PLA Webinar Guidelines and Requirements

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What you need to know before proposing or presenting a webinar for PLA…

Webinar Selection

A primary source of PLA webinars is our biannual call for webinar proposals, with deadlines of April 30 and October 31 of each year. Proposals submitted by April 30 are considered for presentation in August or later; and proposals submitted by October 31 are considered for presentation in February or later of the following year.

For webinars selected via this proposal process, PLA typically does not offer speaker honoraria. PLA does typically charge a registration fee for attendees of these webinars.

To complete the proposal form you'll need the following information:

Primary contact's information;
Proposed title for the webinar;
Short description of the webinar (limit 250 words);
Learning outcomes (three outcomes that complete the phrase, “At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will…” using active verbs to describe what attendees will know or be able to do as a result of attending the webinar);
One or two most relevant topics (from a predefined list: Administration & Leadership; Advocacy; Archives & Records Management; Cataloging; Collection Management; Equity, Diversity & Inclusion; Information Literacy & Library Instruction; Intellectual Freedom & Copyright; Marketing & Outreach; Programs & Services; Reference; Technology)
Alignment with PLA Strategic Plan (identify PLA goal areas advanced by this webinar: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice; Transformation; Professional Growth; Advocacy and Awareness; and/or Organizational Excellence)
Type of audience (all public library staff; library directors and administrators; etc.) and knowledge level of audience (no previous knowledge; some knowledge; extensive knowledge);
Name, email address, title/position, library/institution, and brief bio (limit 150 words each) for each instructor;
Headshot of each instructor (no less than 150 square pixels, but larger is recommended; JPG or PNG only);
Instructors' relevant qualifications and experience with the proposed webinar's topic;
Instructors' previous experience with online teaching and/or presenting;
Whether or not the proposed content has been previously proposed or presented as a webinar or in-person (if yes, describe where and how the content was proposed or presented);
Library or organization social media accounts we should tag in promotion of the webinar; and
Up to three images from your library that represent the webinar topic being proposed (optional and may be used to promote the webinar, if selected for presentation; images are not considered during the review/selection process)

PLA may also directly solicit webinars from presenters. If you're solicited to present a webinar for PLA, you’ll need to submit a solicited webinar form with the following information at least five weeks prior to the live event:

Primary contact's information;
Webinar title;
Description (limit 250 words);
Learning outcomes (three outcomes that complete the phrase, “At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will…” using active verbs to describe what attendees will know or be able to do as a result of attending the webinar);
Type of audience (all public library staff; library directors and administrators; etc.) and knowledge level of audience (no previous knowledge; some knowledge; extensive knowledge);
Name, email address, title/position, library/institution, and brief bio (limit 150 words each) for each panelist;
Headshot of each panelist (no less than 150 square pixels, but larger is recommended; JPG or PNG only); and
Library or organization social media accounts we should tag in our promotion of this webinar.

Webinar Logistics

PLA webinars are typically 1 hour long; 40–45 minutes of actual presentation time plus approximately 10 or so minutes for Q&A. Given this time restriction, we recommend no more than three panelists per webinar.
Webinar panelists are typically not compensated, unless PLA has directly solicited their webinar for presentation.
Prior to the live webinar, panelists are encouraged to promote their webinar via their various communication channels (social media, online communities, email lists, etc.).
On the day of the live webinar, all panelists will need to join the webinar 30 minutes prior to the start time.
In addition to the live webinar, all panelists must also participate in a check-in session with PLA staff. During this check-in, typically lasting 30–60 minutes, we’ll review PLA’s webinar procedures, talk through your presentation, and address any questions you might have. We typically like to have this check-in no more than a week or so before the live event.

Technical Information

PLA webinars are presented using the Zoom platform. Please review the technical requirements for webinar panelists.
You should plan to participate in the panelist training session from the same location and using the same equipment you'll use for the live webinar. That way, any technical issues we discover and resolve during the training session will most likely remain fixed for the live webinar.
Once you've joined the webinar, there are two ways to connect your audio: via computer or via telephone.

Your Presentation

It's best if we can use your actual slideshow during the orientation session, even if it’s still in draft at that time.
Use transitions, fly-in text, and animations judiciously.
We encourage you to consider including interactive elements in your presentation to keep the online audience engaged:
- One of the simplest ways to engage attendees is to ask them to “raise your hand” in response to a question or statement. Previous PLA webinar presenters have had great success with this method of interaction.
- We can also do formal yes/no or multiple-choice type polls. If you plan to include any attendee polls in your presentation, then please let us know as soon as possible so we can discuss with you how best to integrate them into your presentation. For example, we recommend you allow attendees at least 45–60 seconds to complete each poll during your presentation.
- Whenever possible, we encourage you to ask attendees to share their experiences/ideas or ask questions in the Chat window. If the size of the audience and number of responses allows, you can then verbally acknowledge or summarize the responses for the audience. It’s easy for attendees because most are already familiar with using a chat window.
If you wish to use video with audio embedded in slides or shared via another application, then let us know as soon as possible. Zoom may require installation of a desktop application to share audio.