Roundtable+Guidelines

Tech Liaison Roundtables!

By popular demand of our tech liaisons we will set about 45 minutes aside at every tech liaison meeting for roundtable discussions to occur on topics of interest.

Here are some suggestions for a successful roundtable:


 * Start with brief introductions that elicit participants' experience with/interest in the topic at hand.
 * Have about 5 provocative questions prepared to engage participants in discussion. (These questions should //not// have obvious answers to them.) Examples: Should professional development be scheduled workshops or individualized integration support? How do handheld devices stack up to wireless laptops?
 * Be prepared to share your own experiences and knowledge, but keep in mind that this is a discussion, not a presentation. Having a handout or resource list to give out toward the end of the discussion (and upload to the conference archives) is one way of covering the bases without having to take too much of the air time.
 * Speaking of air time, look out for people who are dominating the conversation or others who might need help jumping in. (Questions such as, "What is your perspective about this?" and "Have you seen examples of …." can provide quieter table members the opening they need.)
 * We have told vendors they are welcome to join in any of the roundtables as observers and participants. Most of the time, this works fine -- and offers one more perspective to a lively discussion. However, if you ever get the sense that the dialog is turning into a sales pitch or a product-related Q&A, please be gentle but firm about asking those involved to save this particular discussion until the end-of-the-day reception when attendees and sponsors will have a chance to talk again in the exhibit area.
 * Recap, regroup, reframe. Use active listening to help refocus the group, if needed. Listen for patterns, themes, and build on them. Help the group identify areas of commonality as well as areas with different viewpoints.
 * Please assign a notetaker who will keep track of the information shared and post it on the wiki page of the agenda.