eNEAFCS-November 2017 Print
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November 2017

Table of Contents

President’s Message

Meet Sylvia Montgomery: USDA NIFA Program Specialist for the Division of Family & Consumer Sciences

Thank You from Nebraska!

Committees That Work!

Online Membership Renewal

Relationships, Relevance, Results Highlights in 2017 PILD 1st Timer’s Scholarship Recipient Reflections

NOW is the time to begin preparing 2018 Awards

Harvesting Opportunities, Knowledge and Fellowship in Omaha

2017 Friend of NEAFCS Award goes to Beverly Samuel

Eastern Region at Annual Session

JCEP Leadership Conference . . . Balancing Tradition with Innovation

Share Your Work: Submitting a 2018 NEAFCS Presentation Proposal

Webinar Subcommittee Report

Tips and Tricks for Using a Mobile Device for Smart Extension Programming, Promotion, and Marketing

2018 NEAFCS Annual Session Invitation – San Antonio, Texas

Meet The Board: Karen Munden, President Elect


Important Dates

PILD Conference - Request for Proposals
Now Through November 15, 2017

"Dining In" for Healthy Families - Family & Consumer Sciences Day 
December 3, 2017

PILD 1st First Timer Scholarship Application 
Mid-December - February 1, 2018

Public Issues Leadership Development Conference
April 8-11, 2018
Arlington, VA

NEAFCS 2018 Annual Session
September, 24-27, 2018
San Antonio, TX

NEAFCS 2019 Annual Session
Sept. 30 - Oct. 3, 2019

View All Events...




 

 

 

 


IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM NATIONAL OFFICE


Please add the following two emails to your "safe sender" or "white lists" to ensure you continue to receive emails from NEAFCS as we move to a new system. 

[email protected]

[email protected]

For those of you accessing your email through a work email server, you may wish to share this information with your IT person and ask for their help in ensuring the email addresses are added to your safe sender lists.

 

 

 

 

National Extension Association of Family & Consumer Science
325 John Knox Rd. Suite L103
Tallahassee, FL 32303
(850) 205-5638
[email protected]

 

 

President's Message
Lora Lee Frazier Howard (KY) 

I want to thank and congratulate Nebraska on the excellent Annual Session they hosted for us.  I hope each of you enjoyed and learned as much as I did, while we enjoyed their hospitality. I hope you harvested opportunities, whether it was attending a concurrent session, presenting a concurrent session, presenting a Showcase of Excellence, receiving an award, or attending an in-depth workshop. A special thank you to the tri-liaisons Susan Brown, Marilyn Fox and Jeanette Friesen for their leadership.

A tremendous thank you to Theresa Mayhew for her leadership this past year and your 2016-2017 board members.  They each represented you well.  I am looking forward to working with our current board over the next year.  I would like to welcome our new board members Joan Koonce, Julie Garden-Robinson, Susan Routh, Ellen Bjelland and to Karen Munden and Dianne Gertson to their new roles on the board.

Becoming an active member in your association will enhance your leadership opportunities, professional development and impact our Annual Session. Be thinking of your talents and gifts and how you can share them with the association. Chart your Course and follow the Texas star to our 2018 Annual Session in San Antonio.

The hidden icon contest continues -- if you find the Texas Star icon that’s buried in this and subsequent issues, email me at [email protected]. The first three individuals who respond will be placed in the drawing to win a FREE registration to next year’s Annual Session. Good luck! 

I arrived back in the Bluegrass to a beautiful fall day much like the weather we experienced in Omaha during our Annual Session.  That lasted for about one day and we have now gone from summer to winter, overnight. Fall is one of my favorite seasons due to enjoying the beautiful colors of the leaves, and the cool crisp days.  My husband and I usually try to take a few short trips to enjoy this time of year. I hope you and your family take time to enjoy the changing of the seasons.

Sincerely, 

Lora Lee

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Meet Sylvia Montgomery: USDA NIFA Program Specialist for the Division of Family & Consumer Sciences
Caroline E. Crocoll, Ph.D., CFCS, Director, USDA NIFA DFCS, Washington, DC 

Sylvia Montgomery, B.S., is a Program Specialist for the Division of Family & Consumer Sciences, where she provides leadership over the grant management process of the Rural Health and Safety Education Program, the Smith Lever Special Needs Program, the Extension Disaster Education Network, the Healthy Homes Partnership, and the many DoD-USDA Partnership grants.  Sylvia coordinates the Adult Development and Aging portfolio that focuses on programs that help Older Americans maintain their quality of life, and provides leadership to the Adult Development and Aging Workgroup, a newly implemented workgroup dedicated to inform, assess and address existing and emerging needs and priorities of Older Americans and aging farmers.  Sylvia serves on the CMS Caregiver Workgroup, and the Older Individuals Collaborative.  Additionally, Sylvia coordinates the DFCS Visiting Scholars Program.

