Leadership Development Trainings are day-long workshops for EMGs, agents, and coordinators organized by the State Coordinator’s Office each year. Leadership Development Training workshops offer EMGs throughout the state a chance to expand their knowledge in administrative topics like meeting facilitation, marketing, and group leadership. Leadership Development Trainings are often held in the fall and are announced via the VMS and the biweekly email.
2020 Virtual Leadership Development Series
This year the State EMG Office hosted a virtual series in place of our in person leadership development training. Sessions took place throughout October and all Master Gardeners were welcome to join. If you missed this year’s sessions, watch for similar sessions next fall and please view recordings below!
October 1: Volunteer Engagement in a Virtual World (not recorded)
As trainings and meetings are moved to a virtual platform, how can volunteers build and sustain meaningful relationships within their unit and the greater community? The State EMG Office will facilitate a discussion focused around how units throughout the state are staying engaged in a virtual world. There will be small group breakout rooms for more in depth discussions and brainstorming between participants.
Session Resources:
October 8: Racial Understanding Dialogues (not recorded)
We welcome VCE’s Coming Together for Racial Understanding Team (Maurice Smith, Thomas Woodson, and Crystal Tyler-Mackey) as they lead discussions on this timely and important subject. We are offering this session to provide a productive platform for dialogue about race-related concerns within the Extension Master Gardener Program.
Session Resources:
- Presentation slides, click here
- TED talk video, “How to raise a Black son in America”: https://www.ted.com/talks/clint_smith_how_to_raise_a_black_son_in_america/
- Implicit bias video, “Peanut butter & Jelly and Racism”: https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-implicit-bias-peanut-butter-jelly-and-racism/
October 15: Programming Pivots: New Program Development during the Pandemic (not recorded)
Join us to hear about three different programs throughout the state that were developed in the midst of the pandemic and our need for virtual programming. Panelists will share about their programs and lessons they learned along the way. After a Q&A session with our panelists, we invite session participants to share new and innovative programming that their unit took on in the past months. Please come prepared to share (no more than 5 minutes, please).
Session Resources:
October 22: Creating Engaging Presentations (recorded, available here)
Join three Extension Agents as they give you tips and tricks for creating and delivering presentations that will keep your audience engaged. This session will also cover issues of copyright, credits, and branding.
Session Resources:
- Presentation slides, click here
- Copyright law works cited, click here
- Properly citing images guidelines, click here
- Video shown during presentation: “5 Things ever presenter needs to know about people”
- SESSION RECORDING, click here
October 29: People Problems: Managing Conflict Locally (not recorded)
Join Charlotte Glenn, State Coordinator of the North Carolina Extension Master Gardener Program, and Dave Close as they share the principles of conflict management, role play various conflict scenarios, and lead small group discussions on the topic.
Session Resources:
2018 Leadership Training
Materials for the Leadership Training Meetings held in early November 2018 throughout the state.
EMG Office Updates Presentation
John Freeborn
News and projects from the EMG State Coordinator’s Office, including strategic planning updates and 2019 EMG College
Project Evaluation Presentation
John Freeborn
Including tips for changing “we’ve always done it this way” projects, plans of work, and project proposal forms
Communications Part 1
Devon Johnson
Including updates on new communications templates and downloadable items
Communications Part 2
Devon Johnson
Including guidelines on managing social media and writing/distributing press releases
2017 Leadership Training
Materials for the Leadership Training Meeting held on November 8, 2017 in Chesterfield, Virginia. View the meeting agenda
Program Updates
Dave Close & John Freeborn
This presentation details recent program updates including changes to tracking volunteer hours, the new coordinator’s handbook, and updates on Master Gardener College.
Cost Recovery
Joyce Lattimer
This presentation, given by Joyce Lattimer covers cost recovery for EMG units and includes key terms used for describing program costs and instructions for using the cost calculation spreadsheets.
Strategic Planning Overview
John Freeborn
This presentation describes the strategic planning process for EMG units and includes examples of goal setting and planning exercises.
Marketing
Lindsey Nelson
This presentation describes marketing strategies for EMG units and includes links to resources for attribution-free images and online documentation creation.
2016 Leadership Training Documents
Materials from the meeting at Residence Inn Downtown Charlottesville on Wednesday, November 2, 2016. View Meeting Agenda
Transitioning the Vision into Action
Martha Walker
This presentation, given by Martha Walker, walks you step-by-step on how to best take ideas and turn them into reality. It covers: designing a strategic plan, building a plan of work, facilitating the meeting and much more!
Working with Youth
Jeremy Johnson and Tonya Price
This presentation is from the workshop lead by Jeremy Johnson and Tonya Price on working with youth. The objectives of this workshop include: identifying the 4-H guidelines for working with youth programs of Virginia Cooperative, identifying age-appropriate activities for use in the extension educational design process, and how to practice behavior management strategies. for working with youth.
Empowering Volunteers as Agents of Change
Dr. Curtis Friedel
This presentation, given by Dr. Curtis Friedel, will develop an awareness of adaption-innovation theory. It will also explain how the more adaptive and more innovative prefer to work with structure. Finally it will develop guidelines for developing a problem- solving culture among volunteers. Click the image to download the slides from the presentation.
The Extension Master Gardener Program: Update
Dave Close and John Freeborn
Throughout the course of the year, the Office of the Extension Master Gardener Program, has been hard at work to help serve the EMG programs from all across the state of Virginia. Dave Close and John Freeborn present on the new updates from the program including: the EMG Training Handbooks, Social Media, Youtube Videos and much more.
Conflict Resolution
Dan Goerlich
Dan Goerlich, the Central District Director of Virginia Cooperative Extension shared his thoughts on conflict resolution. Dan shares 9 things to keep in mind when dealing with conflict resolution.
2015 Leadership Training Documents
The Extension Master Gardener Program: Basics and Overview
John Freeborn
John Freeborn’s presentation on the Extension Master Gardener Program. From its creation in 1979 the program has grown and developed over the years, but its mission to bring the latest horticulture research from Virginia Tech and Virginia State University to the people of the Commonwealth. This presentation has the most up-to-date information on the program as a whole.
Managing Conflict: Dealing with Difficult Volunteers
Dave Close
There are many things that can lead to / bring about conflict. In his presentation, Dave Close identifies frequent sources of conflict within Extension Master Gardener groups as well as how to navigate through them.
Communication Challenges
Kevin Camm
In this presentation, Kevin Camm shares what he has learned about communication challenges throughout his years of serving as a unit coordinator and extension agent. Kevin looks at some of the hindrances to clear communication and addresses some proven ways to overcome them.
Running Effective Meetings
Scott Baker
Scott Baker presents and extensive talk on how to facilitate meetings at work. He goes into two key components that can make or break a meeting: planning and communication. This presentation provides great insight and practice advice for facilitating a productive meeting. Also included is a sample meeting agenda that can be customized for your next meeting.
Meeting Agenda Template