Roundtable Presentation

Accepted Roundtables

Accepted Roundtables (updated 11/14/2022)

Roundtable Confirmation

Submitters with accepted roundtables have been sent emails indicating the status of their roundtables. All roundtable participants will receive an email from [email protected]  on December 14 with the link to confirm their participation for the convention and information on registering for the convention.

Important Dates for Roundtable Participants

  • The block for hotel reservations will is open until March 7, 2023, or until the room block is full, whichever occurs first.
  • Between December 14, 2022, and January 17, 2023 – Roundtable participants confirm they will participate in the convention by completing their Presenter Response form.
  • Convention registration opens on January 4, 2023. Anyone who is planning to participate on the roundtable must register for the convention. Only registered attendees may be added to the session program. January 17 Early/Participant Convention Registration ends.
  • The preliminary schedule will be available after February 15, giving you an opportunity to confirm the final details about your roundtable.
If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Roundtable “Tips from the Field”

Originally written by Elizabeth Dangelantonio, class of 2015 and graduate from the Alph Xi Upsilon Chapter, Alfred University; revised by Diane Vanner Steinberg, 2023 Convention Chair You’ve been confirmed as a participant in a roundtable panel for the Sigma Tau Delta Convention! After having been a participant in two roundtables, Elizabeth Dangelantonio compiled this list of tips about how to have the best possible roundtable experience.

Before the Convention:

  • Pick a Roundtable Captain or Co-Captains to keep track of the group’s progress.
  • Get in touch with all the roundtable members, especially if you’re not all from the same chapter or don’t already know each other. In addition to making contact with one another, confirm how you’re going to talk to one another: Do you all use Facebook? Do you want to put together a Group Chat? Should you Zoom? Make sure you know how you’re going to communicate and set some goals for when you’re going to have milestones done.
  • Make certain everyone knows what you want to happen at the roundtable: the themes/ideas you want to discuss, and the basic gist of the topic. If there are common texts/readings everyone needs to be familiar with, be sure your group members have copies and are doing their homework. Make sure everyone on the roundtable has a copy of the original proposal that the convention evaluators read.
  • Collect ideas and make sure everyone contributes. Someone needs to volunteer to put together an outline of your presentation topics, so that there is a place for everyone’s contribution to the panel. You don’t want to create a circumstance where one person’s role is just to agree with the other members of the roundtable.
  • Stay organized. Elizabeth’s groups used an outline and determined it was a helpful tool. It also helped them to keep track of references and helped them to keep organized as they were presenting. You should also share a copy with your moderator. Google docs is one way of creating and sharing a single document among a group.
  • Stay in contact. For one of Elizabeth’s roundtables, one participant never replied to any emails or got in touch past the initial “Yes, I want to be part of this” communication. Don’t be that person—in this digital age it is so easy to send a simple, “Yes, I’m okay with this or that” email as a common courtesy.
  • If you have A/V support, make sure that multiple copies of your presentation exist in multiple places so that you don’t have to worry about who has it or rely on a network connection to retrieve it. If you don’t have A/V support, make a handout, that may be uploaded on the app to help your audience participate in the conversation. Remember that is the goal of the roundtable: to create an open, engaging discussion, where the audience also participates.
You have a few months’ worth of planning and preparation time, but with classes, work, and everything else you have on your plates, it’s really easy to let your roundtable slide to the back burner. A weekly or bi-weekly check-up is a good way to make sure everyone stays on track.

At the Convention:

  • If you’re not from the same chapter/school—meet up. The hotel’s lounge areas are great for this. If you haven’t met in person before, it is important to do so because it’ll break the ice and make everyone in the group feel more comfortable together. That will lead to a more put-together, successful roundtable. The Abecedarians event can be a good first meeting point.
  • Make sure everyone is still on the same page and has any material you might need, such as the text you’re discussing, a list of the main points, the outline agreed on earlier, etc.
  • Visit the meeting room some time before your presentation so you can see how the space is set up. This way everyone also knows where the room is. Agree on a time to meet on the day of your presentation so no one is late.

During the roundtable:

  • Think of it as a big discussion in a class, and keep it casual. Be involved and interested in what you’re discussing.
  • If you agreed to be part of the roundtable and contributed to the planning, follow through by actually participating in the presentation.
  • Don’t dominate the conversation. It’s a group presentation. Make sure you’re not talking over your group members.
  • Have fun. You’re at a convention with hundreds of fellow students who are just as passionate about words as you are—take advantage of the different minds, ask questions, and engage in friendly debate. Maybe you’ll hit it off and find someone to work with on a roundtable for next year.