Hello to all!
This week we have had a flurry of activity in the Government Relations Department. We've been working on a series of advocacy materials to roll out for the Centennial Congress so now is crunch time on all three sets of materials. We also welcomed a "new" Outreach Manager on Thursday! I say "new" because we'd already been working with SKJ for some time. Congratulations and we're so happy to have you working with us!
Last night was also one of our MENC Webinars. For those of you who may not have heard of a "webinar," it is a web seminar. You log-on from your home computer and see the powerpoint presentation as the speaker goes through it and hear them speaking through your speakers or your telephone. There are a variety of interactive tools including immediate-results polls and a question and answer box where your questions are answered by the speaker on-air.
This webinar was titled "New Leader Warm-up, Tuning Up for Your New MEA Role." It specifically targeted new MEA leaders (mostly president-elects) but was open to any leaders who wanted an MENC-refresher. MENC President-Elect Barbara Geer was the featured speaker with several staff members, including Dr. Mahlmann and myself, also participating. Although I've done quite a few webinars, I'd never actually spoken on one of them until last night!
The webinar pre-conference began 45 minutes before the actual webinar. Barbara and I were joined by our webinar moderator and we worked out some of the timing issues since I was turning the slides as Barbara was presenting from her home in North Carolina. As people began logging in about 15 minutes prior to start, we turned out the "previews" which is a series of rotating MENC promotional slides much like you might see at the movies. At this point all of the MENC presenters had gathered in the same room.
This week we have had a flurry of activity in the Government Relations Department. We've been working on a series of advocacy materials to roll out for the Centennial Congress so now is crunch time on all three sets of materials. We also welcomed a "new" Outreach Manager on Thursday! I say "new" because we'd already been working with SKJ for some time. Congratulations and we're so happy to have you working with us!
Last night was also one of our MENC Webinars. For those of you who may not have heard of a "webinar," it is a web seminar. You log-on from your home computer and see the powerpoint presentation as the speaker goes through it and hear them speaking through your speakers or your telephone. There are a variety of interactive tools including immediate-results polls and a question and answer box where your questions are answered by the speaker on-air.
This webinar was titled "New Leader Warm-up, Tuning Up for Your New MEA Role." It specifically targeted new MEA leaders (mostly president-elects) but was open to any leaders who wanted an MENC-refresher. MENC President-Elect Barbara Geer was the featured speaker with several staff members, including Dr. Mahlmann and myself, also participating. Although I've done quite a few webinars, I'd never actually spoken on one of them until last night!
The webinar pre-conference began 45 minutes before the actual webinar. Barbara and I were joined by our webinar moderator and we worked out some of the timing issues since I was turning the slides as Barbara was presenting from her home in North Carolina. As people began logging in about 15 minutes prior to start, we turned out the "previews" which is a series of rotating MENC promotional slides much like you might see at the movies. At this point all of the MENC presenters had gathered in the same room.
And then, we were off! Within the first few minutes, there was a problem so the operator pulled our line out of the conference to talk to us offline. It was at that point that I realized Barbara might be cuing for a new slide, but I couldn't hear her! I quickly asked the operator to have the person email our technical support for immediate assistance and was placed back into the conference. I went ahead and flipped the slide guessing that it would be the appropriate timing. Thankfully it was!!
The presentation then rolled smoothly on and it was time for MENC staff to present! We all did a fantastic job (if I say so myself). Then, fellow blogger EWL helped me queue up the questions for our moderator. Because of the number and variety of questions coming in, we had to direct our moderator which questions needed to be asked and in what order. It is a hectic and adrenaline-filled 25 minutes of Q & A! Of course it appears effortless to the viewer.
And then it was done...for now! Our next webinar, Working with Allies - Associations and Businesses, is open to all members. If you would like to sign-up, simply click on the webinar link. Using your member number and the discount code MENCFREE you can join us on May 22nd. We hope to see you there!
Around the Water Cooler: I'm only slightly okay with no one going home on American Idol. As RF mentioned, she'd guessed that was the "big surprise." I have some advice for Blake...he needs to keep his chin down. I've seen up his nose entirely too many times. He likes to accentuate the notes with a head nod up...and I can't take it anymore. Really. If he can fix that and add a little more of his personality and flavor back in, he can still be my favorite. But until that time, I'm rooting for Jordin and Melinda. And maybe Phil if he can keep the country sound. :)
