MECA Facilitator Orientation Information

 

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Thank you for agreeing to facilitate the MECA Conference. We appreciate your valuable time and effort.

 

PROCEDURES FOR OBTAINING SESSION FOLDERS / FACILITATOR PACKETS

 

1.   As soon as you arrive at the Jackson Convention Complex (JCC), come to the main CEU table located on the 1st floor within the registration booth. You will need to do this EVERYDAY if you are facilitating a session each day.

 

2.   You will receive all the folders for the sessions you are responsible for facilitating for that day at this time. This is to ensure each session has a facilitator.

 

3.   If you do not arrive at the JCC first thing in the morning, please come by the main CEU table no later than 30 minutes prior to your first facilitating session.

 

4.   There will be a list of sessions and times for each facilitator when you pick up the session folders. It will have the session name, time, and location of each session you will be facilitating for the day.  It will also have the location of where you need to pick up and drop off the scanner. (We have CEU stations on the first and second floors.)

 

5.   If you have further questions, please email Chris Hill at chill@ms-meca.org.

 

 

EACH STEP IS VITALLY IMPORTANT TO THE ENTIRE PROCESS!

 

1.    Approximately 10 to 15 minutes before the session begins that you are facilitating please come by the CEU table either at the main CEU table on the first floor or the CEU table located on the second floor, whichever is closer to the session you are facilitating, and pick up a scanner.

Depending upon how quickly scanners are returned and number of scanners available will affect the above time.

 

2.   Scan the barcode on the folder of the session you are currently facilitating.

Please make sure you scan the correct folder.
Each session will have a separate folder. The folder will have a bar code on it that needs to be scanned BEFORE any participant badges are scanned. This folder scan separates one session’s participants from the next.



Process example:
Here is an example of the UPC code that you will need to be scanning on both the participant badges and the session folders.

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You will get a feel for the distance that needs to exist between the scanner and what you are scanning. The picture below is an example of a good distance.

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Below is an example of what you should NOT do. If the scanner is to close to the paper, it will not "read." Likewise, if you get a red line like the one to the right when you click on the scanner, you are too close to the paper still.

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If you back up from the UPC code on the folder or badge, you should get a line that completely crosses the UPC code (see below.) After just a second or two when the scanner has the UPC code covered, the scanner will "beep" letting you know that it has "read" and stored the information.

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3.   Scan the badges of those entering. PARTICIPANTS MUST HAVE A NAME BADGE TO ENTER A SESSION!

Please try and be at the door to the session at least 10 minutes before the session starts.  If there are already people in the session when you arrive at the door make sure to scan the people already inside.  We do this not only for CEU credit but to give us an idea of the number of people attending each session.
Each person that attends a session should have his or her badge scanned. If they don’t get their badge scanned, there is a 99% chance that they will not receive CEU credit for attending.

 

4.    Ten minutes after the session starts, stop scanning badges. These participants are late and will not receive CEU credit.  Please write the total number of participants that are in the room on the folder at this time.

Place the scanner inside the folder so we will not get sessions mixed up.

 

5.    At the end of the session, collect tickets from the participants as they exit who want CEU credit and put the tickets in the session’s folder.
This is very important. As a backup to the scanning, attendees should give you a ticket as they LEAVE the session as proof that they attended the session and they stayed until the end.

 

6.    After taking up the tickets bring the folder with the scanner inside as quickly as you can to either the main CEU table on the first floor or the CEU table located on the second floor, whichever is closer to the session you just facilitated.

Please try and get there as fast as you can so we can hand out the scanners for use in the next sessions.

 

SPECIAL NOTE: HANDS-ON SESSIONS ONLY


If you are working a hands-on session, there will only be 25 (24 participants + 1 in case one computer doesn’t work) seats available per session. Therefore, we have to control how many people are in the room.

Hands-on session participants who pre-registered for the session will receive a ticket specifically labeled for that session in their registration information. You should only accept tickets that show the name of the session on the ticket.

The session should start on time. Five minutes after the start of the session and if there are empty seats, they are now open to anyone waiting. Fill the session and close it quickly.  Do not let anyone else enter the session. If you let them in too late, it will be MASSIVLY disruptive to the presenter after they get people working and on task.