Post by Eileen Welch on Aug 25, 2017 21:03:15 GMT -7
Here is Sam's 2018 Conference Summary document for August 2017
2018 Conference Summary August.pdf (125.37 KB)
Text Follows
2018 State Master Gardener Conference: August 2017 Summary
Steering Committee:
Sam Thompson, Charlene Spiegel, Priscilla Coe and Sharon Walsh
Conference Committee:
Mary Vesely, Janet Blair, Mike Stoy, Sandy Liakus, Judy Carter, Scott Lake, Julia Runyan, Dudley Vines, Eileen Welch, Sangeeta Kala McCandless, Cindy Blue Horse, Jan Koehler, Marianne Sullivan, Gailen Zody, Rebecca Pulford, Jude Rudder, Kathleen Andrews, Rosario Fiallos, Christine Mink and Mary Lee Money.
Two meetings have been held. At the first meeting (July 28) an overview of SFMG experience with hosting the 2016 was presented and there was a discussion of their lessons learned. The proposed structure for carrying out the work associated with hosting was presented and members of the committee signed up to help as noted below.
Steering Committee
Overall responsibility for the conference. This committee will work on the various of levels of payment for the conference and the various deadlines that will be necessary. Determine policy for refunds. Determine provisions for spouse attendance at social events and associated fee. We will work with Activities to determine maximum number of participants for each event and communicate this to advance registration so that we close an event once it’s capacity is reached. We should consider having waiting lists available in case an event reaches capability. No overbooking like the airlines!
This committee will coordinate with Kelly White and Lynda Garvin.
Sam Thompson, Charlene Spiegel, Priscilla Coe and Sharon Walsh.
Activities Committee
Develop activities for conference participants including the evening reception of August 31 and the garden tours of Sept 2. Based on a suggestion at the meeting explore the possibility of a dinner event for Sept 1 (one suggestion was a catered dinner at the Old Church in Corrales). Determine cost for events (spouse attending just social events). There was a suggestion that Eileen Welch look into obtaining discount tickets for the Tram.
Charlene Spiegel, Chair, Sangeeta Kala McCandless, Sheila Conneen, Julia Runyan and Jude Rudder.
Speakers Committee
Develop conference theme and tracks. Select topics/speakers and develop objectives for each presentation.
Sam Thompson, Chair, Cindy Blue Horse Lemyra Debruyn, Dudley Vines, Sheila Conneen, Sangeeta Kala McCandless and Sharon Walsh.
Fundraising Committee (3 major subcommittees – two co-chairs needed)
Sponsorships. Solicit sponsorships for conference. Sandy Liakus and Janet Blair.
Raffle and Silent Auction. Solicit items for silent auction and raffle items from businesses as well as other county MG programs. Julia Runyan will contact the NM Quilters Association and ask for the donation of a quilt for the raffle.
Welcome Gift Bags. Obtain donations and/or solicit funding to purchase items to fill small welcome bags for conference attendees. Julia Runyan, Marianne O’Sullivan and Kathleen Andrews will lead this effort.
We all have some responsibility for fundraising – especially soliciting items for the silent auction.
Publicity
Select a logo for the conference. This logo will be used on all materials as the conference brand.
Develop a flyer for “Save the Date and Reserve your Spot” to be distributed August 31 to MGs around the state.
Develop a section of the website that will be devoted to the conference and activate paypal to accept conference payments. Develop the ability to track payments, names of conference participants and their contact information.
Develop a marketing strategy for the conference that targets both MGs and the public.
Scott Lake, Janet Blair and Mike Stoy Co-Chairs, Eileen Welch and Jude Rudder
AV Committee
Coordinate conference AV needs with venue. Coordinate with other counties to create loop of pictures for luncheon and video loop during breakfast of the Carbon Cowboys. (maybe there are other interesting and entertaining videos with a sustainability theme that would be interesting)
Conference Budget
Mary Vesely will be handling the money. If committees need help developing their budgets, Mary will help you.
Program
Mike Stoy suggested that hiring Barbara Rosener to develop and print the program would likely save us money (she did the Placitas Garden Tour brochure and it was great). Committee Chair Sharon Walsh will look into this possibility.
Registration
There are a couple of different elements to registration - advanced registration, follow ups with registered participants and the day of the conference registration.
Judy Carter, Chair, Eileen Welch, Jan Koehler, Julia Runyan, Marianne O’Sullivan Gailen Zody and Rosario Fiallos.
