Event Captioning

If you are hosting an event on campus, providing captions should be part of the planning process. For some events, automated captioning such as that provided by Zoom may suffice. For more important, larger, or higher-profile events, human-generated live captions (Communication Access Realtime Translation, or CART) are preferred.

Automated Captions

Using Windows

Windows 11 has a built-in captioning service. To use Windows captioning:

1. Launch the Live Captioning app either via the start menu or with the Windows logo key + Control + L key command.
2. If prompted, confirm that you want to set up captioning.
3. Confirm the language to use (most likely English).
4. Click on the Settings gear icon to the right of the caption bar, and…
   1. …choose Preferences, and enable Include microphone audio.
   2. …choose Position and set your preferred location for the captions (in a floating bar, or docked to the top or bottom of the screen).
   3. …choose Preferences, Caption style, and set the caption style to Large text.
5. Test your captions. If captions do not appear, check your computer’s microphone settings. If captions still do not appear, contact Highline IT for support.

Using Zoom

Using Zoom to provide automated captioning is simple, even if you’re not hosting a hybrid event. All you need to do is start a Zoom meeting from the workstation driving the screen, make sure captions are visible, and then minimize the main Zoom window. The captions will then float over whatever is being displayed on the screen. Here are more detailed directions:

1. Launch Zoom on the presenting computer and start a new meeting.
2. Make sure captions are turned on and working. This requires that the presenting computer has a microphone or audio feed from the room.
3. Open the caption settings and set the font size to its largest setting.
4. Minimize the Zoom window(s) until you just have one small “postage stamp” window left. Use the “^” button on the left side of that window to hide the video. The button bar can then be moved almost entirely off the side of the screen to hide it.
5. Zoom’s captions will now appear over the bottom of whatever is being displayed on the screen.

CART Requests

To request CART captioning services, please complete the live caption request form with details of your event. We will pass this information along to our CART service provider and make the final arrangements for captioning your event.

Information you will need to provide:

• The event title, date, and start and end times.
• The Zoom link that the captioner will use to get the audio.
  • Even an in-person only event will need a basic (audio only is fine) livestream for the captioner to receive the audio.
• A primary contact person for general event information.
• A contact person for sending prep material (documents, pre-written statements such as our land and labor acknowledgement, scripts, pronunciation guides, etc.) to the captioner.

Request Form

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