General expectations
Please practice your answers for the initial introduction questions at least twice before the day of the event, and time yourself to stay under 60 seconds for each of the questions about your career and what you were like when you were the students’ age. Remember, you are a role model for the students. Show them what it looks like to be confident and prepared!
Tip! If you have a young person in your life, you can use them as a practice partner to make sure your responses are engaging and age-appropriate.
Additional Guidance:
- Keep it simple and avoid any technical jargon or acronyms. Think about the industry-specific terms that may come up and how you might explain them or use more accessible language.
- Keep it positive! It’s good to share that school was hard or life had challenges, but focus on the lessons learned and growth that came from those experiences.
- Be energetic! Your energy goes a long way toward keeping students engaged.
- This is a professional event, so please use student-appropriate language with no swearing.
In preparing to respond to student questions:
- Please keep your answers short, no more than 30 seconds.
- Listen to others and avoid repeating similar answers or comments; we want the students to hear as many perspectives as possible!
- During your Panelist Coaching Session, you’ll get a chance to practice responding to some frequently-asked student questions.
- Check out our Sample Panel Questions to get an idea of the breadth of possible student questions!