Sessions about Leadership and Management

At last a SUPPORTED nationwide Extension marketing effort is on the horizon! A task force convened by the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, at the request of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, has been charged with exploring a national marketing plan for Extension. The multi-year process will be research-based and it is hoped the outcome will provide materials and a unified message help ACE members tell the Extension story to our various stakeholder groups from Congress to University Presidents to local funders to our clients. Several ACE members are participating on the task force and will provide an update and listening opportunity at the approximately 6-month mark in the process.

Gaming has become a serious instructional tool for the classroom mixing play with learning, replacing textbook and lab assignments. The typical student today is exposed to a plethora of technological gadgets and information, opening a host of challenges and issues for the classroom teacher and parent today (balance fun/play with learning). Today’s student requires engagement, the issue is not that students are experiencing A.D.D. but E.O.E. (ENGAGE or ENRAGE me). Equally challenging is the development of a “serious game”. For Pest Private Eye and the Case of IPM the challenge was not only to promote engagement and learning but stay within the constraints of an “educational” budget. The CIT DEAL staff and the UNL Pesticide Education Office faced this challenge in a game pilot for Integrated Pest Management. This session the production staff highlights the challenges in the game development with the 3D environments, character animations, storyboarding, timeline and budget processes. In addition, discussion will include the next phase in the development process to move ahead from a pilot to a 2 yr grant funded project.

This session will provide an opportunity for Communication and Information Technology department heads to meet to discuss timely-issues in leadership and management.

This session is a continuation of the Communication and Information Technology department heads' roundtable discussion.

When a natural or manmade disaster strikes a community, Extension communicators are usually there to support the local educators with research-based resources. Since its inception in 1993, the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) has helped state delegates share educational materials. Now with financial support and an effort by the Southern Region program leaders, EDEN is developing a framework to provide agreements and more consistency for disaster education across the Cooperative Extension System. What are the appropriate roles for communicators in national or state-to-state memorandums of understanding? What are the best ways for communicators to help others who are struck by disasters? What is -- and isn't -- helpful to you as a communicator when you're in the throes of disaster? What can communicators do in the preparedness, mitigation and prevention phases to reduce the impacts of disasters? EDEN leaders will share the latest on this national high-profile topic and ask for your input.

During this session learn how a few maneuvers can turn a crisis into a fiasco. The presenters use real examples taken from the news pages to show how communicators and others have taken a bad situation and made it worse. Audience participation is a must in this session which takes a light-hearted approach to teaching crisis communications. The take home message: Don't let this happen to you.

What’s in it for you? How does eXtension fit in your daily life? What is the code? Can you enter restricted space? Learn what we’re doing, how you can get your news releases on eXtension. The up-till-now secret process will be revealed.

While you're in the Rockies, get a mountaintop perspective on your life and career with these simple, fun activities that allow you to tap into your creative dreams. Playing with images and words can give you some serious inspiration. And you'll take home a resource list of selected ideas from creativity, business, inspirational and writing gurus.

When a natural or manmade disaster strikes a community, Extension communicators are usually there to support the local educators with research-based resources. The Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) helps member institutions share educational resources to reduce "reinventing the wheel." EDEN now also has developed and branded its own online courses and other resources. This display will share the online courses, searchable database of member institution materials and other resources available through EDEN.

Communicators and information technologists can help transform Cooperative Extension through your involvement in and advocacy for eXtension. Interest in this national initiative is growing from Capital Hill to Extension Directors & Administrators to educators/agents and specialists. Now is the time for you to get involved and bring your talents to this effort. Over twenty Communities of Practice are at work developing educational resources, thousands of FAQ’s have been input, content licensing agreements established, revenue is being generated, marketing strategies are being employed, and social media are being applied to provide the public with dynamic educational resources. This session will include a progress update, but more importantly explore how ACE and NETC professionals may participate and contribute in this transformation. So where do you fit into this picture? Come to this session and find out; the opportunities are boundless.

Oddly enough, you get the most out of student workers by giving them the most, i.e. giving them a rich learning environment in addition to minimum wage. With years of experience in teaching/learning and working with students, this group will provide simple tips that can make students' work more productive for you and them, such as developing learning outcomes and clarifying expectations. The group will also brainstorm and encourage folks who attend to share experiences from working with student workers.

