How to host a speaker

Usually your job will be the following:

Finding out which graduate students want to come to lunch

Booking the lunch and getting everyone successfully to and from the lunch. You can get reimbursed by getting a credit card from Margaret.

For some speakers this will also include organizing something in the evening – this can just be one of you having dinner with the candidate. You will get reimbursed by giving receipts to Ione and then nagging her so she remembers …

Task list for student hosts

1. Find out (from the main faculty host):

a) dates of the visit

b) the hotel

c) time of the talk

d) List of people to contact about the student lunch (it may include students in neuroscience or speech and hearing)

e) Double check the date/time of the student lunch

f) Email address of the visitor

2. Do the following before the day:

a) For a student visitor, send an email saying you are their host and asking if they have any questions, and whether they have any food preferences. For faculty just ask about food preferences. Maybe give 3 choices …

b) some sort of doodle poll to find out who is coming to lunch

c) book a lunch place (if it’s going to be a LOT of people you can ask psych staff to order sandwiches and a room)

d) organize a where and when for students to meet and go to the lunch

e) If the visitor is not walking distance to campus talk to the faculty host about transport

f) Remind everyone about the lunch the day before g) Go over the schedule with the faculty host and see if there’s anything you or the faculty host has forgotten

3. On the day:

a) Get everyone to lunch (if a lot of people want to talk to the speaker after the talk and the schedule is tight then this may involve a little muscle to extract them)

b) pay for lunch

c) get the speaker to their next appointment

d) get reimbursed

Things that are not your concern:

1. travel and lodging

2. doing their schedule (individual meetings etc.)

3. getting them to and from appointments

4. dinner for faculty

5. Hosting a faculty member or visiting postdoc

Checklist for faculty host

a) Fill in Dana’s worksheet to get permission

b) dates of the visit

c) the hotel

d) time and place of the talk

e) Ask speaker if there’s anyone in particular they would like to meet

f) Give student helper a list of people to contact about the student lunch (it may include students in neuroscience or speech and hearing)

g) Contact people about dinner

h) Set up doodle poll about meetings

i) Generate meeting schedule

j) Send to schedule to speaker.

k) Book dinner

l) Write Introduction to speaker