Structure and guidelines for workshops at SSM ASM

Title:
Should be concise and give a good indication of the content of the workshop.

Workshop Leader & other facilitators / convenors:
Priority will be given to multi-departmental & multidisciplinary teams to facilitate joint working.

Background:
Subject – does it fit into the aims and scope of SSM?
Topicality – is the topic of particular relevance now?
Likelihood of provoking discussion – will there be points for particular discussion?
What is the rationale for the workshop?

Aims:
What is expected to be achieved overall by the end of the workshop?

Educational objectives:
What will the participants gain / learn from this? How will it alter their research design / conduct / interpretation / dissemination? It is important that this is more than a presentation of findings, and participants should ideally learn from the experience in some way.

Structure:
Please give details of the structure. Workshops are intended to be interactive, and presentations should be limited only to those required to set the scene (guideline not more than a third of the time). If possible, give details of what will be presented. The discussions should be structured & time should be provided for feedback – information should be given for likely content of discussions. Remember that workshops can advance knowledge simply through in-depth discussion. Small group exercises / discussions are strongly supported to encourage participation of all those attending.
Example schedule: (1) Opening remarks & aims - 10 mins; (2) Short pre-planned presentations on relevant areas - 20 mins; (3) Small group discussions - 30 mins; (4) Reports from groups - 20 mins; (5) Closing remarks - 10 mins.

Target Group:
Who is likely to want to participate in the workshop? Background / prior knowledge / level of expertise.

No. of Participants:
State the minimum no of people needed to run the workshop successfully and the maximum who could feasibly participate.

Requirements:
Room size and layout / visual aids (OHP / PowerPoint / flipchart)

Workshop length:
1 ½ hours?

Suggestions for useful types of workshops:
• Part of a consensus process, e.g. to standardise / agree definitions of exposure / disease.
• Discussion of merits / uses of a new methodological technique / data source etc.
• Discussion on addressing / dealing with a new / topical issue.
• Discussions on what research in a particular area has led to and where it should go from now.

Workshops should not:
• Be used to promote or further research from one department.
• Simply group together a disparate selection of presentations.
• Present a large amount of information not yet in the public domain – most of the ‘scene-setting’ presentations would usually be based on published work.


Note: Some workshops may lead directly or indirectly to publications, but this would be the responsibility of the authors and / or participants. It may be possible to disseminate some of the findings of workshops in the SSM newsletter or on the SSM website. No funding will be available to support attendance at workshops – presenters and participants are expected to register for the conference at their own expense.