What is the session schedule and description?

Workshops
Workshops are the sessions that comprise the core of the conference, presented Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Thursday morning. Twelve workshops run concurrently. They may have 20 - 150 people in attendance. The format will be varied in response to the presenters, topics, and participants. Workshops are 100 minutes in length.

Presenters are requested to allow 5 minutes at the beginning and 5 minutes at the end of each session for introductions and evaluations, and 30 minutes during the session for participant discussion. Actual presentation time should not exceed 60 minutes.

All workshops have a facilitator, whose role is to introduce presenters and enforce the timeline, and announce CEU procedures. Workshops also have a session assistant, who acts as a time keeper, circulates sign-in sheets, handouts and evaluations, and collects CEU documentation from the facilitators.

Short Courses
These are optional half day or whole day sessions that take place on Monday and Thursday afternoon. Five to twenty short courses are offered at one time. They provide the opportunity for small groups, in-depth exploration of a topic, and in-field, hands-on experience.

1. Short courses
   • AM short courses run from 8:00 - noon with breaks at 9:15 and 10:45.
   • Monday PM short courses run 1:00 - 5:00 with breaks at 2:15 and 3:45.
   • Thursday afternoon short courses run from 1:30 to 5:00 PM, with one break at 3 PM
   • Full day short courses run from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Full day classroom short courses have a one-hour break for lunch.
     
2. There will be an assistant assigned to each short course who will serve as an AV support and logistics person, and attendance monitor
   
3. Most short courses will have between five and twenty participants. We consider this to be an ideal learning environment.
   • The session can be informal, involve all of the participants, and have time for discussion;
   • The sessions are long enough to spend 10 - 20 minutes at the beginning to have introductions (of participants as well as presenters) and identify each presenter’s specific objectives;
   • It is possible to tailor the session to the participants’ particular needs.
     
4. In-field sessions are limited in attendance. We recommend a maximum of six participants per presenter. Session evaluations have indicated that the quality of training is compromised when there are more participants per presenter. Our priority is quality training. Contact the Manager, Program Design and Development, if you find this limit is not appropriate for your in-field session.

   Contact the ACI office for a list of participants enrolled in your short course. This information will be available two weeks before the start of the conference.

   All short courses have a session assistant, who acts as an attendance monitor, time keeper, circulates sign-in sheets, handouts and evaluations, and oversees CEU documentation procedures.