Written by Saul Carliner and reprinted with permission from the Society for Technical Communication, Arlington, VA, U.S.A.

Tips for Program and Education Chairs
How to Organize Educational Meetings
for Community and Professional Organizations

Organizing an educational meeting for a community or professional organization involves the following:

1. Plan a Meeting Agenda

A typical meeting should include the following elements:

• Networking. The networking part of the meeting should give people an opportunity to meet and speak one another. Long-time members generally find one another and spend their time catching up. New members and guests generally feel left out of such moments. Some ways to facilitate networking:
• Begin with a brief business meeting and the Tip of the Month. The formal beginning gives the leaders an opportunity to facilitate introductions instead of sending people "to the vultures." The Tip of the Month is presented by a chapter member and lasts no more than 5 minutes. It should be a how-to, include an example, and may include a brief (one-page) handout.
  Before the meeting, ask a few members to serve as hosts. They should introduce themselves to new people, strike up a conversation, and introduce them to others.
• Hold an icebreaker at the formal beginning time to get people to network.
• Designate a networking person.

Some organizations include a meal as part of the networking session.

• Chapter business. Limit chapter business to the most important topics and try to limit announcements to 5 minutes. Topics appropriate for chapter business:
• Upcoming meetings
• Upcoming competition deadlines
• Upcoming special events, such as conferences and workshops
• Upcoming elections
• References to announcements in the newsletter
• Informational content. This is the heart of the meeting. When presenting the informational content, the format should be:
• Introduce the speaker. The presenter should be the person on the program committee who planned the meeting.
• Presentation and questions. In most chapters, this lasts for about an hour.
• Wrap-up, which includes:
• A meeting evaluation. Ask participants to complete evaluation forms.
• A thank-you to the speaker, which¾ at the least¾ includes a thank you and might also include a gift.
• A reminder about the next meeting.

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2. Invite and Coach the Speaker(s).

After choosing a meeting topic and format, invite a speaker who can address the topic. Qualifications for speakers are described earlier in this web article.

When you invite speaker, do the following:

1. Identify the topic (and specific aspect of the topic) that you would like the speaker to address.
2. State the date, time, and location of the meeting (if the location is already known)
3. speakers aware of your expectations. Typically, these expectations are:
   • The session will be interactive. Let speakers know that the meeting should involve plenty of interaction and the amount of lecture needs to be limited.
   • That the speaker presents information from a wide variety of sources, rather than just one company or project.
   • That the presentation should be tailored to the audience’s needs. The best way to ensure this is by providing speakers with information about the background of the audience.
   • That STC does not permit selling from the podium.
4. Ask for a session description, bio, and brief outline. Ask the speaker if he or she minds your providing feedback on these materials, so that they might better tailor their presentation to the needs of the members. Make sure you tell the speaker when you need these materials.
5. Ask the speaker about audiovisual needs.

Afterwards, send a letter confirming the presentation and providing tips and techniques for success. Following is an example:

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3. Reserve a Meeting Location and Catering

If your chapter does not have a regular meeting location, you need to find a location for the meeting. To find a meeting room, ask members if they might host the meetings at their businesses. If no one is able to host the meeting, then find a restaurant with a private meeting room. Usually, the restaurant expects you to hold a meal in conjunction with the meeting. To defray the cost of meals, you will probably need to charge for meetings. Find out the payment policy of the restaurant; can the restaurant provide checks for each person or will you be responsible for collecting and paying for each meal.

Your meeting location should have:

• Sufficient chairs to seat everyone who attends. Seating should have not have obstructed views.
• Adequate audiovisual equipment for the speaker. At a minimum, the location should have (verify specific needs with the speaker):
• A podium
• A microphone
• An overhead projector
• A screen

If your chapter holds meals or provides snacks with its meetings, you will also need to arrange for catering. Make sure that catering is provided within the budget you have established.

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4. Prepare Promotional Materials about the Meeting

Meetings must be publicized a minimum of 60 days in advance. Use a standard format to announce meetings and send it to your chapter’s newsletter editor and public relations manager. The newsletter editor publishes the information for STC members. The public relations manager sends the information to local newspapers and magazines. This publicity draws non-members.

