CONVENTION CONTACTS

The Rhetoric Society of America is committed to ensuring that all RSA events create and maintain a welcoming atmosphere for all its members so that all may benefit fully from its events. If at any time you have a question or need assistance, please visit the Registration Desk for assistance or call/text RSA Executive Director Leslie Dinauer at 401-575-6458 (between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm) or email ExecutiveDirector@rhetoricsociety.org.

General inquiries: rsa2024@rhetoricsociety.org 

Gwendolyn Pough, Conference Co-Chair, gdpough@syr.edu 

Registration Desk Location

The Registration Desk will be located down the escalators from the lobby on the Plaza Court level. The Desk will be staffed Thursday 7:00 am – 4:00 pm, Friday 7:00 am – 4:00 pm, Saturday 7:00 am – 4:00 pm, and Sunday 8:00 am – 12:00 am.

Room Designations 

• Quiet Space: Colorado Room in the Tower Building, Mezzanine Level.
• Lactation Room: There is a lactation room behind the registration area; please see the registration desk for access.
• All-Gender Restrooms: Everyone is invited to use the all-gender restrooms, which are located on the Plaza level to the left of Plaza Court 1 and across from Plaza Ballroom E.

Accessibility Recommendations for Attendees

• Consider wearing a well-fitting mask. RSA does not require that you wear a mask, but many conference attendees are high-risk, and attendees will be taking a wide range of transportation options to get to Denver. Consider masking for the benefit of all attendees. 
• Limit perfumes and highly fragrant toiletries. Unscented and low-fragrant toiletries make our shared space more accessible for attendees with chemical sensitivities.
• Pack allergy-friendly snacks when possible. Please be mindful of attendees with food allergies, such as tree nuts, peanuts, and shellfish. Airborne allergic reactions are rare, but people can also experience adverse reactions to contamination on surfaces.

CART

• The plenary sessions – Keynote on Friday evening and Presidential Address and Awards on Saturday evening – will have live captioned CART.
• As we continue to seek ways to provide captions, select other sessions will have automated captions provided by Wordly.ai that will be accessible on your phone. We are working with several submitters who requested CART at the time of submission to test out this technology, so at this time we do not have a list of sessions where the Wordly technology will be available. Look for the Wordly access QR code outside the breakout room door on site to identify these sessions, or follow up with the Registration Desk.

Accessibility Recommendations for Presenters

Pre-session considerations:

Access copies:

• Upload access copies. You can upload digital copies of your script, slides, and other materials through the Whova app. You should have received an email from Whova (to the email you used when you submitted) with a URL to access this capability from your computer (not our phone). If you do not have a script, a one-page handout with sources that include proper names and specific terminology can be beneficial for interpreters and captioners. Avoid ornate and decorative fonts or documents.
• Use a QR code for access copies. A common issue presenters run into when creating access copies is that presenters may make revisions to their conference presentations prior to their presentation but after uploading/printing their access copies. If you fear that this will be an issue you may run into, consider adding a QR code to your access copies to a slide as a way of providing audience members with an access copy of your presentation. This site features a QR code generator.
• Bring printed copies when possible. Consider bringing a few hard copies of your script to distribute at the beginning of your session.
  • When printing hard copies, try to print a few copies in 12-point font and a few copies in 18-point font.
  • Printing is available through the FedEx Business Center located inside the hotel: https://local.fedex.com/en-us/co/denver/office-3025. 

Design:

• Design slides with accessibility in mind. For visual presentations, body text should be at least 18pt, and headings should be at least 24pt. Avoid fonts that are decorative or too thin, which can be difficult to read from a distance. Employ strong color contrast (dark text on a light background) to ensure legibility. Consider using WebAIM’s Contrast Checker to check for color contrast. 
• Use typographical features like underlining, italics, and bolding to emphasize important points.

Session considerations: 

• Use the microphones provided in conference rooms. If you are presenting or asking a question, using a microphone—even if you speak loudly—improves access for many others in the room. Consider designating someone on the panel to repeat questions if there is not a microphone available.
• Describe relevant visual information during the presentation and include image descriptions when applicable. Images that are added just for visual interest don’t need to be described, but charts, graphics, and relevant images should be contextualized. On the rhetoric of audio descriptions for visual information, see Price and Bahls’s “The Rhetoric of Description.”
• Consider enabling captions if your presentation includes any videos. 
• Consider providing a speaker description. Prior to presenting, consider providing the audience with identification information like name, pronouns, title, relevant physical information, and institutional affiliation. If the presentation includes dialogue, it is important to identify each speaker each time they speak. Speakers should re-introduce themselves by stating something like, “Marie from Syracuse University here again…” before making a comment. If there are two people with the same name at the same institution, add a differentiating piece of information like “…researching disability rhetorics.”

Consider checking in with your audience from time to time. Throughout your presentation, it can be helpful to check in with your audience to ensure your pacing and volume reach everyone in the space.

Projectors

• All rooms will have a projector and screen. You will need to bring your own laptop, and although there will be some adapter cords available, we strongly recommend you bring your own laptop-to-projector HDMI cord, especially if you have a Mac.
  • Rooms named Directors, Governors, and Ballroom will have speakers. 
  • Rooms named Plaza Court or in the Tower Mezzanine (Denver, Spruce, Century, Gold … Silver will have audio) do NOT have speakers nor any audio capability. 
  • If you need immediate A/V assistance while at the conference, look for the techs who will be working in each conference area or call the A/V Manager on Duty at 303-596-8189.

Wayfinding Information

Virtual tour of hotel: https://visitingmedia.com/tt8/?ttid=sheraton-denver-downtown-hotel#/3d-model 

General information: The conference is divided between two main buildings (Tower Building and Plaza Building) joined by an underground corridor; attendees must use the elevators to reach the structure on the other side or use the second-floor walkway (which necessitates walking down and up stairs). Navigation signs are posted in the main passages to help locate conference rooms.

A note for those who use mobility aids: Main hallways and concourse spaces contain large pillars in the middle of the floor; we do not envision that those using mobility aids will have an issue, but wanted to note the presence of potential obstacles. The Plaza Exhibit/Foyer is one such area that has pillars. Many conference spaces, hallways, and most guest rooms contain carpet flooring.

• Hotel Parking (Hotel parking garage address: 249 15th St, Denver, CO 80202)
  • On-site valet parking is available for $59/day
  • On-site self-parking options are available for $49/day.
• Accessible entrances. The Sheraton main entrance is accessible via wide sliding doors by the parking/pickup circle on the corner of Court Place and 16th Street. 
• Elevators are located: There are several elevators located throughout the Sheraton Hotel. An elevator or stairs are necessary when moving between the Plaza Building and the Tower Building. The Plaza Building Concourse Level has 10 elevators. The elevators closest to the Plaza Registration Office go to the parking garage. Escalators can be found by Plaza Court 8. The elevators closest to Governor’s Square 17 also go to the parking garage. There are 6 elevators available in the Plaza Building Lobby Level. The Tower Building Mezzanine Level has 1 elevator.
• Stairs are located: Several stairs are located throughout the Sheraton Hotel and the lobby. Wheelchair-accessible ramps are located next to most stairs in the lobby. The skybridge requires two sets of stairs and does not have a wheelchair-accessible ramp.
• Water fountains can be found throughout the hotel.