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CLASSROOMGUEST SPEAKERS IN BROADCAST NEWSAND OTHER JOURNALISM COURSES:MAXIMIZING THE EFFECTIVENESS OFPROFESSIONAL-STUDENT CONTACTDon Heider, University of Texas at Austindonheider@mail.utexas.eduUsing guest speakers from the professional world in courses can be successful, but oftenachieves less than the desired goal educationally. If you’ve taught for long, you mayknow this scenario: the guest speaker arrives and you speak briefly before class. Afteran introduction designed to help students’ appreciate why this person has credibility,the guest takes their place at the front of the classroom. They begin with greatenthusiasm. They tell one story, then another. Students carefully listen to each word,but as you listen, it’s hard to discern what message is being sent. What exactly was thepoint of that last story? After eight or ten minutes the speaker is slowing down,apparently running out of ammunition. With no notes and no exact purpose, thepresentation rambles. After filling twelve minutes of the fifty-minute class period, thespeaker stops. “Questions?” they ask hopefully. If you are lucky, the class fills in theblanks with inquiries most often centered on how one might go about securing a job inthe speaker’s industry. The result often is thoroughly unsuccessful.Therein lies the problem or question for this article: Can professors use guestspeakers in classes to meet educational goals? I will be addressing experience I havegained while teaching broadcast journalism courses, but the lessons can apply to anydiscipline that has professional practitioners.ArchetypesUsing participant observation as a method for gathering information, after watchingdozens of these guest speakers in classroom settings, certain archetypes emerged. Thesearchetypes are not meant to be either exhaustive or mutually exclusive, but will serve asguideposts of larger problems that often occur in classroom settings.The Angry BurnoutCertain professionals, when placed in front of a class, see the occasion as a perfectopportunity to express their discontent with their own professional lives. They tellstudents about low salaries, poor benefit packages, long hours, having to workweekends and holidays, and being called out in the middle of the night.The Angry Burnout also often talks about ferocious office politics including details70Feedback April 2003 (Vol. 44, No. 2)