A meeting announcement should provide the following information:

• Title
• Speaker
• Date
• Location
• Meeting fees
• Name and number to contact for more information

Mail the announcement to:

• Chapter newsletter (and newsletters of other chapters in an easy driving distance)
• Local business papers
• Newsletters of related societies, such as ACM, ASTD, CBE, IEEE, and NSPI

Following is an example of a meeting announcement:

Society for Technical Communication Schedules a Contractor's and Consultant's Roundtable What? The issues abound: Techniques for marketing independent practices How tax laws affect independents Ethical issues independents face Business trends affecting independents in the years ahead Business planning for independents Explore the answers to these and related sessions in a special Progressions on contracting and consulting. Each table is facilitated by an experienced independent consultant, including some from outside our field. When? April 7, 1994 6:00 - 9:00 pm Where? Hilton Inn and Towers 2334 Smith Avenue Take I-8855 to the Smith Avenue exit (exit 10). At the end of the exit ramp, go west approximately 1/2 mile to Smith Avenue. The Hilton will be immediately to your left. For More Information Call Saul Carliner, Program Manager, at 404-555-9987.

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5. Confirm Meeting Arrangements

About four to six weeks before the scheduled meeting, and again, two weeks before the meeting, confirm by telephone the following arrangements:

• Speaker
• Room
• Catering arrangements

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6. Host the Meeting

As the host of the meeting, you are responsible for:

• Providing signage directing visitors to the meeting room, especially the meeting room is not visible when people enter the building.
• Making sure someone is at the entrance to the meeting room to greet people, sign in members, and collect money (if needed). Make sure you have a sign in sheet that lets you identify a person’s membership status. Also provide a space for non-members to record their address and telephone numbers, so that the chapter membership manager might follow up with this potential member. Often, the chapter membership manager takes responsibility for greeting people.

  If someone is collecting money, you need to provide them with a money box and receipt forms. Often, the chapter treasurer takes this responsibility.

• Meeting the speaker and introducing that person to the audience.
• Purchasing and giving the speaker gift.
• Collecting meeting evaluations.

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7. Evaluate the Meeting

After the presentation and before people leave, ask participants to complete a meeting evaluation. Meeting evaluations explore the following issues:

• Relevance of the topic
• Quality of the speaker
• Value of the meeting
• Effectiveness of meeting location
• Satisfaction with catering

The evaluation helps you determine audience reaction to the meeting. Use this information to determine how well you are meeting members’ needs, how you might better meet audience needs in the future, and whether to use this speaker and topic again.

Tally the results of the survey and provide them to the Administrative Council and to the speaker. If the responses are negative, you might consider coaching the speaker.

Also keep a year-long tally so that you can see which aspects of your meetings are successful and which ones need work. In the following year, the program committee can work on improving those areas that received poor evaluations from members.

Following is a sample meeting evaluation:

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8. Write Thank You Letters

Within ten working days of the meeting, write a thank-you note to the speaker. This is in addition to the speaker gift. The note should be personal, mentioning something unique about the presentation. The thank-you note should also include the evaluations

Why should you write a thank you note? Thank you are two of the rarest words speakers hear and among the two words they want to hear most. A thank you tells someone that their work was appreciated and that they made a difference to the organization. Thank you is the only "pay" speakers receive for their efforts. But how often do we let an implied thank you do the job of a formal one? Unfortunately, speakers are not mind readers; they don't always know when we appreciate their work. Without a formal thank you, many speakers feel their work is unappreciated and unnoticed.

A thank you note should be personal, indicating that you really noticed the speaker’s work. Consider the following points when writing a thank-you note:

• Avoid form letters, even if you have twenty or thirty volunteers to thank at one time. While better than no thank you at all, a form letter, especially one created with mail merge says that you are too busy to notice individual contributions. Those individual contributions are what volunteers want to be noticed for.
• Be specific. Mention something that would only apply to the person, such as a point made in their presentation or something you appreciated about working with them.

  For example, if you are writing a thank you letter to a speaker, mention more than just the ratings that members gave on their meeting evaluation forms. You might mention something that you appreciated about working with them or something specific you learned in the presentation.

• Mail thank you notes quickly, within 10 business days of the event. Some people suggest that you mail thank you notes as quickly as 48 hours after the event. Speakers want immediate feedback, the longer you delay in sending the thank you note, the less the immediacy.

Following is an example of a thank-you note:

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(c) Copyright. Saul Carliner. 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. All rights reserved.