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APA Guidelines for Presenting on Behalf of APA at Non-APA Events

September 2026

Background and Purpose

APA members may be invited or apply to speak at industry conferences and other non-APA professional events. These are valuable opportunities to increase exposure for the Accessibility Professionals Association (APA) and its members and to provide education about accessibility in the built environment. 

The following guidelines are intended to support APA members who wish to present on behalf of APA at non-APA events and to ensure that such presentations meet APA’s high standards. 

This program is separate from the APA Lunch & Learn Program.

Benefits

  • For Members: Enhances your professional reputation and validates your expertise through APA committee review.
  • For APA: Increases organization visibility and promotes high-quality accessibility training to the broader built-environment community.

Limitations

  • APA will not obtain course numbers from third party agencies for your presentation. 
  • APA will not create course completion certificates or report attendance for your session.

Eligibility and Requirements

To participate in this program, speakers and presentations must meet the following criteria:

  • Membership Status: You must be a member in good standing with APA.
  • Professional Standing: Members who hold a relevant state license must be in good standing with their state licensing agency.
  • Presentation Fees & Compensation: Presenters do not pay a fee to APA, and presenters may not charge attendees or receive compensation from APA for delivering the session. Conference or event fees may be collected by the host organization. Any speaker compensation provided by the host organization belongs entirely to the speaker and is not claimed by APA.
  • Content Ownership: The developed presentation remains the property of the original presenter/author.
  • Educational Focus: The presentation must be strictly educational and free of any commercial marketing or sales pitches.

Prior to the Event

Before you can present on behalf of APA at an non-APA event, your session must be reviewed and approved by the APA Education & Events Committee. 

Please follow these steps:

  1. Preparing your Slide Presentation: 
    • On your title slide, list APA after your name.
    • If allowed by the host organization, include a slide with APA’s logo, web address, and contact information.
    • Please ensure that your slide presentation is accessible to persons with visual impairments. You can find the PowerPoint Accessibility Checker on the Review tab by clicking Check Accessibility. A side panel will open in PPT with suggestions for improving accessibility. You can also use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2.
  2. Complete the Course Information Form and Submit Your Slide Presentation: Submit the course information form detailing your information and the specific conference or event where you plan to speak. The form will ask you to upload your slide deck.
    • Timeline: Please submit your application and materials at least 4 to 6 weeks before the event to allow ample time for the committee review process.
  3. Committee Review: The APA Education & Events Committee will review your materials. You may be asked to answer questions or make edits to your presentation before final approval is granted.
    • Important: No course may be advertised or presented as an official APA presentation until the committee approval process is complete. Any subsequent changes to the approved slides must be re-approved by the committee.

At the Event

  1. Collect contact information from attendees if possible. APA will provide a spreadsheet template that can be used.
  2. Wear your APA enamel pin if you have one.

After the Event

  1. Complete the feedback form that APA will provide to you after your event. The feedback form will also collect any contact information that you may have obtained.

Questions?

If you have questions about the application process or presentation guidelines, please email info@APAaccess.org.