ABACLE Speaker Guide and Best Practices

“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction” –John F. Kennedy

Quick Access Resources

• Webinar Planning Checklist
• CLE Course Materials Guide
• ABA PowerPoint Template (4x3)
• ABA PowerPoint Template (widescreen)
• Zoom – Join Meeting Test    

Thank you for volunteering! 

We couldn't do what we do without dedicated members who volunteer their time and expertise to ensure the success of ABA programs. Your ABA staff team is here to guide you through the process of creating your program, organizing your content, and presenting in a manner that your sophisticated audience expects.

Here are your key speaker responsibilities: 

1. Finalize your proposal - Prepare your program for a legal audience. If the program qualifies for specialty credit (e.g. Ethics), prepare appropriate learning objectives.
2. Complete the ABA Speaker Release - The legal form that the ABA requires all speakers to sign beforehand, to present at an ABA program or event.
3. Plan your presentation – Schedule a planning call to discuss how you would like to organize the content, engage with the audience, and which presentation tools to use.
4. Create substantive course materials - Thorough, high-quality, and substantive documents that reference the actual content presented during the live program (e.g. presentation slides/detailed outline).
5. Prepare for your presentation - Avoid technical issues by preparing your space and pre-testing your device’s connection to the webinar platform. Familiarize yourself with the webinar technology and run-of-show.
6. Connect for the pre-call review and present - Before the program starts, do a formal soundcheck, review the technology, and discuss last-minute details. During the live presentation, follow the run-of-show.
7. Answer questions during and after the program – Give priority to audience questions during the live program and afterward when the program becomes an On-Demand course.

Finalize Your Proposal

Finalizing your proposal is the first step to starting the program planning process. Once your proposal is approved for production, ABA can start setting up your webinar and open registration.

Your proposal should target attorneys with a focus on practicing law, discussing law, or on topics that impact the legal profession. Programs that discuss marketing, business development, rainmaking, or career development do NOT qualify for CLE credit. If the program qualifies for specialty credit (e.g. Ethics, Elimination of Bias/Diversity, Mental Illness, Substance Abuse, Professionalism, or Wellness), include the appropriate learning objectives.

Your final proposal should include: 

• Brief Description: 2-3 sentences summarizing what the program will discuss.
• Long Description: 3-5 sentences or more providing additional details about the program discussion.
• Learning Objectives: Action items that your participants should be able to do by the end of the program.

ABA Programs that Qualify for MCLE Credit

Complete the ABA Speaker Release

Please complete the online Speaker Release form as provided to you by ABA staff. The ABA requires each speaker to complete this form beforehand, to present at any ABA program or event. Each form is content‐specific, so we must have one for each speaker at each program/event. Any changes to the ABA speaker release must be approved by the ABA General Counsel’s office. Since the review/approval of changes can take a few days, we recommend completing the speaker release form as soon as possible.

The main components of the release are:

• Confirmation that the presented material (spoken or written form) is original to the speaker or that the speaker has permission to use the material.
• Permission for the ABA to use the speaker's presentation and materials at the presentation and for post-program use including any on-demand sessions.
• Acknowledgement of the ABA Open Meetings Policy

Plan Your Presentation

Don’t let the program day be the first time you meet with your panel! Instead, ask your ABA Staff Contact to schedule a brief meeting that will allow you and other webinar panelists to discuss the webinar topic and get to know each other.

On the planning call, you can:

1. Organize the presentation and assign who will present each portion.
2. Discuss MCLE requirements and ABA Copyright Guidance so that you know how to structure your content and course materials.
3. Select which presentation tools you would like to use and decide whether to schedule a technical call before the day of the program.
4. Designate a moderator to introduce the other speakers, field questions, and close the program on time.
5. Review the program run-of-show and what will happen on the day of the live event.

ABA Best Practices 

• It is good practice to increase faculty interaction by breaking up the discussion with questions and comments. A change in voice every 10 minutes keeps the audience focused and enhances retention.
• Use the ABA PowerPoint template provided to be consistent with our branding.  We also encourage adding visual elements and keeping information on slides to a minimum. For presentation slides, a good rule of thumb is 10 slides for every 20 minutes of content.
• The substantive portion of the program must run to the scheduled end time including the opportunity for Q&A. If there are no live questions you should plan to fill in this time with any content-related discussion (e.g. additional content, pre-planned pocket questions, takeaways, etc.)

Blue Sky + Zoom

The ABA has partnered with Blue Sky eLearn to produce CLE webinars through Zoom. Blue Sky is fully integrated with the ABA’s systems for membership and attending CLE webinars and on-demand courses. This allows the platform to track attendee participation and issue CLE certificates.