Sylvia began her federal service with Extension Service, later reorganized and named CSREES.  She has earned a B.S. in Business, a Certification in Project Management, and has many credits toward an MBA.

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Thank You from Nebraska!
Jeanette Friesen, Marilyn Fox, Suzie Brown, Nebraska Tri-liaisons 

In this final newsletter article from the Nebraska Tri-liaisons, we want to say THANK YOU!

  • Thank you to everyone who came to Omaha for the 2017 NEAFCS Annual Session!  We looked forward to your coming, and know you had a great experience participating in everything that was planned for you.
  • Thank you to Terri Mayhew and the National Board for your great contributions to the business of the organization and being such a great group to work with!
  • Thank you to each one who donated a stuffed animal for the Children’s Hospital! These will be such an encouragement for young patients not only from the central states, but who come to Omaha from all over the nation. The hospital was overwhelmed with your generosity – 234 animals!
  • Thank you to everyone who donated to the President’s Charity – Foodbank for the Heartland. They also were so very grateful for the support given to them to be shared with those in need.
  • Thank you to the Nebraska planning committee members and volunteers from here and many other states. You took care of myriads of details behind the scenes and made everything work so smoothly. This conference would not have been possible without help from each one of you!
  • Thank you to Partners, our management company-- Danielle, Elizabeth, Will & Bennett-- who we now also call our friends! Your work was amazing in helping with so, so many things before and during the conference. We know you are still working on final details for this session as well as working hard on plans for the next annual session in San Antonio!

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Committees That Work!
Edda Z. Cotto-Rivera (GA), Vice President Member Resources 

If you attended our annual session in Omaha, I am pretty sure that you are still talking about the great time we spent together while learning, sharing and networking! I certainly felt welcomed and had a great opportunity to meet many members during the countless events we shared. As VP of Member Resources, I had the opportunity to meet with some VPs from different affiliates and also led our committee meetings. We certainly have a great group of people who are committed to our organization and are always looking for ways to benefit our members.

During this year’s session, the Membership, Leadership, Mentoring and Life Members subcommittee organized a great breakfast meeting to welcome our first timers. Members of the Board served as table mentors leading a vivacious conversation with the attendees. This committee was also in charge of the event that brought together our life members. The Diversity subcommittee presented a poster during the Showcase of Excellence sharing the resources we offer as part of our website page and also invited those interested to sign up for the “ Enlace Latino” a Spanish publication available to all. Please contact me if you need further information. The Journal Editorial Subcommittee is working very hard to finish all the details of this year’s publication. Stay tuned for the opportunity to learn about the great work our members are performing within their communities! Last, but not least, our exhibitor’s subcommittee did a great job in contacting companies and exhibitors that provided us with a chance to get to know their services and products. Many thanks to the committee’s chairs and all the members who dedicated their talents and time for a great annual session!

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Online Membership Renewal
Joan Koonce (GA), Treasurer 

It is time to renew your NEAFCS membership!  Your affiliate treasurer must mail 2018 membership dues to the national office by December 31, 2017. Annual dues are $100 for renewal of active members. To renew membership, log in to neafcs.org with your NEAFCS member username and password and click ‘Dues Renewal’ under the ‘Member Resources’ tab.  Update your profile information if needed, print the confirmation page, and mail it along with your check to your affiliate treasurer.  It is important to check and update your profile information, so that the information provided on the website is correct.  

New members can join NEAFCS at any time during the year.  The process is the same for new members and I listed above for renewals. Complete the membership application and send this directly to your affiliate treasurer with dues payment.

In addition to national dues, your state affiliate may require members to pay state and/or district membership dues.  This information is provided to you by your affiliate treasurer.  Also, membership dues must be paid before you can apply for an award.  All of you are doing outstanding work, so we want you to apply for awards and showcase your great work.

