Page 136 - ShowSight - December 2019

Breed Education Third in a Series BY CELESTE M. GONZALEZ
IT STARTS WITH BYOU
reed educa- tion does start with you: you the seminar
presenter, you the learn- er and you the seminar coordinator. Breed edu- cation serves prospective adjudicators, be they judges or breeders. What you put into the learning or teaching experience, is what you and others get out of it. In the case of the seminar coordina- tor, what you put into it affects the learner(s) and the teacher(s).
In the last issue, we looked at what it took to prepare for a breed(s) seminar(s) from the perspectives of the presenter (teacher) and learner. In this article, 2nd in the series, we will cover some of the planning and preparation by the seminar(s) coordinator.
As I mentioned in the previous article, my path to becoming a better trainer and coordinator of learning experiences, included a course which used the Smith & Delahaye textbook, How to Be an Effective Trainer. While it leans heavily on the aspects of adult learning, those features reveal gems for prospective and current seminar coordinators regarding management of the learning expe- rience. Covered are topics such as marketing of training, training room layout and set-up, audio-visual equipment and its effective use, timing, program evaluation, etc.
Previous comments received by ShowSight on the topic of breed education indicate a strong preference for a hands-on component to the learning experience. Some indicated a desire that example dogs be of varying degrees of quality, while others indicated a wish that example dogs be of consistently high quality. That surely indicates that we learn differently! All commenters indicated a learning expe- rience that was enhanced by the abilities of superior presenters that spoke to the breed’s standard as written and where interpretation was needed, presented a historical consensus interpretation of the points in question.
PLANNING: SINGLE BREED OR MULTI-BREED
Are you, or do you want to be a coordinator for multiple breed seminars during a consecutive span of days, or a single breed semi- nar coordinator for one seminar a year, or single breed seminars cadenced throughout the year? Whichever your undertaking, your planning, preparation, and execution are very similar, albeit on different scales.
It all starts with the decision as to what breed(s) learning expe- rience will be presented. If it involves a breed specialty club or a breed’s national parent club, the decision is obvious: that breed will the subject of a seminar, and possibly a hands-on workshop. If it’s multiple breeds, the questions soon add up and must be answered: what breeds, when, seminar alone or seminar plus hands-on work- shop? For the sake of consistency, let’s assume that all the breed seminars being planned will include a hands-on workshop compo- nent. The planning is almost the same for a single breed seminar as multiple breeds seminars given over a compact time period, e.g. consecutive days, week.
PLANNING: DATES
If coordination is of multiple breed seminars over the course of days/week, the first step is to find out what breed and group semi- nars were offered in the past 12 months and which are scheduled to be offered in the following 12 months from the target date(s) that your group has focused on. Doing that will help eliminate duplications of recently offered or scheduled multi-breed semi- nars. This is fairly easily discovered by going to the AKC web site and checking within the Judges Resource Center under Upcom- ing Seminars https://www.apps.akc.org/apps/clubs/seminars/seminars. cfm?page=3. The AKC Judges Education Department is very good about advance planning their/DJAA December breed seminars well in advance and will inform you of the upcoming groups to be offered. Checking with the other judges education groups listed in the Judging Resource Center may also help you learn of the other seminar offerings if not already published on the AKC web site. With this collective information, your education group should dis- cuss and agree on the breeds to be offered at your group’s seminars.
There are a few things to keep in mind when offering breed sem- inars. One is the date(s) corresponding with a major specialty event or cluster of dog shows that attract a significant number of entries. This is as important as the physical location where the seminars be offered in relation to the ongoing specialty event or cluster. Many seminars draw their hands-on examples directly from the higher quality entries being exhibited at the specialty or cluster of all-breed shows. This makes it almost imperative to have a national specialty seminar or multi-breed seminars in conjunction with a well-entered event. For those education groups that offer one seminar per month for example, the adjacency of a well-attended specialty or cluster is of nominal consideration; however, the ability to draw outstanding breed specimens for the hands-on is still a consideration.
PLANNING: FACILITY
Now that target dates and specialty or cluster event have been chosen, the next task is to see if the physical facility has the attributes that are conducive to a good learning experience. Does the intended facility have an adequately sized room that will comfortably seat 40–50 attendees with sufficient room for a speaker with podium or table at the front of the room and the coordinator’s administrative aspects at the back or side of the room? Will the room accommodate tables and chairs set up in a fishbone or parallel rows facing the front so that all attendees are facing front? Using one’s lap as a desk for more than an hour or so is not beneficial to a good learning experi- ence, worse if multiple handouts must be referenced. Is the room so large that the hand-on portion can be comfortably and safely held in another portion of the room? Does the room have a built-in audio-visual system (ceiling mounted projector, automatic drop- down screen, built-in sound system, AV connections that make all those systems work together with your group’s laptop)? If not, does the facility or your group have a portable projector (and extra bulbs) and stand, remote slide advancer, projection screen, sound speakers with adequate volume for the entire class, hardware cabling and electrical extension cords, that will work with your laptop? If your group must rent those, what is the cost per day? Does that include the cost of an AV technician? Does the meeting room have lights that can be dimmed? Learners will want to see what they are refer- encing in paper handouts and write on them, while at the same time being able to see the images on the projection screen. Where are the restrooms in relation to the meeting room? Is the meeting room free from cross-through traffic and distracting outside light or noises? >
134 • ShowSight Magazine, DeceMber 2019