Reframing the Standard Conference/Webinar Presentation Model

(A. Solano)

I have traveled the country extensively to attend various K12 and higher education conferences. Rarely have I left inspired by a presentation or breakout session. Perhaps I have high standards or perhaps I have a different standard all together. I don't about you, but I'm tired of hearing what are essentially campus "branding" stories with minimal information on how to actually implement a practice.

Branding stories go something like this:
1. This is the awesome [insert practice] we did.
2. Isn't it so wonderful?

A more meaningful presentation/breakout session would go something like this:
1. This is the [insert practice] we did, our successes, and how we struggled and continue to struggle to implement it well.
2. Isn't our experience that unpacks the good, the bad and the ugly so meaningful in terms of lessons learned to take back to your campus?

I understand that not every college personnel would be willing and able to share highly internal dirty laundry, but for goodness sake, give us something. When we fail to share our struggles, we leave each other with the impression that they can go replicate a practice somewhat smoothly at their institution. I’ve seen this a hundred times. Here are a few examples of where a bit more context (i.e., truth) would've been extremely helpful for the field.

Branding approach: We have built a guided pathways structure with workgroups for each pillar! Isn't that great?
Helpful approach: We have built a guided pathways structure with workgroups for each pillar, but 3 of the 4 workgroups are stuck. The one workgroup that has momentum is doing x, y, and z well! But the other 3 are struggling because of a, b, c.

Branding approach: We hit the ground running with student success teams across the campus! Isn't it great?
Helpful approach: We hit the ground running with student success teams across the campus but it's mostly dysfunctional. Many of the teams don't know what to do exactly and meetings are not that productive. If we were to do it again, we would do it like this... We should highlight one of our student success teams because they are getting results and this how they're doing it...

Branding approach: We have integrated guided pathways and equity work into our institutional governance structure! Doesn't that sound wonderful?
Helpful approach: We have integrated guided pathways and equity work into our governance structure but there's tremendous disagreement on how to apply guided pathways with an equity lens. We have settled on x and y guided pathways strategies with an equity lens and it's working well, but for a, b, c we can't seem to get off the ground.

Perhaps it's Pollyannaish for me to think that conference/webinar presentations/breakout rooms would be so real, but look, the examples I provided have positives. Spend 75%-85% of the presentation on the successes, but consider spending 15%-25% on the struggles. If you make the session interactive, you could solicit ideas from participants to help you potentially problem-solve the struggles. That's what a meaningful session really should look like--one where people interact, help, and learn from one another. What a novel concept!

And for those of you who are participants--ask the hard questions! Get the presenter to reveal the good, the bad and the ugly. Only then does the effective practitioner go back to their campus better prepared to utilize practices learned at a conference or webinar session.

Onward...

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