Characteristics of an Excellent ULA Program

Characteristics of an Excellent ULA Program

ULA members are from a variety of backgrounds and institutions. Programs need to be organized to meet a wide variety of needs, purposes and interests. The following list of characteristics of excellent and disappointing programs was developed by members of the ULA Program Board to assist program planners in providing members with high quality ULA programs.

An Excellent Program can be described as meeting the following criteria:

• the program and the speakers are briefly introduced by a moderator
• the program moderator manages the time allowed for the program and the speaker’s use of time
• the program starts and ends on time
• the actual program is interactive, involving participants
• the topic and the speaker are mentally stimulating
• topics cover new and/or emerging ideas or trends and are of practical use to participants; the program may include allowed time for participants to develop action plans using the presented information
• topics are presented in different ways to meet the needs of different learning styles
• speakers are interesting and/or entertaining to listeners
• speakers use humor appropriately
• speakers have a good voice and can be heard and understood
• speakers pace their delivery and content to meet participants needs and the allowed time frame
• speakers prepare hand outs (in sufficient quantity) for detailed content information
• participants are asked to evaluate the program speakers and content

An Excellent Program also has the following characteristics:

• program advertizing accurately reflects the planned content
• technology is pre-tested, working and is used appropriately for the content
• room lay out and size is appropriate for the planned program
• room conditions (e.g., temperature, noise, etc) is not a distraction to the program
• location of the program is convenient for participants
• program signage is obvious and participants can easily find the planned location
• adequate parking is available for participants

A disappointing program often has the following characteristics:

• too much or too little time is allotted for the speaker’s information
• speaker’s presentation is boring, either in content, delivery style or both
• speaker’s presentation is uninformed or irrelevant to participants
• speaker is unprepared
• speaker fails to engage the audience
• too many speakers are planned for the topic
• different speakers do not coordinate their remarks ahead of the program
• speaker panel appears to be a group of “talking heads”
• speaker or panel is focusing on “how I done my library good”
• moderator does not control the speaker’s use of time
• moderator does not introduce speaker or conclude the program

Other factors can also negatively impact a program. These include the following:

• technology that doesn’t work
• microphone or equipment problems
• wrong size room or wrong room layout for the topic
• external factors such as noise make it difficult to hear the program
• room temperature that is too hot or too cold
• poor signage or difficulty locating the room for the program
• lack of accessible facilities
• double booked facility
• lack of time between programs
• error in the publicity for the program

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