You can find additional information about membership at neafcs.org under the ‘Member Resources’ tab, and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

Thanks in advance for submitting your membership dues to your affiliate treasurer by their requested deadline.  NEAFCS is great because of your commitment to the association.

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Relationships, Relevance, Results Highlights in 2017 PILD 1st Timer’s Scholarship Recipient Reflections
Edited by Glenda Hyde (OR), former Vice President Public Affairs and Julie Garden-Robinson (ND), Vice President Public Affairs 

“The Public Issues Leadership Development Conference was a unique experience to learn how the Land Grant System works with NIFA to provide funding and grants for Cooperative Extension. 

Many of us have assisted in providing leadership at the county level to secure funding for our local office but working at the national level helped develop skills on communication and the art of persuasion. I really enjoyed Marshall Stewart’s presentation on working in from a different angle to change the position of those in leadership. John Dillard was inspirational as we look at what future generations will utilize from the Extension programs.  I was very motivated by the concurrent session on Rethink your Drink presented by West Virginia. Visiting Capitol Hill was uplifting as we spoke with our Representative that knows Extension well as a beneficiary of our programs.  Also, most of the staff we meet with, had grown up in 4-H and knew the full benefits of Extension at the local levels. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this conference and showcase the Extension programming I have been a part of for my entire career.”  

-Lynda Latta (OK)

“I consider it an honor to have been able to attend the 2017 PILD Conference.  This has been one of the most rewarding experiences in professional development that I have had.  Marshall Stewart’s address on ‘A New Way’ and Ronnie McDonald’s ‘Can We Sit a Spell’ were both very informative and inspirational.  Mr. Stewart helped me see how to promote the Extension message in new and exciting ways rather than doing the same thing we have done for the past 100 years.  Mr. McDonald gave me a renewed energy to find those individuals who can help me understand what is needed in my county and listen with renewed patience to what they truly have to say.  Giving us the opportunity to role play what we would be doing on Wednesday was of great value and helped to ease some of my concerns about meeting with the legislators on Capitol Hill.  Tuesday’s sessions were just as informative and helpful.  Learning about NIFA and how those funds are distributed was very enlightening.  In preparation for our visits to Capitol Hill, the Tuesday afternoon activities were most helpful.  The panel discussion with the role play activity was exciting and having the opportunity to hear from the staffers and ask them questions was invaluable in preparation for the next day.  The highlight of the conference, however, was Wednesday.  Having the opportunity to sit down with our elected officials and/or their staffers was very exciting, being able to promote the Extension message, and informative, learning how the process works and seeing how much they support Extension and its mission.  This was a whirlwind three and a half days but well worth the time invested.  PILD is one professional conference I would like to have the opportunity to attend again.”

-Dianna Bowen (AR)

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NOW is the time to begin preparing 2018 Awards
Susan Routh (OK), Vice President Awards and Recognition 

Now is the time to begin preparing 2018 NEAFCS AWARD APPLICATIONS!  Prepare award-winning applications with the online tools and receive the recognition you and your outstanding programs deserve! The 2018 NEAFCS Awards Manual will be posted in mid-November and the online application system will open December 1, 2017

The Awards Manual and Awards-at-a-Glance document are excellent tools to review when preparing your applications.  Both documents are located under the Awards tab of the NEAFCS website. 

All applications and supporting documents must be uploaded by March 15, 2018 for regional and national judging.  Each state affiliate has their own deadline to complete state judging before sending the top contenders on for regional and national consideration by the March 15 deadline. Check with your state affiliate Awards VP, or chair, about your state deadline.

If you weren’t able to attend the Awards Training team’s Concurrent Session about creating award-winning applications, here are a few pointers:

  1. Application and supporting documents should be merged to create 3 files.  Each file should not exceed 25 MB.  If needed, the “Combining Files Using Adobe Acrobat Pro” Power Point is available.
  2. Upload merged files using one file per upload space. 
  3. The Awards Manual has specific and detailed instructions plus Judging Sheets.  Review the Judging Sheets for specific criteria.
  4. Examples of national award-winning entries, as well as articles on Award Winning Applications FAQs and Award Winning Tips are also available under the Awards tab at this time.

We look forward to receiving your award-winning 2018 applications!