Zoom is a good streaming choice for our webinars because it is designed for reliability and accessibility, the interface is user-friendly, and it offers advanced sharing and teaching tools. We can also adapt to your technical needs by using their third-party apps and integrations.

Your Zoom session includes: 

• Screenshare & Slide Control: ABA staff can screen share the presentation and assign you “Slide Control” so you can advance slides at your own pace.
• Virtual Background: Use virtual backgrounds to keep a professional look or match the event’s branding.
• Production Studio (Zoom Events License): For ABA staff so they can fully manage the live stream, including switching scenes and adjusting layouts.
• Live Captioning: Real-time captions can be enabled for speakers with hearing impairments or those in noisy environments.
• Private Chat: This lets speakers and staff chat behind the scenes without the audience hearing, for things like timing cues, tech support, and making quick adjustments in real-time.
• Main Webinar & Backstage Rooms (Zoom Events License): Before the live session, you’ll be in the “Backstage” room where you and other speakers can rehearse, work out tech issues, or plan your presentation before being brought into the “Main Webinar” room. The backstage room stays open during the event, so you can drop in whenever needed.
• Slido Q&A: Fully integrated into Blue Sky, this tool lets attendees ask and answer questions during the session. Slido also offers fun polls like multiple choice, word clouds, ranking, and quizzes. ABA staff will set up your poll questions, run them at the right time, and share the results in the Zoom chat for your review.
• Slide Animation and Annotation Support: Enhance your slides with animations, transitions, and embedded media (check ABA Copyright Guidance for restrictions). You can also draw or highlight on slides in real-time to make things more interactive.
• Built-In and External Camera Support: Supports both built-in webcams and external cameras for a more professional setup. We suggest scheduling an additional test call at least a week before the event for any complex camera or studio setups.
• Customizable Sound and Light Settings: You can adjust microphone and speaker volume levels, reduce echoes, and tweak the virtual lighting to make sure you and your content are clear and easy to see.

Learn more about these new tools and features below and test your device using Zoom’s Join Meeting Test online.

Learn how to mute and unmute, turn your video on or off, switch to phone audio, suppress background noise, and test or change your microphone and camera.

Learn how to enhance your picture quality, adjust your lighting, and choose a virtual background or blur it.

Learn how to share your screen, files, video, and audio using basic and advanced sharing options.

Learn how to use Slide Control to let another participant manage your presentation to save time and minimize interruptions in your Zoom Webinar.

VIDEO: Learn how to use Slido to create and manage live Q&A and polling questions for a more engaging presentation.

Create Substantive Course Materials

All MCLE state regulators require thorough, high-quality, and carefully prepared substantive written materials for each CLE program or session. Although each speaker does not have to submit written materials, it is the collective responsibility of speakers to prepare written materials that meet these requirements. Failure to submit written materials by the deadline may result in no CLE credit or cancellation of the program.

Why are substantive written materials required?

There are three reasons that MCLE regulators require written materials be provided to attendees for all CLE programs:

1. It ensures thorough course preparation by the provider and speakers.
2. It ensures that the attendees will be provided with materials that are useful after the course is completed.
3. It allows MCLE Boards to evaluate the quality and nature of the course and ensure that the actual subject matter is being covered and is appropriate for accreditation purposes.

What happens if my course materials do NOT meet the requirements?

MCLE regulators will deny CLE credit for a program that does not have thorough, high-quality, carefully prepared substantive written materials. So, the more robust the course materials are, the better chance we have of appealing those decisions. Also, some jurisdictions require the ABA to ensure the quality of written materials even when they don’t review them directly. This means that the ABA’s reputation as a CLE provider can be jeopardized if course materials do not meet the requirements. Thus, we will review the course materials for sufficiency and provide feedback to ensure that they will meet MCLE requirements.

Here's a Good Example of Course Materials.

Download the CLE Course Materials Guide.

ABA Best Practices

There are generally two ways to satisfy/exceed MCLE requirements:

1. Minimalist slides along with a good paper
2. Robust slides that eliminate the need for a paper

If you don’t plan to use presentation slides, you must include substantive content with some sort of item specific to the presentation (e.g. a detailed outline with citations and quotes)

You can also include additional course materials such as these:

• Articles, White Papers, and Book Chapters
• Court decisions, Statutes, and Regulations
• Templates, Forms, and Checklists
• Links to online articles and other resources

ABA Copyright Guidance

Copyright protects works of creative authorship that are fixed into a tangible medium of expression (e.g. text, photographs, artwork, movies, and music). Copyright infringement occurs when copyrighted works are used without permission from the copyright holder.  Speakers should seek copyright permission for the use of all copyrighted works in their presentation and course materials unless they are public domain/record, royalty-free or self-created. ABA publishings are available upon request through your ABA Staff Contact.

