Guidelines for Proposal Writers

As the reviewers examine each proposal for how well it meets established criteria, they are also looking for a balance of topics in each content focus area and a balance of delivery methods within the focus areas. Someone may submit an outstanding proposal that is not accepted simply because there are too many of that type. Before choosing your proposal topic, carefully review and consider all the possibilities outlined in this Call for Proposals. If your preferred topic is "tried and true," what new and different perspective could you offer? How narrowly and deeply could you focus your topic to really explore its underlying implications? How uniquely might you approach the way you deliver the content using effective adult learning principles and practices?

We expect to receive many quality proposals on topics of interest to international educators. What can you do to ensure your proposal stands out?

• Using adult learning principles and practices
• Writing clear and focused learning objectives
• Writing a compelling description
• Selecting interactive delivery methods
• Planning a useful handout
• Writing the title

Using Adult Learning Principles and Practices

Too often, conference education programs are structured the way many of us experienced learning while growing up: a "sage on the stage" metes out his/her knowledge to a group of eagerly listening participants. In the real world, however, adults operate on a very different set of expectations. Extensive research has identified and clearly shown the impact of key principles in the way adults learn. Keep these principles top-of-mind as you develop your proposal and, if accepted, your session or workshop.

• Adults are active and self-directed: they generally take personal responsibility for discovering what they need to successfully reach their goals.
• Adults have a 'readiness to learn' based on their personal circumstances: choices about attending a conference and deciding in which sessions and workshops to participate are driven by specific needs for information.
• Adults need to know the relevancy of learning to their specific challenges: a connection must be made between the information presented and the participants' situations and environments.
• Adults bring their life experiences to learning: they learn more effectively when content builds on what they already know.
• Adults can learn from each other as well as from the presenter(s): they will expect to share ideas and experiences with the presenter and with fellow participants in generating steps for practical application of what they learn.

You'll note a common thread of engagement and interactivity runs through the ways adults learn most effectively. Your proposal must describe how you will include audience engagement and interaction in your session or workshop. Some ideas for interactive delivery are included in these guidelines.

Writing clear and focused learning objectives

Knowing from the beginning what the desired outcomes of a session will be for the learners helps you keep content development and presentation focused on what matters most. Developing learning objectives requires you to think deeply about your topic. They serve as a framework to ensure focused content, engaging delivery, and applicability to session participants are maintained. Objectives also help participants evaluate the session when it’s over based on how well the objectives were accomplished for them.

In their simplest form, learning objectives provide the answer to this question:

What should the audience know or be able to do when the session or workshop is over?

Objectives are desired results, written from the learner’s perspective, so learners will understand what is necessary for them to learn about the topic and what information is important. Objectives can help learners decide which sessions and workshops will best meet their needs, since they will be able to compare what each option will provide against the skills or knowledge they need.

Objectives also serve as the basis for session design and development. Rather than focus on what the content will cover, focusing on what the learner should know or do when it’s over helps to ensure the only content presented is that which will give learners what they need.

How Many Objectives are Needed?

The number of objectives that can be comfortably accomplished in a conference session or workshop is heavily dependent upon its length. A general guideline would be:

60 minutes	1-2 objectives
75 minutes	1-3 objectives
90 minutes to 2-3 hours	2-4 objectives
half- to full-day workshop	3-5 objectives

Keep in mind that objectives help focus the content. They should be learner-centered and very specific. They should also be realistically achievable within the timeframe allotted to the session.

Three Types of Objectives

All learning objectives are behavior-based and learner-centered. However, there are three types of behavior that learning can convey. Additionally, objectives contain specific action verbs that create observable results. Words like learn, know, or understand are not observable and therefore should not be used.

Here is a sample list of action verbs to use for each type of objective, and sample objectives designed to give you ideas. This is not a complete list of possibilities; there are many other similar words you can use. The key is to use action verbs, requiring observable behavior.

