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Effective Tips for Roundtable Presentations
What Are They?
Roundtable sessions are designed to give conference attendees an opportunity to participate in discussions and share ideas with colleagues from around the country about a specific topic relating to education technology.
Although you should not plan to make a formal presentation, you should give enough information about your background to indicate why you were invited to serve as a facilitator and what special experiences you have had relevant to the topic of your session.
What's Your Role?
Roundtable Facilitators can use their expertise to direct a focused discussion and bring everyone into the process. Since a Roundtable Session is designed for active participation, it is a nice idea to have individuals introduce themselves and give their titles so people have a better idea of a speaker's perspective on an issue when he/she contributes to the discussion.
Prior to the T+L Conference, you may want to think about your Roundtable Session in relationship to the current issues surrounding your topic.
For instance...
- Is there any new research in your area of interest?
- Are new products or equipment being introduced?
- Are there areas of controversy?
- Does cost affect your topic? If so, how do you address this concern?
If you have a large group, they may prefer to discuss specific topics in smaller working groups and then summarize their comments to the larger session. With a large group, it may also be useful to have the individual introductions take place within the smaller groups to save time. It's up to your discretion!
How Many and Where?
Last year Roundtable sessions attracted anywhere from 5 to 40 participants per session. Each Roundtable Room will be set in rounds of eight. A flipchart on an easel with markers will be available for your use. Please note- as this is a facilitated discussion, and not a formal presentation- there is NO A/V equipment or Internet scheduled for any of the roundtable rooms.
In Summary...
We appreciate your willingness to serve as a Roundtable Facilitator and have offered these few suggestions at the request of several new facilitators. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Colleen O’Brien at 703-838-6213 or cobrien@nsba.org.
See you in Nashville!
Preparing for T+L:
At T+L:
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