1. Facilitator and Discussant Orientation
Learn Serve Lead 2017
Facilitator and Discussant Orientation
October 19, 2017

2. Why do we need Facilitators & Discussants

3. Needs Statement:
To promote and disseminate educational scholarship in an easily digestible manner
To respect audience time
To put the research presented into perspective within the medical education framework

4. Facilitator Definition:
A medical educator who guides the group members in a meeting to share ideas, opinions and expertise in order to achieve a common goal.

5. Facilitator’s Goal Statement
Gain a new understanding of the research being presented.
Session management skills
Timekeeping
Audience Management
Session flow
Get Involved with AAMC
Promote career advancement
New Projects/Networking

6. Discussant Definition:
A medical educator who is a content expert helps discuss the papers presented in the context of current literature and will often cite other related research.

7. Discussant’s Goal Statement
Discuss all of the papers presented within the context of current medical education research.
Help to foment a discussion among the presenters and members of the audience.
Increase/improve audience understanding of the content.
May suggest future avenues of research or an improvement of existing research.

8. Arc of Scholarship Attendee Attendee Facilitator Discussant Panelist

9. Cycle of Relationships
Discussant
Audience
Presenter
Facilitator
Host, direct & manage
Engage, instruct & respond
Compare, contrast & summarize
Listen, learn & question

10. Comparing the Two Roles:
Facilitator
Discussant
Time Keeper
Keeps Session Moving
Arbitrates Disputes
Always has two to three questions ready
Not all sessions have a Discussant
Success or ‘Failure’ of session depends mainly on Facilitator
Demonstrates a thread between presenters
Helps presenter reflect regarding their own research
Helps to bring audience ‘up to speed’ on current state of literature

11. Why Facilitate? Allows audience to focus on content
Values everyone’s time
Can make a session successful (or not)
Allows for introduction to a larger audience-networking/recognition

12. Why Be a Discussant?
Allows one to engage with other faculty interested in same area of interest
Allows one to teach
Allows for introduction to a larger audience-networking/recognition

13. Facilitator & Discussant
Discover the wisdom of the audience!

14. “How-to’s” for the Facilitator

15. Facilitator: Before the Conference
Read Abstracts!
Read Literature!
Contact Speakers

16. Facilitator: Before the Conference
Ask speakers for 2 sentence bio that you can read during session for introduction
Prepare at least 2 questions to ask speaker

17. Facilitator: Day of Session (1)
Before Starting the Session:
Meet Speakers
Practice pronunciation of names
Disclosure Reminder
Go over timing – how much time speaker has for presentation and questions
Remind speaker of the speaker order
Signal to give when 5 and 2 min left

18. Facilitator: Day of Session (2)
Before Starting the Session:
Check the room…
Seating
Microphone
Wall clocks
Slide remote
Speakers should have already uploaded their slides. If not, they will need to do so in the Speaker Ready Room

19. Facilitator: Day of Session (3)
During the Session:
Introduce yourself – 2 sentence bio about yourself
Review timing with audience—i.e. set ground rules
Introduce speaker
Keep to strict time!
Read the brief bio
Speak into microphone!

20. Facilitator: Day of Session (4)
During the Session:
Remain 100% focused on presentation!
After speaker is done go straight to stage to take over
Why? To control flow of questions and to keep on time!
At end of time, thank speaker and move to next presenter

21. Facilitator: Day of the Session (5)
Deal with the unexpected:
Always keep everyone on track!
Cut off arguments between speaker and audience (however this rarely happens)
Agree to disagree
Invite them to continue their discussion after the session
Always be prepared to ask a question if there are none from the audience

22. Facilitator: Day of Session (6)
NEVER embarrass the speaker!
You want the speaker to succeed
The session is not about how funny or smart you are!
Make everyone feel comfortable and valued
Be prepared to restate question if acoustics are poor in the room
May need to reinforce ground rules in between speaker presentations

23. Facilitator: Day of Session (7)
End of session:
Thank all speakers and thank audience for coming and participation
Make a comment that reflects the theme of the talks and encourage audience to keep conversation going
Remind audience of any special conference sessions for that day including plenary sessions or town hall
No more than 2 minutes max for the closing …people want to leave!!

24. Facilitator: After the Session
Reflect on your performance:
Did you engage the audience?
Did you end on time?
Did you adequately present the speaker?
If you asked questions, were they sophisticated enough?
How did you feel?
Was it valuable learning session?
How can you improve your skills?

25. “How-to’s” for the Discussant

26. Discussant: Before the Conference
Read the abstracts!
Review related literature!
You may want to contact speakers regarding their research to gain further insight
Prepare at least 2 questions to ask each speaker

27. Discussant: Day of Session (1)
Before the Session:
Meet Speakers
Practice pronunciation of names
Clarify their research if not done already

28. Discussant: Day of Session (2)
During the Session:
Stay on Time!
Describe how the papers fit into context of recent literature
Evaluate (in a nice way) if the paper meets its stated objectives

29. Discussant: Day of Session (3)
During the Session:
Describe any unique aspects to paper
Make suggestions about improving paper
Focus on big picture
Connect the dots for audience!
Be constructive

30. Discussant: Day of Session (4)
During the Session:
Stay 100% focused on the presenters
Be prepared to adjust any or all of your remarks based on what the speaker actually presents
Thank the speakers

31. Discussant: Day of Session(5)
During the Session:
NEVER embarrass any of the speakers!
You want the speaker to succeed
The session is not about how funny or smart you are!

32. Discussant: After the Session (6)
Reflect on how you did:
Did you engage the audience?
Did you end on time?
Was your discussion comprehensive?
Did you tie everything together for the audience?
How did you feel?
Was it valuable learning session?

33. Thank you! Any questions?