Many short-duration learning experiences close with a final ceremony or event where participants can demonstrate the learning they have completed during your initiative.

It’s important to note that showcase planning starts at the very beginning of short-duration learning planning.  Organizers must begin with the end in mind when planning an experiential activity, because the way the event concludes will characterize the next steps, learnings, and outcomes of the initiative. Below we will share some of the key considerations in planning your showcase.

Organizers are often surprised by the number of moving parts associated with showcase planning. Thus, although we’ve emphasized that showcase planning starts when the short-duration activity is planned, some decisions may have to be made closer to the event date. Aim to have as many of these decisions as possible made ahead of time.

Submission Evaluation Methods

If you are planning on evaluating the submissions, you will need to develop a judging process. You will need to decide who the evaluators will be, what the judging criteria will be, when the evaluation will take place, and how the results will be shared.

Another key consideration you must make is deciding whether to share the evaluation criteria with the participants beforehand. There are advantages and disadvantages with either option. We have listed some of these considerations for you below:

Sharing criteria with participants

• Pro: Provides better direction for participants to develop solutions and create a more cohesive presentation.
• Pro: Can enable participants to clearly meet expectations
• Pro: Best when teaching and evaluating a specific skillset
• Con: Depending on the criteria focus, sometimes teams can perform extremely well on the criteria without embodying the spirit of the rest of the event. For example, in a final showcase scenario, some teams can woo the audience with a well-pitched but poorly constructed idea. Try to consider whether this might be possible with the criteria you put together.

Not providing judgement criteria with participants

• Pro: Greater variety in the style and type of presentations; when participants do not feel there is a tight set of expectations, they may be more willing to engage in risk-taking.
• Con: Without a consistent rubric it may be difficult to compare submissions as there is less uniformity in the style.

We strongly recommend sharing final presentation criteria with participants if their final projects will be evaluated or ranked. Even if presentations are ranked through a People’s Choice Award, it is still extremely helpful to give participants specific knowledge about their strengths and weaknesses. For mentors, providing participants with direction can feel worrisome without knowing what criteria is being used by the judges. Furthermore, participants can best understand their learning goals when they have an idea for what is valued by the administrators. We have found that participants who complete an evaluated showcase who are not able to see the criteria ahead of time feel that the experience is less fair and confusing compared with participants who are able to see the criteria for evaluation ahead of time.

For any experiential learning program, we also recommend a note about recognizing and redefining failure. Many participants fear failure and as a result, are not willing to take risks. Short duration learning experiences are a fantastic opportunity for participants to try something new without major consequences. (Mayhew et al., 2019). Encouraging participants that there are benefits to risk-taking even if they “fail” at the beginning of the program can lead to participants trying new and exciting ideas throughout the program.

Showcase Styles

We have listed a few showcase formats below. This is not an exhaustive list and is considered for events of approximately 150 participants and additional attendees.

Live and Virtual

Live and In-Person

On-line and Asynchronous

Can accommodate any number of participants

Some Other Things to Think About

Are any privacy laws regarding stakeholder concerns being violated?

• You require consent from the stakeholders to reference their work or to share their logos.
• If you want to acquire promotion materials, participant and attendee consent is necessary.

Who will be your audience and are their schedules clear?

• We recommend notifying esteemed personnel at least 2 or 3-months in advance of the showcase date to ensure their attendance.
• Participants should be made aware of the final showcase date when entering the program so that conflicts can be made aware to staff as early as possible.
• If it’s a virtual event with participants tuning in from around the world, will the showcase time align with the time zones of the participants and the judges or other attendees? There is typically a “golden window” during which the showcase is at a reasonable time for all attendees; however, this time needs to be determined immediately and the rest of the event should be planned around concluding at this time. This is especially true if the event is planned to last between 2 to 3 days; the “golden window” could occur early on the final day, reducing the overall event time by a significant number of hours.

Is this event accessible?

• McMaster University offers information for designing accessible events at https://accessibility.mcmaster.ca/.
• Event accessibility must be considered whether in-person or on-line.

Closing Ceremony

As part of the closing ceremony for the initiative, be sure to thank all the participants, mentors, organizers and stakeholder organizations. This is a good opportunity to promote your sponsors and create material for future promotion by taking photos. The closing ceremony should reinforce the theme of the event, and also allow participants to learn how they can pursue next steps for their projects and their learnings.