Getting Started

Prompts!

• Read the CFP! What stands out as most interesting to you or connected to aspects of your work?

• What trends or major issues pertaining to writing centres have you noticed this year? Can you use this opportunity to explore them?

• What questions or gaps in practice or theory have you noticed this year? Can you take this opportunity to explore one of them?

• What initiatives have you been involved in this past year? How might you report on them? What have you learned from them?

• What barriers or obstacles have you encountered this past year? Can you use this opportunity to explore them with colleagues outside of your local context?

• What scholarship have you read lately? How can you mobilize it among your peers at the conference?

• What do others find interesting or noteworthy (chat with a colleague at another institution!)

How to make it stand out & relevant?

• What is your position? How can YOU offer a unique perspective on the issue?

• What critical lens helps you delve deeper into the issues at hand?

• What values inform your practice and work? How can you tie your session to them?

• How can you move from the "me" (your local context) to the "we" (the broader community of practice) in ways that make your session relevant to others/the scholarly field?

Ask a colleague or friend for support (and offer it in return?!). Keep in mind that talking about writing is one of the most productive ways to gain momentum on a writing task!

Constructive feedback...

- is generous and supportive

- asks critical questions that provoke clarifications, refinement of focus/topic, connections, etc.

- offers connections to conference theme where you see those possibilities

- offers ideas about critical frameworks that might be valuable ways of thinking about the topic/issue

- offers connections to relevant published scholarship

- offers advice about scope in light of session length & other barriers