Virtual Magic Show: Accessibility Considerations for Your Event
Virtual Magic Show: Accessibility Considerations for Your Event
Organizations increasingly ask suppliers about accessibility, and most entertainment suppliers have never been asked and don't have an answer. That's a poor position for everyone, including the performer, and it means the conversation tends to happen late and badly.
I'd rather set out what I know and be clear about what I don't. I'm Magical Katrina, an award winning magician and mentalist, and I want to go through the accessibility considerations that genuinely apply to a virtual magic show, including where the format has real limitations.
Start by Asking, Not Assuming
The principle underneath everything. Access requirements vary enormously between individuals, and what works for one person doesn't generalize, so the useful step is asking your attendees what they need rather than designing around assumptions.
Ask in the invitation, give a private route to reply, and give enough notice that adjustments can actually be made. That's a better approach than any checklist, including this one. What follows is a set of things worth raising with a supplier, not a substitute for asking the people who'll be attending your event.
Captions and Platform Features
The most straightforward consideration, and largely in your hands rather than your performer's. Most major platforms offer automatic captions, and some organizations arrange live human captioning, which is considerably more accurate.
Decide which you're using and tell your supplier, since a performer who knows captions are running can speak at a pace that helps rather than hinders them. Automatic captions struggle with fast speech, overlapping voices, and unusual words, and a session where the performer is aware of that is measurably easier to follow. It costs nothing to mention and it makes a genuine difference.
Participation Without Speaking
Worth knowing, since it's a genuine strength of this format. Participation in a virtual magic show means holding an object, making a choice, or thinking of something, rather than speaking in front of colleagues.
That matters for a range of people: anyone with a speech difference, anyone whose first language isn't the one the event is in, anyone who finds unexpected speaking genuinely difficult, and anyone who simply doesn't want to. Sessions built on discussion, breakout rooms, or volunteering to speak exclude those attendees by design, and a format where the participation is physical rather than verbal includes them without anybody having to ask for an adjustment.
Being Honest About the Visual Element
The limitation worth stating plainly rather than glossing. A magic performance is substantially visual, and an attendee who is blind or has low vision will not experience it in the same way as a sighted attendee, however the session is run.
There are things that help. A performer can describe what's happening rather than relying on the camera to convey it, which is good practice generally and better for everyone on a small screen. Some material works primarily through what someone holds and experiences in their own hands rather than through what's seen. But I'd rather say clearly that this is a visual medium with real constraints than claim an accessibility it doesn't have, and if that matters for your audience, it's worth discussing specifically rather than assuming it's covered.
The Household Objects Question
Worth thinking about, since it's the one requirement a virtual magic show places on attendees. Participation usually involves having an ordinary item to hand, and while the items are deliberately common, that assumes someone can fetch and handle them.
For most audiences that's unproblematic. For an audience that may include people with limited mobility or dexterity, or people joining from somewhere other than home, it's worth checking that the items are genuinely easy to obtain and manipulate, and worth making clear that anyone without them can still watch and enjoy. A performer should be able to tell you what's needed well in advance so you can flag it, and should never make an attendee without an object feel excluded.
Sensory Considerations
Frequently missed and easy to address. Virtual events can involve sudden sound changes, rapid visual movement, and busy backgrounds, all of which are uncomfortable for some attendees and genuinely difficult for others.
Worth asking a supplier about their setup: whether their background is plain, whether there are abrupt loud moments, and whether anything flashes or moves rapidly. None of that is inherent to magic and all of it is a choice a performer makes. It's also worth telling attendees in advance what to expect, so anyone who needs to can prepare or decide.
Time Zones Are an Access Issue
Worth framing this way, since organizations rarely do. A session scheduled at a time that requires some colleagues to join late at night or very early isn't only inconvenient, it can be genuinely inaccessible for people managing health conditions, caring responsibilities, or fatigue.
Rotating which region is inconvenienced, running a session twice, or keeping it short all help. Among accessibility considerations for a virtual magic show, timing is one of the more consequential and one of the easiest to get wrong, because it feels like a logistics decision rather than an inclusion one.
Cameras Off Should Be Fine
A small point with real impact. Some attendees can't or won't have their camera on, for reasons ranging from bandwidth to home circumstances to anxiety, and a session that requires visible participation excludes them.