Type of Learning	Related Action Verbs
Attitude development Appropriate when you want to change people's attitudes or increase their awareness of or sensitivity to certain issues or ideas. Example: Following the session, participants will be able to analyze their campus strategies for developing international partnerships.	adjust, decide, analyze, evaluate, assess, recall, choose, select, criticize, support
Skill development Appropriate when a specific task or procedure needs to be performed. Example: Following the session, participants will be able to write a plan for low-cost marketing efforts.	compute, demonstrate, design, prove, develop, prepare, measure, solve, write, speak
Knowledge development Appropriate when the learner needs to demonstrate acquired knowledge, comprehend information, and/or analyze concepts. Example: Following the session, participants will be able to recognize challenges faced by colleagues based in developing countries.	cite, identify, compare, contrast, define, list, describe, recognize, differentiate, repeat

During the proposal submission process you will have a maximum of 400 characters to express the learning objectives of your proposed session or workshop. Be sure your objectives are written with action verbs to show how the content can be applied on the job and make a difference to participants. Also, be certain your objectives can be realistically accomplished in the time allotted.

Writing a Compelling Description

Your primary goal in developing your session or workshop proposal should be participant learning, not providing a showcase for your own ideas, opinions, experiences, products, or services. Providing great value to participants, including something tangible they can use immediately, will give you the exposure you’d like to have. Put yourself in the learner’s place, and create a learning opportunity and description that would inspire you to attend, participate, and learn!

Required: The abstract

As part of the submission process you’ll be asked to write an abstract of your session for use in the conference registration book (workshops only) and program. The word limits for these abstracts are:

Preconference workshop	25 words
General conference session	50 words
Seminar	50 words
Poster	15 words

The abstract should be written as clearly and concisely as possible, ensuring all necessary information is included. It should focus on what participants will take from the session and on the specific content to be delivered. Avoid writing an editorial on the topic or an advertisement for the presenter(s). Please write in the second person (e.g., "you will learn…") and avoid any references to the presenter(s). If research-focused, support your statements with appropriate citations of published works or studies. Good content with clear and focused objectives will sell your session or workshop.

Required: A more in-depth description

To help reviewers evaluate your proposal, you will be asked to specific questions on the following topics:

• The primary categories of information you will share; e.g., segment titles, process steps, roles involved, regions of the world affected, etc.
• The impact of any program, activity, or research; you must describe what was done and its appropriate outcomes, e.g., on groups of people if a program or activity, or on trends/outlooks; if research, what specifically were the results?
• How participants will be able to apply what they learn from this session; e.g., will they be able to replicate a program, share information with colleagues to enhance operations, apply policies or regulations correctly, or advise students more effectively? Be specific.
• How you will involve the audience in your session; e.g., techniques you will use to ensure the session incorporates effective adult learning principles and practices and is not just lecture followed by Q&A. See selecting interactive delivery methods.

Selecting interactive delivery methods

When participants work together to solve a problem or discuss an issue, the value they take from the learning experience increases significantly. If your proposal is accepted, it will be your responsibility to make sure there are opportunities for participants to get involved. Using any number of techniques, you can help to ensure your audience will be better able to transfer what they learn to their own environments.

During the submission process, you will be asked to share how you plan to include audience participation in your session. There are a variety of methods that work well regardless of the conference format you choose. The content and expected outcomes are what drive the choice of method. In longer seminar and workshop formats—and sometimes in conference sessions—you can easily use more than one method for engaging your audience in the learning process.

In determining how to involve your audience in the session or workshop, begin with your learning objectives. How will participants use the content when they return to their jobs? How can you help them learn it so they can use it successfully? If the topic is complex, for example, you may want to create an exercise that enables participants to get a little hands-on experience trying something new in a safe, group-learning environment.

There are several methods you can use to involve your participants, even in a short, 60-minute session. Here are some to consider, and when they’re most effective.

Technique	Used effectively to:
Brainstorming	Generate ideas and enthusiasm
Debate	Explore opposing aspects of an issue
Dialogue	Explore an issue and develop perspectives
Discussion (full- or small-group)	Reach a conclusion or agree on a solution
Game	Demonstrate applications for learning
Nominal group technique	Help participants ask questions anonymously or generate a lot of ideas from a large group quickly
Peer-assisted learning	Knowledgeable participants help others do an exercise
Question & answer	Learn content by asking and answering questions of either participants or presenter(s)
Reflection	Enhance personal learning and its application to participants
Role-playing	Try new skills, stimulate discussion, portray a challenge
Story-telling	Gain new perspectives on issues, provide examples of experiences that demonstrate the value or importance of material presented
Sub-groups	Many variations depending on need; can react to a topic, generate ideas, problem-solve, discuss an issue, provide opportunity to work in teams, work toward consensus, etc. Requires at least some debriefing for full group to benefit. Create groups by asking them to work with people in the rows in front or behind them; stand up and move to another area of the room; pair up with someone they don’t know, count off by number, etc.