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Harvesting Opportunities, Knowledge and Fellowship in Omaha
By Theresa Mayhew (NY), Immediate Past President 

What a wonderful week we had in Omaha! Tri-liaisons Marilyn Fox, Suzie Brown, Jeanette Friesen and their entire planning team crafted a fabulous Annual Session full of expertise, knowledge, networking and friendship. It featured dynamic keynote presentations, a very moving Quilts of Valor ceremony, leadership events, and wonderful in-depths, and ultimately, capped off with a wonderful awards ceremony.  The Hilton Omaha and CenturyLink Convention Center was our home base for the week peppered with visits to the Henry Doorly Zoo for the Welcome Event, the Magnolia Hotel for the Leadership Event, Old Market for States Night Out and an assortment of venues for the in-depth sessions. 

Monday’s Opening Session featuring Caroline Crocoll, Chuck Hibberd and Marjorie Kostelnik to name a few, was live streamed to nearly 70 members who were unable to travel to Omaha. We hope to offer this service again next year. Not only were we treated to amazing animal habitats (and some close encounters – ask about the bats!) at the Zoo but festive Halloween decorations, too. The Magnolia Hotel was very elegant. Dinner was delicious and we were feted with some lovely harp music by Jeanette Friesen’s niece! There were a wide range of restaurants affiliates could pick from for States Night Out and of course, you couldn’t leave Omaha without trying one of their infamous steaks or Reuben sandwiches!

Community service projects have added a dimension of giving back to the communities or states in which we hold our Annual Session and this year’s was no different. Nearly 250 stuffed animals were donated to the Omaha Children’s Hospital & Medical Center. I’m also thrilled to report that $1509.70 was raised for this year’s President’s Charity, Food Bank for the Heartland. Brian Banks and the entire staff at the Food Bank were delighted, as well. Taking part in these types of activities are also a great way to pay homage to the state affiliate(s) that work so hard to bring us a successful Annual Session. The Nebraska Marketplace was a wonderful way to sample local craftsmanship and support some youth and adult entrepreneurial enterprises!

This year’s Silent Auction yielded the highest bidders with many delectable goodies and handcrafted items and over $3,600 for our awards program. Speaking of awards, this year’s awards ceremony recognized excellence, professionalism and innovation to the max. I’m sure I’ll never be in that many photographs ever again! Congratulations to all award winners, whether you were able to attend Omaha or not. Special kudos to Beverly Samuel, this year’s Friend of NEAFCS, and to Diana Doggett (KY) who received JCEP’s Creative Excellence Award.

Of course, no Annual Session would be complete without our business meetings, affiliate officer training's, sub-committee plan of work sessions and future Annual Session planning meetings. Thanks to everyone that took part in these important components that keep our association running throughout the year. I’ll share more details about board meeting highlights next month. Till then, to those 600 of you that were in Omaha – thanks so much for sharing the week with me! Hope to see even more of you next September in San Antonio! 

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2017 Friend of NEAFCS Award goes to Beverly Samuel
Theresa Mayhew (NY), Immediate Past President 

The Friend of NEAFCS Award is the highest honor bestowed by NEAFCS in recognition of an individual or organization who has made significant contributions to Extension Family and Consumer Sciences education programs.

Beverly Samuel provides national program leadership for Housing and Environmental Health, contributing to quality of life through sustainable housing initiatives that support healthy, safe and affordable housing; energy efficiency; disaster preparedness, response and recovery; and community living/engagement. She is the team-leader for Family Well-Being in the Division of Family & Consumer Sciences, focusing on financial capability, healthy family development, and home and community living. 

Beverly co-chairs the State Energy Extension Partnership to promote the adoption of energy efficiency and renewable energy. She serves as the NIFA Liaison to the eXtension Home Energy Community of Practice (CoP) and the eXtension CoP on Volunteer Administration. She serves on the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks to Children, Federal Interagency Committee on Indoor Air Quality, Federal Healthy Homes Work Group, Coalition of Organizations for Disaster Education, and Extension Disaster Education Network Executive Board (EDEN). Beverly oversees and has long championed the Master Family & Consumer Sciences Volunteer Program.

Prior to her USDA career, she was a Senior Extension Educator with Virginia Cooperative Extension for over 25 years. She also taught at State University College at Buffalo. She has received both the NEAFCS Distinguished Service and Continued Excellence Awards, a Virginia Senate Commendation, and recognition from the Governor of VA for outstanding community programming addressing critical issues. She has an M.S. in Housing, Interior Design and Resource Management from Virginia Tech, and a B.S. in Home Economics Education from Georgia College.

