ideal free time during lecture trip?

[rabbitandfox23]

 
How much free time do you like to have to explore a city when you travel to give papers? Let's say you have two nights in a city you've never been to. Would you rather have one night to yourself to do whatever you want? Or would you rather spend time with faculty/students in the department that invited you for both meals?  Would you like to be given the option of dining with faculty both nights and then make your decision yourself?

I'm trying to organize the visit for an invited speaker and do not want to "overbook" her. I'm a newbie at this position. I realize that the point of this visit is to allow the speaker to meet the department and vice versa, but how much academic time is too much for such visits? Do you enjoy having free time to yourself? If so, how much?

Thanks!

[mamselle]

I've done bookings as an EA for these situations. There are three possibilities and you have to both know the parameters of your own office's situation, and talk with/ask the guest speaker to find out which is operant for the particular person.

Options 1, 2, and 3:

1. They're doing this on the fly, they need to be "in-and-out" as fast as possible, and they will appreciate every bit of grease on the wheels of transportation and communication you can supply. This may include gracefully accepting their declension of a dinner (if that's even a consideration in some places), and helping them get a cab ready to pick them and their carry-on up from the back of the hall as soon as they've answered the last question and shaken the last hand.

Extreme but possible, maybe 10% of the time this happens, more often with 'big names' but occasionally with time-and-cash-strapped 'smaller folk,' too.

2. They're easy about the basics, not in a hurry but not in any need of glad-handing, either. In those cases, standard is to book them for a late afternoon arrival the day before, early dinner with a select few so as not to tire them out, but provide a sense of welcome, a chance to get to bed and/or go over their slides themselves, early, and a cab booked to pick them up (or someone, probably you) to walk them over.

They may also be amenable to some 1:1s with folks whose research interests overlap theirs (indeed, this may be the reason they've been invited to campus, if not as a 'ghost interview' which also is behind some such invitations, and should be surfaced so you proceed accordingly as well). If they're leaving the same day, book a cab with at least 2 hours' advance arrival for air travel, and be sure the last person on their schedule knows your EA or you'll be at their office door 15 min. before hand to be sure they meet it.

If they're staying a second night (budget and their time allowing--this has to be negotiated, usually) then the dinner is open-to-all, if possible, broader, and more convivial (and might be at a less expensive place, to allow for the wider attendance). Be sure they're OK with whatever arrangements are made for the next morning's departure, as well--book a cab, see if they need to be met at their hotel or not (usually not, but foreign guests with language issues might appreciate the help), etc.

40% likely they'll want to leave after the talk and the 1:1's, 40% likely they'll stay the second night for a second dinner. Either way, confirm all details.

3. They may want to build time around their visit, which can mean a) they don't need housing at all, or maybe just for the night before the talk, if their motivation in doing the talk is a two-fer with family or friends in the area, b) they want to do extra research in the area, if there are libraries or labs nearby that articulate with their work, or c) they just like taking it easy in a different place and seeing the sights.

Nothing wrong with this as long as they and you're very clear about the accounting, who's paying for what, etc. It can be a modified (2) above, with either one or two nights' meals and lodging, if that's your standard. They may ask to extend their hotel on their own dime after you've covered it; if they ask in enough time, it's easy enough to explain that to the desk clerk you do the booking with so they can stay in the same room, and give both parties the cross-over info so they can connect and work out the payment details without you having to be in the middle after that.

If you know the area and they're congenial, I've gone so far as to send a few suggestions about places to see, for case 3c); in one case, because their research was overlapping with my own, I took a day off and did a day-long tour with them and some family members, for which they paid me separately (and which my boss knew of in advance, encouraged as a good-will gesture, and understood).

Maybe 10% or less of the bookings I've ever done (at several different labs, schools and other facilities) have fallen into one of these categories.

---
So, that's the range.

In all cases, ask about dietary and environmental allergies/preferences; create a one-page schedule with all interactive times that you hand out to anyone interacting with them at least 3-5 days ahead so any troubleshooting about room bookings, double-exposed time slots, or other mixed expectations can be surfaced and resolved before hand--makes for a much smoother day overall (you probably know this, but it's essential: if you don't have a staff assistant to do it, you must do it).

At least a week before, preferably 10 days in advance, send an email with a draft of the above document and a more detailed schedule in the email itself, saying when and where they'll be met, by whom, etc.

At that point, also ask for their slides, a draft of their paper or handouts (with the understanding you won't release them unless told to do so, but that's often the only way you find out their stuff is on A4 paper and needs to be converted before you print it, or their slides were formatted for MAC and your system runs on PCs (so you need a dongle--ask IT early, they may have to find one), and who, if you have outrigger campuses, you need to set up shared AV with (also has to be scheduled through IT)

You asked.

M.

[Puget]

For colloquium speakers coming from out of town, we usually have them have lunch with grad students after their talk and dinner with a small group of faculty that evening. They may stay one night or two depending on their schedule and how far they are coming from. Some wish to arrive early or stay late to make a bit of a vacation of it or visit with collaborators at other area universities and that's fine too so long as the transportation isn't significantly more (they obviously are responsible for their own costs outside of their time with us).

[mamselle]

Right, agreed, I forgot lunch (often pizza or sandwiches on-site to keep things quicker and simpler, if you have the conference room space).

Also, for all this, you might just want to nose around with the longest-standing EAs in your department/school, they'll know the drill, what the pitfalls might be (how to route reimbursement requests for example--which accountant sits on them and which processes them quickly, for example), and what the usual parameters are for expenses, the correct accounts to charge, etc.

M.

[rabbitandfox23]

Wow, thanks mamselle! That's a really thorough response and incredibly helpful!

[mamselle]

We aim to please!

M.

[Kron3007]

How much free time do you like to have to explore a city when you travel to give papers? Let's say you have two nights in a city you've never been to. Would you rather have one night to yourself to do whatever you want? Or would you rather spend time with faculty/students in the department that invited you for both meals?  Would you like to be given the option of dining with faculty both nights and then make your decision yourself?

I'm trying to organize the visit for an invited speaker and do not want to "overbook" her. I'm a newbie at this position. I realize that the point of this visit is to allow the speaker to meet the department and vice versa, but how much academic time is too much for such visits? Do you enjoy having free time to yourself? If so, how much?

Thanks!

For me, this largely depends on the city and university (are there researchers there I really want to connect with). 

When I invite speakers and we are covering expenses, we usually have them booked for a couple meetings the day of their talk (lunch with grad students, potentially meetings with faculty) and I invite them for dinner.  Sometimes, they decline dinner but they usually accept.  Our policy is to cover 2-nights stay, so that really only leaves the one day for any meetings and I try not to book all their time since they tend to be busy people.         

[no1capybara]

Wow, thanks mamselle! That's a really thorough response and incredibly helpful!

+1

[mamselle]

De rien!

M.