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The Midwest Clinic has prepared these guidelines to
answer some of the most common questions about clinic proposals,
to help you prepare
your application and plan your prospective clinic, and to give you
an idea of the kind of clinics we are looking for.
All proposals must be made through the official Midwest Clinic online
proposal system. Proposals for The 2010 Midwest Clinic were due at 5:00 pm
(CST) on Friday, March 12, and the system is now closed.
Proposals are evaluated and clinics selected by the Board
of Directors. Proposals must be filled out completely and include all
of the required materials. Incomplete proposals will not be considered.
Clinicians that presented a clinic in
2007, 2008,
or 2009 are ineligible to present at the 2010 conference.
The applicant is expected to be available for any day during the
conference when his or her clinic might be assigned.
Clinic titles should be as descriptive as possible. Attendees should
have an idea of the clinic’s content from the title alone,
since it is possible that they will be deciding which clinics to
attend based solely on their titles.
It is not necessary for a clinician to have a sponsor, but all clinicians
are responsible for their fees and expenses (including audio/visual
equipment rental), except the conference registration, which is free
to clinicians.
If your clinic is accepted, you will be expected to prepare at least
400 copies of a handout covering the educational concepts of your
clinic. (In November, The Midwest Clinic will inform clinicians of
how many copies they need to prepare.)
It is the goal of The Midwest Clinic to heighten the educational
experience of the conference and lessen any potential overtones of
commercialism. Clinics at Midwest are to teach educational concepts,
not to promote products or services.
The Board of Directors has found that most hour-long workshops that
attempt to survey the applications of an entire text are not nearly
as effective for our attendees as clinics that focus on a limited
number of topics and solutions. Thus your application may need to
reveal an approach that might be different from successful presentations
you may already have delivered at various trade shows, in-service
sessions, and state music education conferences.
For example, you may have a book or product that represents the overall
compilation of your approach: it may even be for sale in the exhibit
area of The Midwest Clinic. Yet you can easily explore any number
of educational angles on string bowing, brass playing, jazz theory,
or chamber music repertoire without having to sell outright your
own text, play-along CD, or technological creation. Your proposal
and your clinic itself might be most successful if you ask yourself
the following questions:
•
What concepts are most critical to my workshop?
•
What specific examples from my book or resource are most valuable
for my handout?
•
Are there appropriate views other than my own—alternate references
or approaches—which may serve not only to inform my audience
but also increase my being perceived as an artist/educator rather
than a company spokesperson.
The following examples may assist your perspective as to The Midwest Clinic’s guidelines for clinicians:
Acceptable:
•
Using examples excerpted from your publication or resource.
•
Including an order blank in your handout.
•
Inviting attendees to visit your exhibit booth during Midwest.
•
Setting flyers for your product or service on a table at the rear
of your clinic room.
Unacceptable:
•
Titling your session so as to communicate total reliance on the product.
•
Guiding the attendees page-by-page through your publication so as
to promote an introduction to the whole product rather than focusing
on its educational substance.
•
Making repeated references to the availability of the item for purchase.
•
Distributing samples of your product at your clinic.
The Midwest Clinic believes that clinicians can present the concepts
inherent in their publications/resources without communicating a “hard-sell” attitude.
The directors who attend The Midwest Clinic are dedicated educators
who are searching for information, approaches and resources that
they can apply to their own music programs. By concentrating on practical
guidance and instruction, you will help them to meet their goals
in attending The Midwest Clinic.
The decision of the Board of Directors as to which clinic proposals
are accepted for a given year depends not only on the quality of
the proposal and its relevance to our attendees but also on the overall
menu of priority topics and how best to serve those attendees. Thus
achieving a balance of topics may mean declining a number of excellent
clinic proposals. We encourage you to re-apply as needed.
If you have questions about these guidelines or any aspect of the
clinic application process, please contact The Midwest Clinic office
or a member of the Board of Directors. |
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