It was a very great pleasure to recognize and honor Beverly with this award and her gracious acceptance speech further amplified the many reasons she was selected! Congratulations, Beverly!

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Eastern Region at Annual Session
Diane Whitten (NY), Eastern Region Director 

Our region was well represented at the Annual Session in Omaha, NE (approximately 52 attended), but we missed so many of you who weren’t able to attend. Terri Mayhew, our now Immediate Past President, did a wonderful job as President during the conference. Other members added to the professional development opportunities by sharing their program ideas in concurrent session presentations and poster sessions.

One of the most important reasons to be a member of NEAFCS is our commitment to promoting and recognizing excellence in Extension Family & Consumer Sciences education. Therefore, I want to highlight the following individuals. If you know them, congratulate them on their success.

At the National Awards banquet we had members who were recognized for their service and programs including a 1st Place National Winner, Kathleen Savoie and team from Maine who won the Master Family and Consumer Sciences Volunteer Award for her use of volunteers in teaching home food preservation.

Distinguished Service Awards: Sherri Cirignano, NJ; Claudia Mincemoyer, PA; Andrea Bennett, WV.

Continued Excellence Awards: Sharon McDonald, PA; Margaret Miltenberger, WV.

At the Eastern Region Awards Breakfast we recognized the following:

NEAFCS Educator of the Year
Eastern Region Winner – Elaine Bowen, Eastern, West Virginia

Mary W.  Wells Memorial Diversity Award
1st Place Eastern Region Winner – Michelle Brill and team, Eastern, New Jersey

Dean Don Felker Financial Management Award
1st Place Eastern Region Winner – Barbara O’Neill, Eastern, New Jersey

Community Partnership Award
1st Place Eastern Region Winner – Lauren Weatherford, Eastern, West Virginia

Early Childhood Child Care Training Award
1st Place Eastern Region Winner – Gwen Crum and team, Eastern, West Virginia

Marketing Package Award
1st Place Eastern Region Winner – Loren Wells and team, Eastern, West Virginia

Program Excellence Through Research Award
1st Place Eastern Region Winner – Laurie Weinreb-Welch and team, Eastern, Pennsylvania

Communications Awards: TV/Video
1st P lace Eastern Region Winner – Leslie Forstadt, Eastern, Maine

Communications Award: Educational Curriculum Package
1st Place Eastern Region Winner – Elaine Bowen and team, Eastern, West Virginia

Communication Award: Internet Education Technology
1st Place Eastern Region Winner - Sara Elnakib, Eastern, New Jersey

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JCEP Leadership Conference . . . Balancing Tradition with Innovation
Lora Lee Frazier Howard (KY), President 

Mark your calendars for February 14-15, 2018 to attend the JCEP Leadership Conference in beautiful, warm Orlando, Florida at the DoubleTree by Hilton.  The Joint Council of Extension Professionals or JCEP is for any Extension educator, specialist or administrator that wants to support Extension leadership, planning and development nationwide, across all disciplines. You will have the opportunity to network with fellow county educators, specialist, and administrators at this conference.

JCEP will provide you excellent concurrent sessions. The planning committee decided to host another Town Hall Meeting.  The concurrent sessions and posters will provide learning opportunities that can be replicated in your community or association.  Conference tracks will include sessions on Balancing Tradition with Innovation: Engaging in Civil Dialogue; Effectively Communicating Impact; Attracting and Retaining a Nimble Innovative Workforce and Volunteers. I hope you decide to join us.

Registration and the final agenda will be available around the first of December but you might want to bookmark the website www.jcep.org.

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Share Your Work: Submitting a 2018 NEAFCS Presentation Proposal
Jami Dellifield (OH), Co-chair Program Development Subcommittee 

Starting December 1, you can submit your 2018 NEAFCS presentation proposal. You can choose to submit a proposal to present during a Concurrent Session or at the Showcase of Excellence. We have exciting news for 2018 as we are in the planning process for our Showcase of Excellence presenters to participate in the “World Café Roundtable”. 

We know that you are doing wonderful work that your colleagues would love to hear about!

Put your thinking caps on! What programs could you submit? Our program tracks for 2018 include:

  • Administration/Leadership/Community Development/Public Affairs
  • Life Span Development:  Aging, Human Development and related topics
  • Child Care/Child Development
  • Sustainable Living:  Textiles, Clothing, Housing, Environment and related topics
  • Life Member
  • Financial Management
  • Food Safety
  • Health
  • Nutrition
  • Parenting Education
  • Technology
  • 4-H and Youth Development
  • Potpourri (This track is for your innovative proposal that may not fit into one of the above tracks.)

