Helping Give Away Psychological Science/Standard Operating Procedures/Speaker Series and Continuing Education

HGAPS hosts a speaker series every semester, featuring noted experts in the field of clinical psychology and other related fields. These talks are typically for education and intellectual enrichment, and are offered to UNC-Chapel Hill students as well as the general public. Some of these presentations will be targeted for career professionals, offering continuing education (CE) credits for licensure maintenance. Completed series are then added to HGAPS’s online presence through Wikiversity and YouTube. This SOP will describe the procedure for planning and executing a speaker series, as well as contain notes for securing and distributing CE credit for certain talks.

Speaker Planning

The UNC-Chapel Hill chapter of HGAPS has secured funding for the speaker series through UNC’s Student Government Association (SGA). Planning begins over the summer by identifying a number of potential speakers, budgeting for the talks, and adding the series into the larger HGAPS funding application. Other HGAPS chapters hosting speakers will likely use a similar process and timeline.

Pre-Semester Planning

Initial planning

• identify potential speakers, semester speaker series topics/themes, and other priorities for the series
• Get approval on speakers from Dr. E. Youngstrom (or local chapter advisor) and the HGAPS Board

Funding

• You must fill out the grant proposal to be submitted to the student senate and create a funding presentation to be presented to the student senate
• SOP for SGA funding

Contact Speaker(s)

• Should be done 2-3 months prior, ideally in the prior term or during the summer
• Confirm:
  • Date & Time
  • Length
  • In-person v. Zoom or other videoconferencing platform
  • General topic of presentation
  • Whether presentation will be for continuing education credit
• If the funding request is still under review by SGA, discuss with the Executive Director and/or Faculty Advisor about how to address potential honorarium available. May have to ask for tentative commitments, or commitments independent of whether an honorarium can be given.
• Ask if speaker needs assistance with travel arrangements (i.e., hotel, flights, ground transportation)

HGAPS Google Drive and Organization

Create new drive folder for each speaker using the speaker kit, which contains blank revisions of the forms below:

• IRS W9 Form - government tax information form, asking for social security number and other financial information for HGAPS tax filing. Must receive from every speaker receiving any form of payment from HGAPS.
• HGAPS Speaker Series Cx Form - contract for services with HGAPS as an independent contractor. Lists expectations, pay, and basic information about the presentation to be given. Will also contain a Speaker Release Form.
• HGAPS Speaker Release Form - media waiver, allowing HGAPS to use recordings of presentations without needing permission or approval from the speaker going forward.
• HGAPS Non-CE Speaker Planning Sheet (Non-CE) - place to collect information about the speaker, for internal use. Don’t necessarily need to fill in each item.
• NCPA Co-Sponsorship Application - application form to secure CE credit for speaker event, used by NCPA (see below). Speaker Kit also contains HGAPS IRS approval letter as an attachment for this application form.

Collect following information from the speaker:

• Speaker bio
• Speaker photo/image
• Speaker CV
• Presentation title and description
• 3-4 Learning Objectives for the presentation
• Preferred zoom if hybrid or online: this could be their personal zoom, the Treasurer or President's zoom, or Dr. Youngstrom's zoom.

Speaker Financial Information

• Send speaker an Independent Contractor Services Form (pre-filled), Speaker Release form, and IRS W9 form
  • Note: W9 should not be sent back over email - these contain social security numbers, which are sensitive information. Encourage secure file transfer, secure submission software (i.e. Quickbook, or a different secure file transfer link), or traditional mail where appropriate.

