Southern Region Extension Forestry & Natural Resources Meeting

Southern Region Extension Forestry & Natural Resources Meeting

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What
  • Meeting
When Feb 02, 2023 08:00 AM to
Feb 03, 2023 12:00 PM
Where Hickory Knob State Park, McCormick, SC
Contact Name
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Meeting Details

Thursday February 2nd, 8am- 5pm and Friday, February 3rd, 8am-noon

Location: Hickory Knob State Park, McCormick, SC

Along the rolling, wooded shoreline of the 71,000-acre Strom Thurmond Reservoir, sits Hickory Knob, a full-service, lakeside South Carolina golf resort and remote state park all rolled into one. Tucked away in a serene, remote location, the park's many amenities and recreational opportunities are a pleasant surprise for many. Hickory Knob operates an 18-hole championship golf course, buffet restaurant, skeet shooting, boat ramp, archery range, meeting facilities and more than 70 lodge-style rooms. This South Carolina golf resort is an ideal location for a family getaway, reunion or a business meeting or retreat.

Amenities: fishing, golf, skeet shooting, archery range, boat ramp, canoeing 

Registration:

Registration costs include all meals on Thursday and breakfast and lunch on Friday. It also includes coffee and snacks, as well as drinks and a reception Thursday night. 

Lodging:

Hickory Knob State park has a full-size lodge and cabins available.  

  • Rooms have been reserved at the lodge for the group. To access one of the reserved rooms, call the park at 864-391-2450 and reference Folio #285-8576. 
  • For cabin reservations, go directly through the parks’ online booking system here.

Travel Details:

The park is located:

  • 1. 5 hour drive from Greenville, SC, 
  • 1 hour drive from Augusta, GA , 
  • 1.5 hour drive from Columbia, SC
  • 2.5 hour drive from Atlanta, GA

The nearest airports are Greenville, SC followed by Atlanta, GA.

Agenda

The meeting has been planned to foster stronger connections between experienced and newer Extension faculty and to create opportunities to develop regional projects and products. Participants will leave with new information on key topics, possible follow-up working groups or projects and ideas for journal articles. 

The goals of this meeting are to: 

  • Bring together forestry & natural resources Extension personnel from across the southeast to connect, share ideas and build on each other’s efforts.
  • Plan for time to work together on common issues/programming opportunities. 

Click here for a pdf of the agenda.

Day one schedule

Time Topic & Summary
7 am Continental Breakfast at Convention room
8:00 am Welcome & ice breaker, setting the stag
8:30 am
Funding Opportunities   Panel discussion 1
Learn more about the types and sources for external funding for research and Extension work. In addition, hear from panelists about small grants for specific causes and the pluses/minuses of joining large, regional, multi-state grants.
 9:30 am  Lightning presentations
 10:00 am  Break
 10:30 am
 Crossing State Boundaries to Leverage Resources: Regional Collaborations
Small-group discussion 1
Stories about successful regional work will kick off this discussion session. Participants will gather in cross-state groups to discuss common challenges for Extension FNR, how to find resources and opportunities for working together.
 11:30 am  report-outs
 12:00 pm  Buffet lunch- at restaurant
 1:15 pm Lightning presentations
 2:15 pm
 Disciplinary/Program Area Discussions  Small group discussion 2
Participants will choose a group working on the same disciplinary area, or to discuss a specific program area. Group discussions will be centered around emerging issues. The groups will identify emerging issues, define Extension’s roles, and discuss what resource are needed and how Extension can respond. 
 2:45 pm  Rolling Break
 3:00 pm  Small group discussion 2 continued
 4:15 pm
 Report-outs from small groups,
wrap-up: overview of what we've done & preview of tomorrow
 5:30 pm  Buffet dinner in restaurant- Steak & Shrimp

Day two schedule

Time Agenda Item
7:00 am Breakfast at restaurant
8:00 am Recap of yesterday, shared thoughts
8:30 am
Agent- Specialist Collaborations & Opportunities Panel discussion 2

In this panel discussion, agents and specialists will share stories of successful collaborations, discuss other opportunities that are beneficial for both and makes their jobs easier. While agents and specialists have differing responsibilities and are evaluated by different metrics, both benefit from close working relationships including faster dissemination of new research and working together on projects and applied research.
9:30 am
Extension Methods
small group discussion 3

In this combination of presentation & small group discussion time, participants will discuss their challenges & successes delivering Extension programs. Groups will also  discuss novel programming techniques, ways to incorporate research directly, as well as the post-Covid hybrid model/ virtual offerings and what’s next.
10:30 am Break
10:45 am Report-outs
11:15 am Wrap-up, next steps
12:00 pm dismissed

Submit a short abstract for a lightning presentation here: 

Lightning presentations will be a total of 5 minutes long with a couple of minutes for questions. They are planned to share new research, ideas, and programs that will inform small group discussions and one-on-one conversations during meals and break times.  

There are three themes for lightning presentations:

  •   Research You can Use: Share new findings or novel applications from your research. What is the information? How can it be applied? 
  • Communicating Impacts: Communicating impacts and evaluation results are a critical part of an Extension career. It can be difficult to convey the scope and type of impact that your programming/efforts contribute towards for your stakeholders. Present to your peers about the ways that you communicate impacts to your various stakeholders, advisory boards and more. 
  •  Novel Programs or Keeping Old Programs Fresh: Present information about novel programming approaches and/or ways that you have added a fresh approach to an old program. 

To submit an abstract for a lightning presentation, click this form ( Lightning Presentation Form ) to share a brief write up as-is, or to answer the questions in this form. You will be notified by January 10th that your presentation has been accepted. We will do our best to fit as many presentations as possible. 

  • Which category does your presentation fit?
  • Draft title:
  • What’s the key message?
  • 2-3 sentence summary
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