throughout the day. The best way you can come to welcome your disabled team members is by simply asking them what makes a difference in their experience.
This is not an exhaustive list by any means. So, don’t be afraid to be curious and communicative about what your team needs to succeed.
Ability Central’s Portal offers access to information and resources based on disability interest, from Visual to Deaf and Hearing Loss. Exploring accessibility options can help accommodate members of your team via Zoom effectively.
Further Resources
For more information about online meetings, view the other articles in this Accessibility 101 collection:
How to Make Online Meetings Accessible BEFORE the Session: Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams
How to Make Online Meetings Accessible DURING the Session: Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams
To view the other articles in our Accessibility 101 series, see:
Accessibility 101: How to Make Virtual Meetings Accessible with Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet
Accessibility 101: How to Make In-Person Meetings Accessible
Accessibility 101: How to Make Video Presentations Accessible
Additional Information
The content provided in this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for legal, medical, or other professional advice. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date resources, some information may become outdated or incomplete. Always consult with your provider about personal medical concerns.