Social Media and Advertisement

• The Social Media Team should should begin broadcasting as soon as details are finalized (date/time, lineup, location/remote session link)
• For continuing education:
  • Advertisements should not begin until NCPA co-sponsorship is confirmed
  • Advertisements should mention NCPA and availability of CE credit and cost (or that CE is free)
  • Social media posts for CE talks should include the objectives and purpose of the talk

Pre-Presentation Planning

Identify someone to introduce the speaker at the beginning of the talk

• Ensure SGA is mentioned during talk, and that the UNC-NC logo appears somewhere in the presentation

Social Media and Advertisement

• Approximately 2 weeks in advance all of the following advertising material should be created and ready to send out or publish:
  • Canva poster, following either previous formats or using an original format. It should include: date and time of the event, location (zoom, hybrid, or in-person), speaker's picture with a sentence or two about the speaker (their position or anything to establish credibility), and the talk title with a sentence about the talk. Add in that this is for CLE credit if CLE credit has been confirmed--if it hasn't, we often obtain it anyway, so it's a safe bet to include.
  • HeelLife should include the following and can be created by Social Media, the President, Treasurer or Secretary:
    • Title of the event: previously done in the format of "HGAPS Speaker Series: Talk with Dr. Mandy Jensen-Doss!" but other formats are ok.
    • Brief info, here's a template from past events but feel free to use another method:
      • Title: Title of the presentation
      • With who? Brief description of the Speaker to establish credibility. Don't use whole bio, just use their most recent position or what they are known for. Best to say "Professor at University specializing in this type of research".
      • Who is this for? Highlight that it's open for everyone. If it's a specific topic, like measurement-based care, note usefulness for graduate students. Perhaps add how it's not specific to Psychology or Neuroscience majors.
      • What is it about? Copy paste talk description from the professional. This can be substituted with learning outcomes.
      • Benefits: Coincides with who it is for, but here you can list that it's a great networking opportunity for any undergraduates as well.
      • Additional Information (separate from above with underscores):
        • A little more about Professional: Add what remains of their speaker bio excluding the previous description.
    • Theme: typically we choose "Learning"
    • Categories: can include Lecture, Career Exploration & Professional Development, or others such as Health and Well Being. Use best judgement.
    • Perks: select Free Food if it's in person or hybrid!
    • Organization RSVPing: Allow respondents to represent an organization but don't make it required. This hasn't been used much in the past, but there's no harm since it can increase networking.
    • Event evaluation questions: These are optional, but speakers typically enjoy hearing feedback on the presentation. Questions include:
    • Photo preview: Use the Canva poster and duplicate it. Then, get rid of their bio info and just leave event information, it should come out to about half a page and fit the HeelLife photo requirements.
    • Campus Life Experience (CLE) credit:
      • Description: UNC's graduation requirements as of Fall 2023 require incoming and transfer students to attend at least two Campus Life Experiences per each semester they are enrolled. These include a variety of cultural and intellectual events and must be sponsored by a student organization or department with attendance tracked on HeelLife.

Travel Arrangements with Speakers

• A week or two prior, confirm travel plans with speaker (flights, hotels), doublecheck if they need pickup from the airport or hotel, or if parking needs to be arranged on/near campus

Equipment Needs

• A few days before speaker arrives, confirm equipment needs:
  • Video camera/broadcasting equipment (i.e., for live-casting an in-person event on zoom for hybrid events)
  • Lapel mike
  • Laptop
  • Presentation clicker/pointer
  • Any adapters

Food and Room Reservations

• Food ordering placeholder
• Room Reservation placeholder

Day-Of Planning

Arrive early for setup. Double check food orders and room reservations, and ensure all materials are printed/reviewed and available prior to meeting.

Technology Test

Do a technology test run to troubleshoot issues in advance

• The speaker should be there (if possible)
• Test sound and connectivity
• Ensure all equipment is working properly and there are no additional adapters or accommodations needed.
• If the talk is over zoom, schedule a test with the speaker in the location they will be in during the event.

