Class visitors can be a welcome addition to just about any college course at any level. Instructors and students alike can benefit immensely from the insights, perspectives and change of pace provided by guest speakers. Full disclosure, however, early on in my academic career, I wasn’t a huge proponent of guest speakers and, in fact, avoided them where at all possible. The main reason, if I’m being honest with myself, is the (perceived) loss of control. I had my syllabus, my learning objectives, and my plan for each session. However, once I handed the reins to someone else, I never knew exactly what would happen! Over time, mainly due to persistent prodding from students, I’ve come to count on a few speakers each year and can confidently consider myself a convert.
So, what makes for a great speaker? I’ve put together my list based on my own experiences.
- Have a plan
- Ask for instructor input
- Understand your audience
- Allow lots of time for Q&A
- Be flexible
- Have fun!
Please feel free to add/subtract/comment below.
Have a Plan
Of course, any good speaker in any setting plans in advance to ensure they communicate their main message. What is it you most want to communicate? Is it something about the “real world” of your discipline? Is it the excitement of working in your industry? Is it the importance of the topic they’re studying? Is it your “secret of success” that will enable the students to avoid the mistakes others have made? Whatever it is, establish it up front and keep it in mind throughout.
Ask For Instructor Input
Usually, the invitation of a guest speaker will play an important role in the instructor’s learning objectives for the course. Speakers should be sure to check in with the instructor to see what she’s hoping to accomplish. She might want you to reinforce a specific point, or perhaps to add color around a topic that she covered only at a higher level. More commonly, she might expect you to cover an aspect of the material about which you know more deeply and intimately. Whichever it is, things will go better for all if you establish this up front.
Understand Your Audience
Beyond the general objectives for the session, it’s also a good idea to see if the instructor can share anything about the students. What’s their background? What have they learned so far, and what will they learn later? The instructor may prefer that you tread lightly on some topics in favor of others. Depending on the program, students might have backgrounds that lend themselves well to deeper discussions on some topics, but may require slower going in some other areas. It will be exciting for some students to hear about the latest advances in AI-based privacy protocols in banking, for example, while other students will feel like 90% of the talk went over their heads. Best to know in advance to enable you to tailor the content and delivery for maximal impact.
I always offer to share my syllabus with guests in advance and guests should feel free to ask for one if they’re interested.
Allow Lots of Time for Q&A
Guilty secret: this is my favorite part of most sessions with guest speakers because it gives me so much insight into where the students are vis-a-vis the course material. Where are they confused? What’s interesting? Where are they looking for more detail? So much learning for the instructor here.
More broadly (and less selfishly), this is of course usually the students’ favorite part as well, as it puts them in control. Depending on the experience level of the students, I would suggest as well that speakers be prepared for tough questions! My Masters students do not hesitate to push back against speakers’ arguments and to ask pointed questions. As an aside, if there’s a topic that, for whatever reason, you’d rather not discuss, you might want to let the instructor know in advance so she can be on alert to gently nudge the conversation if necessary.
Be Flexible
No matter how much you’ve followed my suggested algorithm to this point — you’ve learned about the course and the students, you’ve made a plan and embedded that plan in a graphics-rich beautiful powerpoint with all the advice you wish that you would have heard when you were sitting in their seats — you will invariably run into a situation at some point where the discussion will drill (or bog) down in an area you never expected. As an instructor, I need to always remind myself to “trust the class” and I would advise visitors to do the same. If the energy in the class is around a specific topic for which you may not have prepared in depth, as long as you have the time, go with it. They will appreciate it, and you’ll all learn something.
Have Fun!
It goes without saying that you shouldn’t do this if you don’t enjoy it. I can’t say enough how forgiving and appreciative students are of guest speakers. Enjoy the experience, don’t sweat it if it doesn’t go exactly as you planned. Even the course instructor — who may have taught the same course ten times previously, wrote the syllabus and knows exactly what has preceded and what will follow the session — invariably has sessions in which she doesn’t get through even half of her material in some sessions. That randomness simply reflects the unpredictability of the learning process!