Tips from the AEJMC Teaching Committee
The Effective Use of Guest Speakers
By Chris Roush
AEJMC Standing Committee on Teaching
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
(Article courtesy of AEJMC News, March 2013 issue)
I’m a big believer in using guest speakers in my classes. I think that they add a different perspective, and I also think that students appreciate hearing from somebody else a couple of times throughout the semester.
I like using guest speakers to talk about topics in which I believe I’m weak. I’m one of those professors who believes in giving the students the best education possible, even if it doesn’t all come out of my mouth.
That said, I’ve also had my fair share of guest speakers who have made it painful for me, and the students, to listen to them talk. They’ve rambled and gotten off topic, or their personality simply was not suited for the classroom. They often use the guest speaker stint as an opportunity to brag about their careers or their companies.
Here are my dos and don’ts when it comes to how to properly and effectively use guest speakers to enrich the learning experience:
DO a background check on the guest speaker. If a professional PR or advertising person from the local community is asking to speak to your students, find out if they’ve ever done any teaching before. Ask them for an overview of what they plan to talk about, or give them the topic and ask them for an outline based on that topic.
DON’T feel the need to accept guest speakers just because they’re visiting the school or are an alum. If they don’t fit into what you’re doing in your class, take a pass even if the dean wants you to use them. My worst memory of a guest speaker was a foreign journalist who was an alumnus. At the end of his talk, the students were openly mocking him because it was clear he didn’t know how to speak to a group.
DO use guest speakers for specific assignments. If you make the students write a story or a report about what the person spoke about, then they won’t consider the guest speaker a chance to loaf and sleep in the back of the class. I regularly bring a CEO into my “Business Reporting” class to speak about his relationship with the media, but I also require students to ask him questions about his company and then write a story.
DON’T overuse guest speakers. During a semester, you’ll have anywhere between 30 to 40 class periods, depending on your university’s calendar. Use no more than three or four guest speakers during a class. I consider class time valuable, and too many guest speakers disrupts the flow of teaching. I use guest speakers after a particularly difficult exercise or right before a paper is due. That gives students some time to breathe and take in what the class is trying to accomplish.
DO find guest speakers who have personalities, or who provide an interesting perspective to your students. In the “Business Reporting” course, I like to invite a public relations executive from a local company. She’s often the first PR person that the students have encountered, and she brings product samples from her company and gives them to students. I’ll use her sucking up to my students to launch into a discussion about ethics during the next class.
DON’T let the guest speakers take over your class. If they get off track, don’t hesitate to interrupt and ask questions to get them back on topic. If the students aren’t participating by asking questions, it’s your responsibility to jump in and ask the questions you think will elicit answers that students will want to hear. You want to help the guest speaker succeed.
DO shoot for the moon with guest speakers. You never know who is willing to come to your class. When I taught at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va., which is not the easiest place to get to, I invited a mutual fund manager from John Hancock Financial Services in Boston to come speak to my class. Surprisingly, he accepted the offer. I’ve also gotten journalists from CNBC and The Wall Street Journal in New York to travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., on their own dime, or their employers have picked up the tab.
DON’T worry about re-using guest speakers. If you find some good ones, then use them each semester. None of the students will have heard them the previous semester, right?
DO return the favor. If you ask a colleague to be a guest speaker, offer to lecture in one of their classes. I’ve been a guest speaker in everything from “Research Methods” to “Ethics” to “Medical Reporting.”
And if you get a guest speaker who is horrible, let them know why you won’t be inviting them back. Many have grand illusions of turning guest speaker roles into an adjunct or professor positions.
As we all know, not everyone is cut out for this business.
Chris Roush is the senior associate dean at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and founding director of the Carolina Business News Initiative, which provides training for professional journalists and students.
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