Don't Hire a Presenter Without This...

I receive many calls from potential clients who are looking for someone to facilitate professional learning activities. Their most frequent questions include “Are you available on that date?” and “Can you address that topic?”  While I appreciate their confidence in me, I wish they would ask me additional questions about how I craft my activities and engage learners.
 
So I created a Presenter’s Agreement that I encourage clients to use whenever hiring a facilitator. Any worthwhile presenter should be comfortable with these minimal expectations. If not, find someone who is!

1. Near the beginning of the session, please ask participants to greet someone seated near them. This sets the tone for an interactive experience.
2. Use visuals—including photos, videos, and infographics—to emphasize your content and maintain attention.
3. Keep bullet points on a slide to three or fewer, with no more than five words each. Make sure the slides are legible from a distance.
4. Do not face your slides and read from them. Instead, enhance the bullet points with additional information.
5. If there is a microphone, please use it. Learning needs to be accessible to all, even those who are hard of hearing.
6. Embed interaction every 20 minutes so that participants have a chance to talk or apply their learning.
7. Honor the experience in the room by asking participants to contribute, share ideas, and teach one another.
8. If the session is longer than 45 minutes, be sure to vary the interaction. Discussion, reflection, games, role-play, cooperative learning, video viewing, demonstrations, readings, case studies—they all have value.

 
What other expectations would you add to this list?
 
For more ideas about quality professional learning, check out Caffeinated Learning: How to Design and Conduct Rich, Robust Professional Training., also available in iBooks!