Speakers

The time allotted to the speaker is another area where there is choice. Some groups prefer to have the speaker for the entire meeting. Others will only allot the speaker half the meeting time, including discussion.

If a speaker is volunteer­ing his or her time to a group, it may be appropriate to offer the entire time to the speaker.

Support group business can be handled quickly either at the beginning or at the end of the meeting.

Keep in mind that meetings can rotate from a speaker one month, to a discussion group or specific topic the next. This model may be the best of both worlds. Whether patients need to talk among themselves or give all their attention to a speaker is dependent on the needs of the group and these needs may change with time.

Flexibility is required to keep a group viable. If the speaker opts for a question and answer peri­od, it can be handled in one of 2 ways: questions taken from the audience by raised hands, or pre-written questions submitted to the speaker. This decision will depend on the size of the audience and the skill and comfort level of the speaker.