ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 28 / C&RL News ■ January 2002 ACRL NATIONAL CONFERENCE Hints tor successful panel presentations Preparing for ACRL’s 11th National Conference by Damon D. Hickey Ed. note: This is the first in a series o f articles about ways to plan a successful con feren ce program at ACRL’s 11th National Con­ f e r e n c e , “L ea rn in g to Make a Difference,” to be held in Charlotte, April 10-13, 2003. A n underlying emphasis o f the forthcom­ing conference is the active engagement o f the participants. As co-chair o f the sub­ committee for panel sessions, I have been reflecting on those elem ents o f a panel pre­ sentation that encourage active engagement o f the audience. While there are other mod­ els that potential presenters may consider, I am sharing in this article one particular model that I have found especially useful. O ne o f my favorite television programs is The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, formerly The McNeil-Lehrer Report. The program has been criticized becau se it features mainly “talking heads." But to me the NewsHour “conversa­ tions” are still a lot more interesting than most conference panel sessions, where a series o f people seated on a dais read prepared state­ ments and then respond at length to audi­ ence questions. A NewsHour report may begin with a vid­ eotaped set-up piece, in which a reporter presents the issues, introduces the story, and provides factual information (usually dubbed over video footage and graphics), followed by clips o f interviews with experts, who of­ ten present differing views. Then the reporter appears live in the newsroom with several guests chosen for their varied perspectives and opinions. The reporter introduces them and asks them questions individually to elicit their views. The reporter knows ahead o f time what ground he or she wants to cover, and insists that the panelists stay with issue x b e­ fore tackling issue y. But the reporter also has to be able to improvise, so that if one person makes a strong statement, the reporter can pick it up as a segue into a question to the next guest, and so on. The reporter also needs to know the sub­ ject well and to know w hen to interrupt for a clarification or to get som eone back on track. The result is a conversation in which the tele­ vision audience is invited to participate vi­ cariously, and sometimes virtually, through program-related W eb-based discussions. I tried to adapt this shared conversation model for o n e ALA panel session that I mod­ erated, and it worked so well that I’ve con ­ tinued to use it for others. First, I find a group o f panelists who have varied and even con ­ flicting perspectives on an issue. I ask them to tell me what they think are the most im­ portant questions about the issue. I add to About the author Damon D. Hickey is director o f libraries at the College o f Wooster, e-mail: dhickey@wooster.edu mailto:dhickey@wooster.edu C&RL News ■ January 2002 / 29 their questions others o f my ow n, an d share them as questions that w e m a y ask them. That gives them a m ental h ead start, but I request that they not prepare detailed answers in advance o r not w rite dow n w hat they plan to say, in order to preserve spontaneity. I also tell them that I may no t ask them all o f these questions, an d may think of new ones as the program proceeds. I’ve tried to arrange tables on the dais so that I’m in the m iddle and the panelists fan out on either side of me. We usually en d u p w ith the tables arranged in a large “U” or "V,” w ith the m oderator at the bottom , the panel­ ists on either side, and the audience at the top. It’s im portant to have en o u g h micro­ p hones so that panelists can respond easily to a statem ent or question. At som e p oint I invite m em bers o f the audience to step to the m icrophone w ith com m ents and questions o f their own, to w hich one or m ore of the panelists m ay respond. At the en d I thank each panelist by nam e for participating and thank the audience for coming. W hat’s missing from this model is the short N ewsH our set-up piece. I’ve actually seen ("The LEAPing .. . cont. fr o m pa g e 26) Library’s student computing labs, dorm rooms, or at home. The library benefits by being able to test and improve this service with feedback provided by LEAP students and faculty. Another librarian points out “that w e used LEAP students for som e very useful focus groups. They w ere by far the most successful attempts to get undergraduates in, and the stu­ dents had enough to exposure to the library that they w ere able to make a num ber of as­ tute observations. Two things stand out in my mind from the focus groups and general ob­ servation through the years of LEAP students: w e w ho w ork here forget how big and com­ plex this place is. The physical environm ent/ how things work parts o f the library experi­ ence are extremely important to students. Feed­ back from the focus groups has m ade a docu­ m ented difference in library procedures and policies.” To more effectively m easure student learning, the instruction librarians also devel­ op ed pre- and post-tests this fall that will al­ low the library to better assess student skill acquisition. As ACRL President Mary Reichel states in “ACRE: The learning community for excellence in Call for Participation ACRL seeks the best ideas o f o u r profes­ sion an d invites proposal subm issions on a variety of topics facing academ ic and research librarians. Program session for­ m ats include: contributed papers, panel sessio n s, p re c o n fe re n c e s, w o rk sh o p s, poster sessions, and roundtables. The Call for Participation for th e Charlotte confer­ ence is online at http://w w w .ala.org/acrl/ charlotte/cfp.htm l. P ro p o sals fo r p a n e l sessio n s are d u e May 31, 2002. pretty effective videotaped pieces, including interviews, at the start o f som e ALA programs. I’d recom m end using one at the beginning of a panel discussion if and only if it w ere p lanned carefully and do n e well. Panels that have b een do n e this w ay have consistently received positive evaluations. Some of these sessions have b een tw o hours long w ith audiences o f m ore than tw o hu n ­ dred. My experience has b een that very few attendees have left these sessions early. ■ academic libraries,” “the idea of learning commu­ nity is a powerful concept.”’ Reichel also notes “[s]tudents and faculty w ho participate in learning communities benefit from the intentional and coherent nature of clustering the courses, as well as the engagement with each other and the learn­ ing process.”’ The partnership between the LEAP Program and the LEAPing librarians in the Marriott Library benefits students, faculty, and librarians and places the library in the middle of a success­ ful campus learning community. Notes 1. D onald G. Frank, Sarah Beasley, and Susan Kroll, “O pportunities for collaborative excellence: 'What learning comm unities of­ fer,” College & Research Libraries News (>2, no. 10 (2001): 1009. 2. Ibid. 3. View ACRL ’s Inform ation Literacy Com­ p eten c y Standards f o r H igher E ducation at h ttp ://w w w .ala. o rg / acrl/ilcoms tan. htm l. 4. Mary Reichel, “ACRE: The learning com ­ m unity for excellence in academ ic libraries,” College & Research Libraries News 62, no. 8 (2001): 818. 5. Ibid, 819. ■ http://www.ala.org/acrl/ http://www.ala