Recording

• The best results would be to have the host of the zoom meeting recorded in the cloud.  Before doing this, make sure the following settings are enabled.
  • Under the settings page in the browser (not the app) Got to “Recording” Tab
  • Under Cloud Recording, make sure that following settings are checked:
    • [x] Record active speaker with shared screen
    • [x] Record active speaker gallery view and shared screen separately
      • [x] Active speaker
      • [x] Gallery View
      • [x] Shared Screen
    • [x] Save chat messages from the meeting/ webinar
  • Under Advanced cloud recording settings:
    • [  ] Add a timestamp to the recording (unchecked)
    • [x] Audio transcript
  • [test first] Allow cloud recording sharing
• Upload video file MP4 to the appropriate speaker folder in the Google Drive

After Presentation

Financial Documents

• Double check that all financial documents have been collected and follow-up as needed
• Ensure payment to each speaker in the amount listed on the Independent Contractor Services Agreement, through Zelle and the email address the speaker provides

Presentation Recordings

• Upload videos to YouTube folder on the Drive for editing and uploading
• Post MP4 files to HGAPS YouTube page
  • Send private links to board, Eric for review
  • After a week or all parties have reviewed, switch link to public and send courtesy link to all speakers who appear in the video

Continuing Education Credit Additional Planning

Like with standard speaker presentations, Continuing Education (CE) credit events should be planned well in advance with funding from the relevant Student Government Association or body from the host school. However, these events require a professional co-sponsoring organization accredited to provide CE certificates for event attendance. UNC-Chapel Hill has historically used the North Carolina Psychological Association (NCPA), but other organizations may serve as well. These organizations will have their own rules about event attendance, and may require information from HGAPS, the event speaker, and event attendees. CE Speakers are more expensive than regular speakers since co-sponsoring organizations will typically charge a fee per certificate issued.

Pre-Semester Planning

NCPA Co-Sponsorship Application Form

• Refer to the NCPA CE Manual for guidance on filling out application
• Will require:
  • Speaker bio
  • Speaker contact info
  • Lecture title and abstract
  • 3-4 references
  • 3-4 Learning Objectives (LOs): 3-4 LOs for a 1-3 hour program; 5-6 LOs for a 4-7 hour program
• Should be submitted 1 month or greater prior to date of presentation where possible
• Submit finalized form to Eric Youngstorm to sign, send signed form to Karen Gray (Director of Membership and Continuing Education): karen@ncpsychology.org at NCPA, cc’ing Eric Youngstrom

Additional Materials

NCPA requires verifications of attendance and engagement in order to award CE credit. To assist with processing attendance, the following forms should be prepared prior to the presentation, and linked in the presentation form itself (either as a slide in the speaker's PowerPoint or as an endplate slide):

• Sign-in, Sign-out Sheets
• Qualtrics survey to collect feedback about fulfillment of learning objectives and other comments

NCPA requires attendees to have signed in, signed out, and completed the survey to receive for CE credit, though exceptions are made if attendees have completed two of the three.

Week Prior to Presentation

• Get copy of speaker slides from speaker, if available
• Have bookend slides for PowerPoint presentations with QR code for Sign-In Sheet, sign-out sheet, and Qualtrics survey (at least by 24 hours prior)

Day-Of Extra Steps

• Whoever introduces speaker should verbally explain this at beginning and end of presentation
• Have an extra person who can be co-host in case the host loses signal to ensure the recording continues
• Have someone available on zoom to moderate questions

After Presentation

• Send reminder emails to attendees to complete Qualtrics survey a few days after the presentation. All surveys should be complete by one week after the presentation date.
• Get a final count on the amount of attendees requesting CE credit and send it to Dr. Youngstrom to process payment to NCPA for certificates
• Merge sign-in, sign-out, and Qualtrics survey form into one document and send to Karen Gray, cc’ing Dr. Eric Youngstrom. Allow 2 weeks for NCPA to complete surveys

CE Certificates

• NCPA will send personalized certificates to Dr. Youngstrom and the designated point of contact
• Certificates should be sent to attendees individually using an HGAPS email account

Sample email:

Dear Colleague,

Attached please find your CE certificate for attending [SPEAKER NAME]’s seminar and completing the attendance and follow-up survey. Thank you for your patience as we worked with NCPA to provide the CE certificates. We also appreciate the help from Karen Gray at NCPA in facilitating the logistics.

We are already beginning plans for next semester’s speaker series, and we look forward to implementing some of your suggestions for topics then.

Thanks for all you do for your clients and families, and thanks for your continued interest in HGAPS!

Best regards,

Eric Youngstrom & the HGAPS Team