Arrangements for school and college conferences
This page contains information about how to lay out the venue for our school and college conferences, and what staffing is required.
All our conferences require a single venue large enough to hold all the students. It is most helpful if the venue can be effectively "blacked out" (i.e. has curtains or blinds for all windows) so that students can see the screen easily.
In all cases we require adequate staff supervision during the entire conference - this should be a minimum of 3 members of staff at all times and should be more at larger conferences (over 100 students).
The President for a Day Experience
The venue should have a screen at the front (to project onto).
We recommend different layouts for the President for a Day Experience depending on the age group of the students.
For sixth form conference: Chairs set out in a semi-circle facing the front, with aisles and enough space for students to move around and turn into small groups
For Key Stage 4 conference (2½ hours): Chairs set out in groups around tables (cafe-style), with a teacher or 6th former facilitating each group.
Ethics in an Age of Science
This conference consists of:
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A presenter-led plenary section (including games and exercises), followed by:
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A group work section (requiring plenty of help from presenters and staff)
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IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for students to get the most out of this conference, they will need support from teachers during the group work section (unless the student group is very small, e.g. less than 75 students). It is vital that these teachers have been to the first part of the conference as well - otherwise they will not know how to help the students doing the group work! |
The venue should have a screen at the front (to project onto) and a flipchart with pens.
The most ideal venue layout, shown in the picture below, consists of:
- Chairs set out in rows (with one or two aisles), facing the front
- Tables around the edge of the venue with chairs around them; each table should have a large sheet of paper (flipchart-sized) on
During the presenter-led section, students sit in the rows; for the group work section they move to the tables around the edge of the venue.
If this layout is not possible because of space or number of chairs, please arrange for:
- A short break 1.5 to 2 hours into the conference
- Chairs set out in rows (with one or two aisles)
- A handful of students (around 10) who will be available to move things around at break-time
During break, these students will clear away the chairs in rows and replace them with tables scattered around the room (with chairs around each). Again, each table should have a flipchart-sized piece of paper on it.
That's A Good Argument
The requirements are the same as for Ethics in an Age of Science (see above).