Guest Speakers: Four Part Series on Maximizing Their Visit

This post is the first in a three-part series on maximizing guest speakers in the classroom. As you may know, one of the best reasons to bring in a guest speaker is that it brings the workplace into the classroom and breathes life into the course materials. Guest speakers can also validate the teacher’s claim that what is being learned in the classroom, laboratory, or field will be valuable to them one day in the “real world.” This is especially true when bringing in guest speakers who are successful alums that can literally point to the chair they sat in when a student and describe how the class has helped them now in their careers. Believe it or not, bringing in guest speakers is also a great way for educators to stay in touch with the workplace they may have left behind to go into teaching or learn more if never worked in a hospitality business. Guest speakers are also a great way to supplement one’s teaching when you do not have expertise in a particular area and realize it is important for the students to get the correct information, techniques, etc.
Once the decision has been made to bring in a guest speaker(s) there are many, many things that need to be thought about before they enter the classroom or laboratory, such as:

1. It might be worthwhile to give the students and overview of the course materials at the beginning of the class to see if there topics they might like someone from the industry come in and speak to them about during class? Giving the students some ownership in the decision will put part of the responsibility on them to get something out of the presentation.
2. Does your course syllabus have some flexibility in it? What if you were to invite a guest speaker into the class and they had to reschedule or cancel at the last minute?
3. How many guest speakers should be invited to the class over the course of a semester or term? If you have never had one in the class you might start with one to see how it goes, learn from the experience, and expand the number invited. You might also keep in mind that I have heard students complain when teachers bring in too many guest speakers because it looks as though the teacher is slacking and not earning his/her pay!
4. Decide how long you want the speaker to present. Bear in mind that asking a speaker to do a 30 minute presentation in your class might not sound like a long time to you but is for those who do not speak for a living.
5. Do not settle for any person you can get to be a speaker. The person chosen not only has to be credible, they need to be able to communicate their message to your students.
6. If an upper class, perhaps you could turn this into a class project and have the students not only identify topics they might want covered from someone in industry but work to identify potential candidates for you to contact.