Have Aliens Pay You to Do Your Job! -- The Program Sponsorship Model. Getting a Program Sponsor is a way to have others (aliens) pay you or your program team to do part of your job! Your sponsor may provide: o Local presence for promotion, advertising & partnership o Help find the participants o Meeting arrangements o Collection of the money o Registration/enrollment of the participants o Payment for direct program costs of travel, printing and the presenter o Assumption of the financial risk of a low turn out o Motivation for the presenters by raising expectations to deliver a HIGH QUALITY program! So these are good reason to get a sponsor but we’ll focus on the steps it takes to get a sponsor, make that sponsor successful, and keep your program successful. We’ll discuss: Do you look for a sponsor first? Prospecting for sponsors: What sponsors want? Closing the sale: What can you do to help your sponsors be successful? And provide a Program Sponsorship Worksheet. So if you see Aliens put them to good use!

Leadership is more than managing resources and planning strategically. It is seeing the big picture and understanding the dynamics of change. Communicators and information technologists are in formal leadership roles because of strong content background but it is necessary today to develop solid leadership skills. This presentation will describe and discuss leadership styles, including Situational Leadership, Leader-Member Exchange, Transformational Leadership, and Servant Leadership. We will examine leadership and follower roles, outcomes, and individual levels of service. Key characteristics, differences, and positives and negatives for each style will be presented. Mentorship and coaching will be addressed. All this will be related to communication and information technology personnel.

In this session, we will look at assessment and cost associated with leasing computer equipment verses purchasing, including cost, assessment and decision making pro's, con's and pitfalls.

Listening is often the most important communication skill identified by business leaders; yet, we spend little time teaching it. In this session, we will be providing information about training resources for listening skills and discuss applying those materials to training Extension professionals and others. In addition, we'll go through a couple of training exercises and brainstorm means to make the exercises even more effective.

You have a vision for a redesigned Web site: new features, better graphics and updated content. But if you want to win rave reviews, don't neglect the human side of Web redesign. Use these ideas for planning your redesign, selling your ideas to stakeholders, testing with key groups and getting users involved in maintaining "their" site.

A cost benefit analysis revealed that the duplication and copy functions previously served by internal staff could be accomplished by a private vendor. The presentation will provide information about the task of negotiating a contract that functions as a duplication and copy service utilizing an on-campus site and 50 other business sites statewide to provide this service. The process for advertising for an appropriate vendor, working with the university purchasing division, and choosing the vendor through a process called a invitation to negotiate will be discussed. The session will provide information about the selection of FedEx/Kinko's as the vendor of choice, what proceedures were used to negotiate a final contract that is used by the entire campus as well as a number of county government offices, and the financial arrangement that returns a percentage of every production job to UF/IFAS for additional print needs. Additional information about how county offices, research centers, and campus units will be presented and an analysis of how the agreement has worked to date.

Learn how to help your Extension and Research faculty reach their audiences through marketing plans that are goal-oriented and audience specific. Bring your vexing marketing challenges to this session, and we’ll discuss how to attack and bring home a victory. We’ll walk through the discovery process with clients as you laser in on key goals and audiences through questions and research. We’ll discuss how to mine your communications toolbox and move beyond the obvious to provide innovative solutions for your customers. We’ll share the elements of a marketing plan and provide real-life examples.

The Ugly Truth About Business Plans Extension Program Impact is on everyone’s radar. Shrinking budgets are on your mind. A Program Business Plan addresses both these concerns by making them compatible with each other. Learn the value to both the external and internal audience. Learn how a business plan helps you and your team develop an organized and workable plan that will fulfill the your programmatic and financial goals. Externally, it will help you present your project to partners and funders. Internally, it will communicate your purpose, goals, and operations to administrators and colleagues. Walk though an outline you can modify for your organization’s use. Discuss the keys to success implementation. See how this breeds success and renewed vigor each year!

Over the past two years, Texas Cooperative Extension developed and implemented an accountability system that tightly integrates Extension education planning, implementation, reporting, performance appraisal documentation, state accountability measurement, and professional development. This session describes and demonstrates the philosophy behind this system, as well as the trials and tribulations of developing this online application.