Do I need to be an MPL Association member to submit a proposal?
For the Conference, Workshops, and Forums: We give preference to submissions featuring people associated with MPL Association member and partner organizations and we typically don’t accept proposals submitted by or featuring non-member businesses (except as a benefit associated with sponsorship).
For webinars: We give preference to submissions featuring people associated with MPL Association member and partner organizations but it is not a requirement to propose a webinar. However, we do require that at least one presenter be affiliated or work with an MPL Association member organization to propose a webinar.
If you are interested in becoming a member, please review the membership categories and benefits and contact membership@MPLassociation.org to get started.
Phase 1 – Prepare your proposal
- Start with your audience in mind. Consider what you can offer that is likely to be relevant and useful to attendees and structure your proposal to make clear what they will take away from your session.
- Focus your proposal on something specific (e.g., the findings of a particular research project; a valuable skill or competency; or an especially successful initiative).
- Highlight the unique or novel aspects of your proposal while still demonstrating relevance to the MPL community. For example, if you are proposing a session about your institution’s program, be sure to describe any special features that distinguish your program from others and what might be useful for others to implement.
- Go deep! Many of our members are seeking advanced, in-depth content.
- Be provocative. We appreciate proposals that thoughtfully challenge conventional wisdom.
- Describe the evidence you will be using to support your presentation. We especially value presentations that are well supported with evidence and/or empirical research.
- Avoid sales pitches. All sessions must be educational in nature. Proposals that sound like advertisements of a product or service will not be accepted. If you are a supplier of products or services, be sure your proposal focuses on a relevant topic, concept, or idea—not one of your products or services.
- Become an MPL Association member.
- For the conference, workshops and forums: We give preference to submissions featuring people associated with member organizations and we don’t accept proposals submitted by or featuring non-member businesses (except as a benefit associated with sponsorship).
- For webinars: At least one presenter is required to be affiliated with an MPL Association member organization to present a webinar.
- Review the submission fields and prepare your text in advance. Remember not to exceed the character limits.
- Read the review criteria provided. To be accepted, your proposal will need to score well on at least several of them.
Phase 2 – Prepare your session
Stage 1: Design Your Session and Content
Follow these three simple steps to design your session:
- Review your goals for the session and design around them.
- Within the constraints of the type of program you have been invited to present (e.g., conference session, webinar, workshop), decide on a format that would best support these goals: debate, interview, short individual presentation, case study discussion, etc.)
- Choose the activities that would work well with the format and goals you decided.
- Engaging Formats
- Case Study Discussion: The best case studies all have one thing in common: great storytelling. They include a proper narrative and storyline including the problem, the resolution, and the (happy) ending. Involve the audience to extract valid insight, credible expertise, and meaningful advice on a subject.
- Interview-Style with common questions and a discussion based on attendee questions
- Point/Counter-point Sessions or Debates: Multiple presenters (or teams of presenters) engage in a debate and then include the audience in the discussion.
- Panel discussions (which are not a series of individual presentations)
- Bullet-Point Session where each panelist discusses 3-5 bullet points each
- Solution Labs: Someone’s issue is presented to the audience (by interviewing the person, including questions from the audience or by showing a pre-recorded video clip with the person describing the issue, etc.) and the facilitators moderate a series of steps to come up with solutions from the audience; can include brainstorming, breakout rooms, polls, etc.