Please join me and co-chair, Marcia Parcell (IN) on December 19, 2017 at 2 p.m. (EST) for a webinar on “How to Submit a Winning Proposal”.  We will share tips with you, and also help you learn more about submitting your proposal using the Catalyst System.

As you prepare to submit your proposal, ask yourself:

  • Does the program address an emerging issue, a relevant problem, or a community need? 
  • What are the objectives or outcomes for my presentation?  What will my participants learn?  Will they learn a new skill, ability or knowledge?
  • How was the program evaluated?  What methods or tools were used?  What impacts did the evaluation show?

All proposals must be research-based.  Research is defined as a literary review, citing your own research base, or your own research. Please include citations in your submission.

  • Is the program based on published research, approaches, and/or practices?  Please include references in your proposal.
  • If the program is a pilot or prior tested research explain the methodology.
  • If you are presenting a curriculum be able to explain how it was reviewed. Did the review check for science based, effectiveness, and accuracy? By whom was it reviewed?
  • Provide what evaluation tool was used and who and how the tool was validated.  If it is a pilot of a new tool, compare it to similar tools. 

You have 400 words when submitting your proposal, so use them wisely. Last, but not least, ALWAYS make sure your proposal is communicated clearly using good grammar. Have one of your peers read your proposal before you submit it to make suggestions on how you can improve it.

Since our proposal process is a blind peer review, please make sure you eliminate any reference to your name, your team member’s names, your state and your University. If your state or University is in the title or used any place in the proposal, just use the word “state” or “university” instead. 

After submitting your proposal, you will have until January 31, 2018 to make changes. The last day for submitting proposals will be January 31, 2018. 

Another way to learn about writing a winning proposal is to become a reviewer.  You do not have to be a member of the committee/subcommittee to be a reviewer. Look for the email or check the NEAFCS website for details on how to sign-up through Sign-Up Genius.  If you choose to review proposals they will be sent to you to review and return between March 1-17, 2018. 

Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions.

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Webinar Subcommittee Report
Amy Hastings Elizer (TN) 

During 2017, the webinar subcommittee updated the presentation proposal form, which is available at https://neafcs.memberclicks.net/index.php?option=com_mc&view=mc&mcid=form_206925 after a member has logged in. This is an excellent opportunity for members to add a peer-reviewed webinar to his/her vita. The subcommittee has also opened the way for partner organizations, such as Newell Brands, to conduct webinars.

Seven professional development webinars were or will be conducted with subcommittee members serving as moderators before the end of 2017. The webinar software being used has a capacity of 100 attendees. Webinar participants receive an online (SurveyMonkey) evaluation survey which allows presenters to get feedback on the webinar. 

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Tips and Tricks for Using a Mobile Device for Smart Extension Programming, Promotion, and Marketing
Marcia Parcell (IN), Program Development Subcommittee co-chair 

This pre-conference session from the 2017 Annual Session in Omaha was an informative and very interactive team presentation by Alice Henneman, Kayla Colgrove, Lisa Franzen-Castle, Amy Peterson, and Cami Wells.  The session provided a plethora of tips and tricks for many applications.  Every participant had opportunities to “toy” with applications or be assisted by more tech savvy individuals.

Through a pre-conference survey, the team determined applications to best assist in programming, promotion, and marketing.  The team had participants prepare for the session by downloading the following apps:  Snapseed, Instragram, Facebook, Twitter, Pic Collage, and Canva. 

During the session, each member of the team served as an expert on one of the apps. Cami Wells opened the session by engaging participants through mobile devices. She demonstrated using two devices to utilize audience engagement with Sli.do.  She gave a tip sheet about several applications with cost, unique features, possible challenges, and availability of data.

Alice Henneman showed how photos help provide for effective communication. She suggested the following tips for photos such as spooning out a portion of food, taking photos at a slant, using rules of thirds, including a pop of color, using close ups, cropping out distracting parts, and using leading lines.  Participants received a handout of steps and were given time to practice taking photos and enhancing them during the session.