Please note: leaving time for a Q&A segment at the end of a lecture is not considered true audience engagement for the purpose of learning, and proposal reviewers will expect more. While getting their questions answered does help participants clarify or understand the content, using questions as a learning tool takes it a step higher. For example, content leaders can pose questions to participants that require them, individually or in small groups, to reason out what they are learning and how they might apply it.

Other Tips for an Interactive Delivery

• Limit slides by focusing on key points, instructions for activities, etc. rather than listing all your content.
• Provide a handout that allows participants to include their own insights, results of group exercises, questions they want to explore further, etc.
• Incorporate a prework activity into your description so anyone planning to attend can be ready. Ideas include reading an article or bringing with them a case study, statistics, ideas, sample problems, etc. from their own institutions.
• Give them an assignment to complete after the conference to help ground learning and apply it once they’re back at work.
• Especially in longer seminars and workshops, get people up and moving around in some way by doing group activity. You can also ask participants to stand in place or group together in response to questions you ask, rather than just raising hands.

There are many excellent resources available for more information about this important element of conference learning. The bottom line: getting your participants involved in some way with the content and with each other will help them learn much more effectively than will just you telling them what they need to know.

Planning a Useful Handout

Why use handouts? For one thing, conference participants expect them; NAFSAns consistently rate lower any sessions without them. Participants appreciate handouts they can take with them to serve as reminders of what they learned. Handouts facilitate note-taking, allowing the learner to concentrate more on what you’re saying. They provide connection for visual learners who must see more than distant slides as well as for kinesthetic learners who must do something (the act of writing things down can help them learn).

This is an important distinction: handouts are far more than a paper record of your session or workshop. If all you provide is exactly what you plan to say, why should people give the gift of their time to learn from you? They can just pick up the handout. You must provide “value-add” in your session and leave participants very glad they were physically in the room with you.

Handouts are an active learning tool, and require just as much thought and planning as any other part of your session. The type of handout typically used for conference handouts—and the easiest—is to provide a three-slides-per-page printout of your slides. However, you are short-changing your participants if that is all you provide.

Think about how your handout might be used during and after your session or workshop. How might you make it an effective tool for future reference? Successful handout elements include:

• Key points in a format that facilitates note-taking (read: plenty of white space); remember you must add value during the session by expanding upon what is in the handout, regardless of what your handout looks like.
  A tip: participants may have personal “a-ha” moments when what you or other participants say resonates with them; be sure to also leave space for them to jot those down.
• Charts, diagrams, or other material that is too detailed to put on a slide.
• Checklists that provide a list of steps to follow or things to consider in implementing what is learned.
• Graphics, drawings, symbols, and illustrations that will reproduce well in a black-and-white handout to make it visually stimulating.
• Brief articles that support your points (be sure you have copyright permission to use the work of others).
• Instructions and/or worksheets for an activity or exercise; for example, if you use a case study, the handout can include relevant case information and questions to think about in analyzing or solving it.
• A glossary of terms.
• A bibliography or list of resources (don’t forget Web sites!) for those wanting more information.

All these elements can be used separately or in combinations that will fit your content and your objectives. Tell the proposal reviewers what you plan and generally how your content will be shared in the handout.

Remember: your learning objectives drive what is included in your content whether in your slides, your handout, or what you plan to say. We want you to be thinking now about how you plan to make your session or workshop an effective learning experience for those who attend.

Writing the Title

Are you surprised this is the last element of writing a winning proposal, and not the first? Think about it … the title is what potential participants read first. It should capture, in 10 words or less, the key concept behind why someone should attend this session instead of others held at the same time. You are in the best position for writing an effective, eye-catching title if you have already given serious thought to what your session or workshop will be about and what participants will take from it.

An effective title, besides being short, is in active tense. Grab a copy of this morning’s newspaper and read some headlines. If well-written, they are short, clearly articulate the content of the article underneath, and use action verbs. They’re always written after the story is complete and scheduled to run in the newspaper. Regardless of how headlines are phrased, the intent is clearly understood and you can quickly decide whether to read the article.

That is the function your session or workshop title serves. Make it the headline of your proposal. Ensure the reviewers (and potential participants!) want to learn more.