Areas of risk for the ABA:

• Photographs, videos, articles, or other materials from the Internet: While work published on the Internet may be publicly accessible, it does not mean it is in the “public domain”. A work falls into the public domain once copyright expires; in the U.S. this will be 70 years after the author’s death. It is safer to assume the work is NOT in the public domain and needs permission to use.
• “Fair Use” Defense: The understanding that because we are a non-profit, most of the copyrighted material we use is considered “fair use”. Fair use factors (purpose of use, nature of work, amount used, economic impact on work) are part of a subjective analysis decided on by a judge or jury. Fair use is a complicated and difficult defense to assert. The bottom line is to err on the side of obtaining permission.

How to Avoid Copyright Infringement:

• Royalty-free Images: Use websites that offer royalty-free images (no compensation due to owner -- e.g. Pixabay, Pexels, Pikwizard, Freerange, Unsplash, Microsoft Office Stock Images)
• Creative Common License: Pay attention to the specific restrictions of the license – many times attribution is required. That means that you must credit the author/creator of the image (e.g., Photo Credit: First Name, Last Name). On Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, check the “Creative Commons” box when searching for images.

Prepare for Your Presentation

A week before the live program, the ABACLE Program Associate will send you a program script which is essentially an outline of what will happen on the day of the program. You can review this outline to familiarize yourself with the run-of-show and rehearse any language designated in the script for you to read.

Add a personal touch to your ABA Speaker Profile by uploading a photo, bio, or resume. You can update these details by logging onto myABA. If you have issues accessing your profile, please contact your ABACLE Program Associate.

Do your best to avoid technical problems by testing your location and device well ahead of time. ABA staff will provide testing instructions and coordinate tech support if you need assistance. If your location and device pass testing, plan to use the same location and device for the live event.

For the best experience, we recommend using the latest version of the Zoom desktop app (not the web browser version) on a laptop or desktop. This ensures smooth slide advancement and access to the program’s backstage area—features that are not available on phones, tablets, or iPads.

Make sure to:

1. Pick a quiet location, preferably one that has a door that you can close.
2. Test your webcam and audio connection. If your Wi-Fi connection is unstable, plug directly into your internet router with an ethernet cable.
3. Place soft, indirect light in front of you and adjust the webcam so it’s at eye level.
4. Review the program script to familiarize yourself with the run-of-show.
5. Prepare pocket questions in case the live audience doesn’t ask much.

Connect for the Pre-Call Review and Present

We request that speakers connect at least 45 minutes before the program start time for a formal soundcheck, technical review, and to allow time for any last-minute details to be discussed before going live. ABA staff will remind you to silence anything that might make noise in your location before the program begins.

Once you go live on the air:

1. The program will start with the Operator’s housekeeping notes. The Operator will introduce the moderator who will introduce the rest of the panel and kick off the discussion.
2. The speakers will present their planned content using the tools/features they selected.
3. The program ends with a +/- 15-minute Q&A. Speakers have the option to amend that time or take questions throughout the program.
4. The program ends with the moderator’s housekeeping notes. The moderator will hand the program back to the Operator who will close the program for the attendees.
5. The Operator will let you know it is safe to speak off-air so that the speakers can debrief and discuss how the program went.

Don’t forget to collect your CLE credit. After the program, click here to access your affidavit in My CLE History. Complete the affidavit and submit it online to obtain your CLE certificate(s). Please contact the ABACLE Program Associate if you cannot locate your affidavit or if you have any issues collecting faculty credit.

Answer Questions During and After the Program

The program must have an opportunity for question-and-answer to meet interactivity requirements. The speaker designated as “Moderator” should field the questions submitted to the panel. Decide how you would like to address questions (in real-time, at the end, intermittently, or a combination of these). If no questions are asked, speakers should prepare “pocket questions” to ask each other or additional content to continue the discussion until the scheduled end time. Ending early may jeopardize CLE credit.

You may receive additional questions after the live presentation. These questions are rare and generally come from attendees who couldn’t ask them during the program or from attendees who watch the On-Demand course over the next 3 years. The ABA must offer the option for On-Demand attendees to ask questions to be sure credit is available in all jurisdictions. ABA staff will forward post-program questions to you for a response. Please be prepared to answer via email.