With presentation technology changing so quickly, how can you keep up? One association is making sure that its audiovisual provider educates staff members on the ‘latest and greatest’ options—a natural outgrowth of an organizational culture rooted in spelling out expectations.
A simple change made a big difference at LearningForward’s2010AnnualConference.For the first time,allof thegeneral-sessionpresenters— not just thekeynote speakers—usedateleprompter, resulting in amore polished overall delivery. “The showproducerhadsuggestedthis, andIbrought it to our AV provider’s attention,” said Carol V. François,Learning Forward’s director of learning. “But Iwas thinking, [theAVprovider] shouldbe the one telling us to do this.” It was something of a teachable moment for
AVprovider,” François said, “and adding to it that wewill have a performance reviewat the end of each year — they evaluate us and we evaluate them.As part of that,we expect that they tell us what the latest and greatest is in the area ofAV— that they keep us informed on themost innovative techniques, tools, and equipment.” That takes thepressureoffFrançois tolearnon
herownwhat’s cutting-edge, andputs theonuson theprofessionals toeducateher andher colleagues. She admits that she is“notechnology expert,”but
“As part of [our contract], we expect that they tell us what the latest and greatest is in the area of AV and that they keep us informed.”
—Carol V. François
François,whooversees theDallas-basedassociation for educators’ Annual Conference and Summer Conference.Fromnowon, she’llbegettingthatkind of straightforwardadvice—aswell as aneducation on the latest presentation technologies available— directly from Learning Forward’s audiovisual provider.Whilemostorganizationsbelieve it’sunder- stood that their supplierswill offer thema range of optionspossible for their events,LearningForward is holding its AV provider accountable for that expectation by putting it in writing. It’s a natural extensionof the association’s culture,where expect- ed behaviors are spelled out and staff is made answerable tothem. (See“CulturalNorms,”p.37.) “We’re starting amultiyear contractwith our
she knows that every six months or so, “there’s something newinAV. So if [ourAVprovider tells] me at the end of a year that there’s nothing new, that’s a red flag forme.” At Learning Forward’sAnnualConference—
to be held this year overDec. 3–7 at theAnaheim Convention Center—its AV company provides audiovisual for 600 breakout sessions and five general sessions forabout3,500attendees.Whether theorganizationdecides touse the latest technolo- gy for any or all of those sessions is “at our discre- tion,”François said,“but it’sgoodpractice for them togetourbusinessandexpandtheirbusinessbylet- tingusknow.”Settingupthis expectation, she said, “lets themknowthatwe see themas partners.”
36 pcma convene September 2011 ILLUSTRATION BY GREG MABLY
HowYou Say It One of Learning Forward’s Staff Agreements (see fol- lowing page) has to do with communica- tion. It goes like this: Respond to col- leagues’ requests marked urgent with- in 24 hours and oth- ers within 72 hours. If you cannot meet a request or do not have input, please let your col- league know. Share views on others’ work or assignments; how- ever, recognize that the person responsi- ble may choose not to act on your views. An outgrowth of
this agreement — an “unspoken norm” that everyone fol- lows, according to Learning Forward’s Carol V. François — is to keep emails succinct. “It’s rare for internal emails to exceed more than three lines,” she said. “If it takes more than that, we pick up the phone.”