Top 10 Tips for Hosting a Successful Honors Satellite Seminar Series
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! The key to hosting a successful Honors Satellite Seminar Series on your campus is to plan. Follow these guidelines as you prepare for the Satellite Seminars this fall.
1. Be sure that you have received permission from the appropriate college administrator to use an auditorium or classroom on campus in which the satellite transmissions can be received and viewed.
2. Contact the Technical Representative on your campus to discuss the technical aspects of hosting the Seminars, and make arrangements for that person to be available on the nights of the broadcasts.
3. Plan to hold a post-Satellite Seminar discussion following each broadcast. Invite faculty, administrators or community leaders to facilitate these discussions. Provide each discussion leader with appropriate information about the discussion topic, including information from the Honors Study Topic Program Guide, information about the presenters, presentation abstracts, etc.
4. Develop a marketing strategy and stick to it. Begin by making a list of key groups to invite. These groups may include academic departments, campus organizations, community organizations, area high school students or others. Consider sending written invitations to special guests and key groups, and follow up with a phone call. Then, use all resources (newspapers, radio, email, mail, posters, etc.) available to you to advertise.
5. On the night of each broadcast, offer the audience light refreshments. Food always attracts a crowd!
6. Because the Seminars are broadcast in the evening, you may wish to have child-care.
7. If space is limited, be sure to reserve seats for your special guests and discussion leader(s).
8. Allow your guests to evaluate the evening's activities and suggest ways to improve them.
9. Following each broadcast and discussion, invite your audience to the next Satellite Seminar viewing.
10. Finally, pat yourself on the back for a job well done! Be sure to send Phi Theta Kappa your success stories and pictures. Email the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Programs Department at honors.programs@ptk.org or mail media coverage to Phi Theta Kappa Center for Excellence, Attn: Honors Programs Department, 1625 Eastover Drive, Jackson, MS 39211.
The Honors Satellite Seminar Series is co-produced by the National Collegiate Honors Council and Phi Theta Kappa. The purpose of the Series is to provide Phi Theta Kappa members with access to experts in the field of popular culture to enhance their exploration of the Honors Study Topic. The Series will be broadcast live via satellite throughout the 2005 fall semester and is also available on DVD. For subscriptions and information about presenters, dates and times, visit the website, www.ptk.org/honorsseminars/, or contact Honors Programs Coordinator Tria Cohen at 601.984.3515.
