World: Online course on Chairing International Conferences

Background

The value of this course is not only to provide information, skills and guidance to delegates who may be appointed or elected to chair meetings, it is also important for all delegates to understand what the chairman is doing, and why he or she is doing it. Indeed, unless delegates want the conference to fail, they should support the chairman’s efforts. In short, successful conferences require strong and able chairmen to be effective, and need supportive and cooperative delegates. This in turn means that all delegates who wish to influence outcomes of the conference need to understand what the chairman is trying to do. If they want the conference to reach certain decisions, they need to work with and through the chairman.

Learning Objectives

At the end of the course, participants should be able to:

• Communicate an appreciation for the role of presiding officers;
• Use acquired skills and knowledge to efficiently chair meetings;
• Determine what preparations are appropriate as a meeting chair;
• Identify common chairmen's mistakes and give best practice strategies;
• Support and cooperate with the chairman.

Content and Structure

The course content will include:

1. Introduction
2. Formal and procedural role of the Chair

3. Speaking from the Chair

4. General principles

5. Examples

6. Role-play exercises

7. Substantive role of the Chair

8. Preparing to Chair

9. Challenges for the Chair

10. Follow up

Methodology

e-Learning: The course is internet-based, moderated by senior international experts, asynchronous, and places emphasis on online discussions and self-paced learning. The participants will be primarily responsible for their own learning over the two-week span of the course. The course will consist of the following components:

• Compulsory and optional reading material, intended to teach the basic concepts and principles of the lesson's subject-matter.
• External links to additional books, articles, documents, and websites related to the lessons.
• A glossary of terms provided as a learning tool throughout the course.
• Quizzes and case studies at the end of each module. To be eligible for the course certificate, a passing grade of 80% on both quizzes and case studies is required.
• A Community Discussion Board will be available for participants to post questions or comments visible to the instructor and other participants. This discussion board will be moderated by the course director and UNITAR.
• Estimated learning time: minimum of 20 hours.
• Participants will be eligible to receive a certificate after the successful completion of the course.

How to register:

Registration and Course Fee

The course participation fee is 500 USD. Registration will be closed as soon as the course is full and your place will be secured once your payment is confirmed.

Please follow the steps below to apply for one of our online training courses:

• Go to https://www.unitar.org/event/user/register to create a user account.
• Once your user account is created, go to https://www.unitar.org/event/chairing-international-conferences-5
• Select “add to cart”.
• After selecting, you will see other courses that might be of interest to you. You may add another event by clicking on the title of another event, which will take you to the event detail page.

If you want to confirm your selection, click on “selected events” in the top right corner of the page (“view your shopping cart”)

• Click “Proceed to checkout”
• You will then be directed to the billing page where you are asked to fill in your bank details.

You will then automatically be sent an invoice by email. Upon receipt of your payment, we will send you an email confirming your registration. Before the beginning of the course, you will receive a new username and password which will allow you to access the content of and attend the e-learning course.

We highly encourage credit card payments. You may find some useful information on “how to register” on: http://www.unitar.org/event/about-unitar-events#register