# Make meetings and events accessible - URL: https://m365playbooks.com/playbooks/make-meetings-and-events-accessible/ - Topic: Accessibility in Microsoft 365 (Program) - Product: Microsoft 365 apps, Teams, SharePoint - Stage: Deploy - Last reviewed: October 15, 2026 - Version: 1 - Written by: Sev Derghazarian ## 1. Purpose Make Teams meetings and events usable by everyone without each attendee having to ask. Captions, real-time text, human captioners and interpreters each meet different needs, and most of them depend on settings and preparation made before the meeting starts. ## 2. Overview Caption, transcription and real-time text settings, support for human captioners and interpreters, and habits for organizers. - Effort: About 5 to 8 person-days - Duration: 3 to 6 weeks - Complexity: Low - Who's in the room: Teams admin, accessibility lead, event organizers, people who arrange captioning and interpretation - Beyond E5: Teams Premium for live translated captions and transcription (the organizer needs the licence). Human (CART) captions need a captioning provider. - Risk of not doing it: People who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who need other support, are excluded from meetings or have to ask every time. ## 3. Key activities ### Prerequisites 1. **Know what each option does** Live captions are generated during the meeting and aren't saved. Transcription produces a saved transcript and is controlled per organizer and per user. Real-time text shows each character as people type. Human captions (CART) come from a captioner using a third-party service. Each meets a different need, and captions don't help people who use screen readers. Who: Teams admin with the accessibility lead. Produces: A short guide to the options. ### Decisions 2. **Decision: What do meeting policies allow?** Make live captions available, allow transcription with the retention you agreed, keep real-time text on (it's on by default), and allow organizers to add a CART captioning link, a policy setting available through PowerShell. Webinars and town halls have their own transcription setting in events policies. Options: Keep the defaults unchanged; Captions, transcription, real-time text and CART allowed for organizers. Recommended default: Captions, transcription, real-time text and CART allowed for organizers. Who: Teams admin. Produces: Meeting and events policy settings. 3. **Decision: Do you need translated captions?** Live translated captions and transcription need a Teams Premium licence for the organizer. In multilingual meetings, check how captions behave when speakers switch language, and plan human support for important bilingual events. Options: Not needed; Teams Premium for organizers of multilingual events. Recommended default: Teams Premium for organizers of multilingual events. Who: Accessibility lead. Produces: A decision on translated captions. ### Pilot configuration 4. **Run accessible events with a pilot group** Choose a few regular meetings and one larger event. Test captions, transcripts, a CART captioner and an interpreter joining as guests, and confirm lobby and guest settings let them in. Who: Event organizers with the Teams admin. Produces: Tested meeting and event set-ups. ### Production configuration 5. **Give organizers a checklist** Share materials before the meeting, turn on captions, describe what's on screen, and book captioners or interpreters early. Put it where organizers schedule meetings. Who: Communications lead. Produces: An organizer checklist in use. 6. **Make it enforceable** Meeting and events policies make captions, transcription, real-time text and CART available everywhere. Turning them on and preparing materials still depends on organizers. _Partly enforced. The gaps are a risk until a mechanism covers them._ ## 4. Pilot to production **Rollout approach:** By workload (Pilot size: A few regular meetings and one larger event). Regular meetings and large events need different preparation; testing both before widening avoids surprises at the events that matter most. 1. **Set policies** (Change: Inform) Captions, transcription, real-time text and CART for organizers. Move on when: Settings apply to pilot organizers. 2. **Run pilot meetings and an event** (Change: Explain) With captions, a captioner and an interpreter. Move on when: Every option worked as expected. 3. **Share the organizer checklist** (Change: Sustain) Where people schedule meetings. Move on when: Organizers use the checklist. ## 5. Common challenges - **If you** Assume captions solve everything. What tends to happen: People who use screen readers still can't follow what's shared on screen.. A better approach: Share materials in advance and describe visual content. - **If you** Book human support late. What tends to happen: Captioners and interpreters aren't available for the event that needs them.. A better approach: Book well ahead and test their access before the day. ## 6. Checkpoints **Pilot:** - [ ] Did captions, a CART captioner and an interpreter all work in the pilot? - [ ] Can guests needed for support get past the lobby? **Production:** - [ ] Do organizers have the checklist? - [ ] Is retention set for transcripts? ## 7. Success measures Capture a baseline before you start, or you won't be able to show the change. - Large events with captions and materials shared in advance (Where you see it: Event reviews; Good direction: Up) - Meeting accessibility requests that needed escalation (Where you see it: Feedback channel; Good direction: Down) **Ready-to-use text: Organizer checklist** > Before: share slides and documents; book captioners or interpreters; check guests can join. During: turn on captions; describe what's on screen; one speaker at a time. After: share the transcript or recording with captions. ## 8. Additional reading **Plan:** - [Microsoft Teams Premium overview for admins](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/enhanced-teams-experience) **Configure:** - [Accessibility guide for Microsoft Teams admins](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/accessibility-guide-admin) - [Manage transcription and captions for Teams meetings](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/meeting-transcription-captions) - [Manage real-time text (RTT) in Teams](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-real-time-text) - [Use CART captions in a Microsoft Teams meeting](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/meetings-events/use-cart-captions-in-a-microsoft-teams-meeting-human-generated-captions) ## Changelog - Version 1, 2026-10-15, Sev Derghazarian: First version. Facts checked against Microsoft Learn on 2026-10-15.