Reflecting on Guest Speaker Experiences to Inform Future Practice

Keywords: Guest speaker, reflection, roundtable, classroom

Abstract: Management and Organizational Behavior faculty have frequently leverage guest speakers for their knowledge, expertise, and stories which help our curriculum come to life. Still, inviting guest speakers into the classroom requires agility from instructors since we are relinquishing control of the instruction provided. This loss of control can lead to unexpected challenges, such as the guest speaker becoming visibly nervous, losing awareness of their audience, or being downright disrespectful to students causing their learning to suffer. In this roundtable, we will reflect on our experiences as guest speakers to help improve attendees' readiness for preparing future speakers in their courses.