WHY CAN’T YOU JUST DISPLAY CAPTIONS?
We investigated what it would take to display captions on-screen during in-person programs and discovered the following barriers.
• Our lapel microphone system does not include any provision for capturing audio and converting it into captions. A system that might meet our needs is nearly 10x the price of our recently purchased equipment.
• The latest version of PowerPoint is capable of displaying onscreen captions. However:
• Each speaker brings their own presentation slides (typically on their own laptop), so the Guild cannot control what version of PowerPoint they are using.
• The Guild cannot require all program speakers to upgrade their software (at significant cost).
• PowerPoint captioning requires the speaker’s microphone to be plugged into the laptop. Then we would have to connect the laptop to the ECC speaker system. Given the wide variation in laptops, available connection ports, etc., this process would vary from speaker to speaker — creating significant work for Guild volunteers and not guaranteed to work every month.
We will continue to look for ways that we might be able to overcome these barriers and display onscreen captioning. In the meantime, please try the personal captioning option described in this article and let us know how it works for you.
— The Guild Board