Building on these photo tips, Amy Peterson demonstrated Pic Collage and creative ways to use it in extension such as promoting events. Lisa Franzen-Castle provided statistics about who uses Instagram and reasons to use it.  Instagram was taken to the next level by Kayla Colgrove who introduced everyone to Boomerang and how to go live on Facebook.  Participants had opportunities to create their own pieces on Instagram and Facebook.

This session was hands on. The presenters provided handouts for review for later use in implementing these applications in Extension work.  Every participant came away with multiple tips and tricks for using mobile devices for programming, promotion, and marketing in Extension.

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2018 NEAFCS Annual Session Invitation – San Antonio, Texas
Lorrie Coop (TX) and Linda Wells (TX), Co-Liaisons  

Howdy Ya’ll  . . . we would like to take this opportunity to extend a warm southern invitation to everyone to join us in San Antonio, Texas on September 24-27, 2018 for the  NEAFCS 2018 Annual Session and experience a great time “Building Capacity Through People, Programs and Partnerships”. 

The Texas Affiliate will be happy to showcase our diverse cultures which are a blend of Southern (Dixie), Western Frontier, Southwestern and Mexican/Anglo fusion.These cultures have all contributed to the historic heritage and interesting traditions that we have to offer our guests.  

Our TEAFCS membership is “TEXAS-Sized”, being over 200 members strong and are gearing up to be GREAT hosts.  Since TEXAS is the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream, Dr. Pepper and NASA, participants will surely enjoy an “out of this world experience”.

Traveling from east to west or north to south, you will be able to observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, and even some desert and majestic mountains.  There is something “beautiful” for everyone to see when you are “Deep In the Heart of Texas”!

TEXAS comes from the word “tejas”, meaning “friends” or “allies”.  By coming to Texas for the 2018 Annual Session, you will be able to “rekindle” friendships and make many new ones throughout the week, as you experience our hospitality and become “friends” for a lifetime. 

Join us in San Antonio, where YOU can be a  and smell the yellow of  TEXAS!!

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Meet The Board: Karen Munden, President-Elect
Karen Munden (VA), President-Elect 

First and foremost, I am so excited and honored to serve on the NEAFCS Board as your incoming President-Elect.  I have worked as a Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent for more than 15 years with Virginia Cooperative Extension.  My background includes serving on several local and state organization boards and I feel fully prepared to take this next step with NEAFCS.  During the past two years, I served as the very proud NEAFCS Southern Region Director.   Additionally, I served as the Virginia State Affiliate Vice-President of Public Affairs for two years, then President-Elect for two years, then President of Virginia State Affiliate for two years, and finally the Immediate Past-President for an additional two years before my Southern Region Director tenure.  Thus, I have more than 10 years of experience working on executive boards with the Associations of Family and Consumer Sciences.  Before moving on to the President-Elect position, I would like to THANK the Southern Region State Affiliates for your encouragement and support during these past two years.

Now, I as I begin my new role as the NEAFCS President-Elect, I would like to share with you some life lessons I have learned throughout the years and the ones thatI live my life by today.

  • My life motto is “If I can help someone along the way, then my living will not be in vain”.  This is the main reason I love being a Family and Consumer Extension Agent.  Every time I conduct an educational workshop, seminar, or provide educational materials to citizens, I am able to help someone improve their life.  My motto reminds me to give a friendly smile, words of encouragement and Big Hugs.
  • When facing difficulties.  After things calm down, I ask myself, what was I supposed to learn from this situation?  What did I do to contribute to the situation - positively or negatively?  I then take responsibility for any and all of my mistakes.  I like to look for Win-Win solutions instead of winners and losers solutions.
  • I am a risk taker. When I think I have gone as far as I can go, I push myself to go little further and I am was always amazed at the outcomes. Thus, when someone tells me I cannot do something due to their limited vision, I show them we can do everything when we put our Hearts and Minds to accomplishing it.
  • I don’t take things and myself too seriously that I miss out on the joys of life.  I have learned to laugh at myself and enjoy every moment I have on this earth.
  • Lastly, at the end of each year, I take time to review the things that took place in my family life, social life, and professional life during the year.  Then I determine how I can improve on things for the next.  As a new year begins,I develop goals and strategies to achieve those goals.

I would like to extend a word of encouragement to all and hope that you will continue to strive for success in your life.  Thank You in advance for your creativity, “Can Do” spirit, teamwork, dedication and commitment to help make NEAFCS’s continued success. 

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