Course Director Handbook
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Thank you for agreeing to serve as a Course Director in the ACNS teaching courses. Course Directors have consistently made a difference and have continued to raise the bar for outstanding teaching courses every year. This manual intends to provide a few reminders to ACNS Course Directors to help us to continue to offer the highest quality CME-approved courses to our members and participants. Please review the following responsibilities of Course Co-Directors:
PROGRAM PLANNING
Gap Analysis and Needs Assessment
Course Directors are responsible for reviewing the Gap Analysis and Needs Assessment, provided by the ACNS Continuing Medical Education Committee, as a guide when developing the content of their courses. Courses should directly address the knowledge gaps identified by the CME Committee and remain consistent with the overall Educational Mission of the Society.
Please refer to the complete 2020-2021 Educational Mission and Gap Analysis and Needs Assessment.
Course Agenda
Course directors are asked to outline an agenda for their courses, including the time allotted for each presentation, discussion, breaks, etc. Previous year’s course agendas are available below as examples.
- Please plan appropriate breaks if your course extends beyond three (3) hours, including a lunch break if you are directing a full-day course.
- Please allow time for introduction of speakers and transition from one speaker to the next.
- Most importantly, please ensure adequate time for questions and discussion. The course director is responsible for limiting speaker discussion if the program is running over the allotted time (see onsite responsibilities below).
Speaker & Topic Selection
Course directors are also tasked with selection of speakers who will be committed to their respective courses and selection of topics relevant to the course program as a whole.
Course directors are encouraged to select ACNS Council and local members as speakers whenever possible or encourage non-members to become members. Please refer to your official invitation for recommended local speakers for your course, if necessary.
Please limit the number of speakers to no more than one (1) speaker per 30 minutes.
Timelines
Course Directors are responsible for ensuring that they and their speakers adhere to the timeline below and that they and their speakers comply with all ACNS and ACCME guidelines, including but not limited to submission of Conflict of Interest (COI) Disclosure statements and presentation slides. Speakers who do not comply with these guidelines or follow the prescribed timeline may be removed from the agenda at the discretion of the Course and CME Committees, at which time the Course Director will be responsible for naming a replacement.
Slide Review
Course Directors will serve as slide editors for their courses and are asked to review the slides of all speakers prior to the course. A thorough review will prevent topic overlap and allow for time to remove potential redundancy, as well as prevent speakers from preparing to present too much content for their allotted presentation time.
ONSITE – LOGISTICS
Course Moderation
- Course Directors will serve as moderators for their course and should arrive 15-30 minutes prior to the start of their course to perform the final test of the AV equipment, including computers, projectors, laser pointers and sound systems. Computer, projection and sound equipment are set up by the hotel AV team and tested by ACNS staff prior to the Courses.
- Course Directors should remain at their courses for the entire session to continue to moderate audience participation and to keep the discussions lively. In addition, Course Directors need to be available to manage any potential problems that may arise.
- Course Directors should ensure that their programs begin on time and that their respective speakers and sessions remain on schedule. Subsequent sessions may be scheduled in the same room with only a short break between sessions. Please make sure that you clear the room on time to allow subsequent Course Directors and speakers adequate time to set up the next course.
- Please encourage speakers to bring the most recent version of their talk to be uploading to the session room computer at least 15 minutes prior to the start of their “block” of presentations (i.e. prior to the start of the course, during coffee breaks, lunch, etc.) of their time break for the scheduled session.
- Speakers may bring their own laptops as back-up in the case of an emergency. However, it is recommended that Course directors load all speakers’ talks onto one computer to avoid delays between lectures.
Audience Participation
- Course Directors are encouraged to introduce speakers, repeat audience questions into the microphone for all to hear, and to moderate discussion.
- Course Directors should request that members of the audience introduce themselves briefly before speaking during Q&A sessions.