Giving Back - Session Monitors

Brainstorming session: What we need 
to do to be prepared for April 12 & 13.

Adults learning to read need opportunities to use their new-found literacy skills for real purposes in authentic situations. These opportunities give learners another measure of how far they've come! We've also discovered over the years that, in general, our learners like to give back to the community.

Authentic Experiences

When Mountain Plains Adult Education Association asked if our adult learners would be breakout session monitors at their conference in Salt Lake City on April 12 & 13, 2017, without hesitation, we said, "YES!"

Eight of our learners will help at the registration desk and monitor the breakout sessions. Their jobs as monitors include introducing the presenters (reading their bios to the attendees) and handling session evaluations. Our adults are excited to serve as volunteers for hundreds of adult educators from over nine states.

Preparation

We developed a packet for each breakout room. Each learner has been assigned a room.

From the board pictured above, you can see that we have already brainstormed people skills and grooming requirements.

Our continued instruction and preparation will include:

• revising presenter bios (shortening them so they don't take more than a minute to read)
• practicing the presenter bios so they come naturally to the learners
• developing a checklist of what is to be done before, during, and after each breakout session
• role-playing situations that may occur so they better know what to do (e.g., presenter needs AV help, no handouts are left, ways to distribute evaluations, collecting evaluations without being obnoxious).
• examining the floor plan of the hotel breakout rooms. (Learners are concerned about giving directions to people.)

Bottom-line

Ensure that the breakout sessions go well - all presenters and attendees enjoy the sessions.
Ensure that our learners are comfortable doing their jobs and feel terrific about their contributions.