A virtual magic show works perfectly well for someone watching with their camera off, since the astonishment doesn't depend on being seen. Worth confirming with your performer that nobody will be called on unexpectedly or asked to turn a camera on, and worth saying so in the invitation, since the attendees who need that reassurance are unlikely to ask for it.
Recording and Catching Up
Practical and worth raising early. A recording allows people who couldn't attend live, for access reasons or otherwise, to experience something of the session afterwards.
That needs settling with the performer in advance, since material is their intellectual property and permissions vary, and it's an easier conversation at booking than on the day. Be aware too that a recording is a lesser experience for something participatory, so it's a supplement rather than a substitute. If catching up matters for your audience, mention it at the enquiry stage since it may affect the arrangement.
What to Ask Any Virtual Supplier
A short list worth using regardless of who you book. Are you comfortable with captions running, and will you adjust your pace. Does anything in your session require speaking, standing, or quick movement. What's needed from attendees, and what happens if they don't have it.
Does your setup involve sudden sound or rapid visual movement. Will anyone be put on the spot. And can the session be recorded, and on what terms. Those questions take two minutes and most suppliers have never been asked them, which is itself informative.
Why Book Magical Katrina
If accessibility is part of your brief, here's my position. I'm a member of the Magic Circle in London and the Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood, I've earned multiple magic awards, and I've performed for companies including Formula 1, the Olympics, Porsche, Zapier, and the Ritz Carlton, with appearances on Penn & Teller: Fool Us. Participation in my sessions never requires anyone to speak or turn a camera on, I'm happy to adjust pace for captions, I'll tell you exactly what attendees need well in advance, and I'll be honest with you about what a visual format can and can't accommodate rather than claiming otherwise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should we start?
By asking your attendees rather than designing around assumptions, since access requirements vary enormously between individuals and what works for one person doesn't generalize. Ask in the invitation, give a private route to reply, and allow enough notice for adjustments to be made. That's more useful than any checklist, including this one.
Do captions work with this kind of session?
Yes, and it helps if the performer knows they're running, since automatic captions struggle with fast speech and unusual words while a performer aware of that can adjust their pace. Decide whether you're using automatic captions or arranging live human captioning, which is considerably more accurate, and tell your supplier either way.
Does anyone have to speak or be on camera?
Not in a well run session. Participation in a virtual magic show means holding an object, making a choice, or thinking of something rather than speaking, which includes people with speech differences, those working in a second language, and anyone who finds unexpected speaking difficult. Confirm nobody will be called on and say so in the invitation.
What about blind and low vision attendees?
This is where I'd be honest rather than reassuring. Magic is substantially visual, and a blind or low vision attendee will not experience it the same way however the session is run. Describing what's happening rather than relying on the camera helps, and some material works through what's held rather than seen, but the constraints are real and worth discussing specifically.
Could the household objects be a barrier?
Possibly, and it's worth checking. The items are deliberately common, and that assumes someone can fetch and handle them, which may not hold for attendees with limited mobility or dexterity or people joining from somewhere other than home. Ask for the list well in advance, and confirm that anyone without them can still watch and enjoy without being made to feel excluded.
Are time zones an accessibility issue?
Worth treating as one, since a session requiring colleagues to join very late or very early isn't only inconvenient and can be genuinely inaccessible for people managing health conditions, caring responsibilities, or fatigue. Rotating which region is inconvenienced, running it twice, or keeping it short all help, and it's easy to get wrong because it feels like logistics.
Can we record it for people who can't attend?
Possibly, and it needs settling with the performer in advance, since material is their intellectual property and permissions vary. It's an easier conversation at booking than on the day. Be aware that a recording is a lesser experience for something participatory, so treat it as a supplement rather than a substitute, and mention it at the enquiry stage.
Ask the Questions Early
An accessible virtual magic show is mostly a matter of asking the right questions before the day: what your attendees actually need, whether captions are running and whether the performer will adjust, what's required of participants, whether anyone might be put on the spot, and whether a recording is possible.
And it's worth being honest about the limits, since a visual format has them. I'd rather tell you that than have you discover it, and if your audience makes that a genuine concern, it's better discussed at the enquiry stage than assumed away.
Reach out with your event details and any access requirements, and I'll tell you plainly what I can accommodate.