While we have committees with specific duties there will need to be considerable interaction between committees. Publicity and registration need to work closely on advanced registration. Also, if you have ideas for any committee, please share it with them in a timely manner.
The second meeting of the committee was held August 17 after each of the subcommittees had an opportunity to meet. The following provides an overview of subcommittee reports.
Venue
We have a signed contract with Marriott as of August 18, 2017.
Publicity Subcommittee and Registration Subcommittee
The subcommittee has identified their tasks, timeline and proposed budget. Major recommendations:
Logo for the conference has been completed as well as branding specifications. In addition, Mike Stoy has produced a wonderful original graphic that we discussed turning into a t-shirt for the conference. The Steering Committee will discuss this further.
Website needs to be established before August 31 (this is the date we wish to put out a “Save the Date” email to master gardeners). Domain name will be nmmgcon2018.org and it was recommended that we have godaddy host as they host our current website. Initially website will have information about date, location, conference theme and registration information. As more details about the conference are confirmed the website will be updated. Cost associated with website hosting $60.
On-line Registration will be handled by Eventbrite as it is a flexible site that meets our needs. The cost of this service will be factored in to the price of the conference. Eileen and Mary are still in discussions with Paypal to handle the on-line payments. Mary will also accept (and encourages) payment by check.
Printing. We will need to produce a nice colorful program as well as flyers and possibly rack cards. We will use the same designer used by the Placitas Garden Tour because she was able to obtain much better prices for printing (due to the volume she prints with various clients) than we could get on our own (PGT folks have already done this research).
Committee will continue to work on their timelines and to provide tentative budget estimates to Mary by August 21.
Speakers Subcommittee
The subcommittee reviewed the structure of talks and topics at the SFMG Conference and the feedback on it:
Keynote 1.25 hours. Feedback – too long.
2 one –hour breakouts in the morning where participants chose between 6 different topics and one tour.
2 one-hour breakouts in the afternoon where participants chose between 7 different topics.
22 speakers at the conference and only 3 topics were offered twice – this was noted as a problem.
The subcommittee agreed to offer tracks in which the topics have some relationship to each other. Candidate tracks and topics include:
The Sustainable Home Gardener
Measure your Carbon Footprint
The Pollinator Garden during the Four Seasons: Combining Beauty and Function
Graywater Use in the Garden
Effective Rainwater Use
Seed saving
Sustaining Your Community Through Gardens
Food Pantry Garden
School Gardens
Community Garden
Garden to Table Program
Traditions of Sustainability in New Mexico
Bridging Tradition and Science (Randy Chatto)
Preserving Techniques
Spanish Traditions
What does Tradition Teach Us?
The subcommittee will continue to brainstorm topics and speakers.
The Steering Committee will be meeting in the next week to establish: the registration fee schedule for the conference and deadlines. The deadlines will include the date when early registration will close and registration will open to the public.
2018 Conference Summary August.pdf (125.37 KB)
Text Follows
2018 State Master Gardener Conference: August 2017 Summary
Steering Committee:
Sam Thompson, Charlene Spiegel, Priscilla Coe and Sharon Walsh
Conference Committee:
Mary Vesely, Janet Blair, Mike Stoy, Sandy Liakus, Judy Carter, Scott Lake, Julia Runyan, Dudley Vines, Eileen Welch, Sangeeta Kala McCandless, Cindy Blue Horse, Jan Koehler, Marianne Sullivan, Gailen Zody, Rebecca Pulford, Jude Rudder, Kathleen Andrews, Rosario Fiallos, Christine Mink and Mary Lee Money.
Two meetings have been held. At the first meeting (July 28) an overview of SFMG experience with hosting the 2016 was presented and there was a discussion of their lessons learned. The proposed structure for carrying out the work associated with hosting was presented and members of the committee signed up to help as noted below.
Steering Committee
Overall responsibility for the conference. This committee will work on the various of levels of payment for the conference and the various deadlines that will be necessary. Determine policy for refunds. Determine provisions for spouse attendance at social events and associated fee. We will work with Activities to determine maximum number of participants for each event and communicate this to advance registration so that we close an event once it’s capacity is reached. We should consider having waiting lists available in case an event reaches capability. No overbooking like the airlines!
This committee will coordinate with Kelly White and Lynda Garvin.
Sam Thompson, Charlene Spiegel, Priscilla Coe and Sharon Walsh.
Activities Committee
Develop activities for conference participants including the evening reception of August 31 and the garden tours of Sept 2. Based on a suggestion at the meeting explore the possibility of a dinner event for Sept 1 (one suggestion was a catered dinner at the Old Church in Corrales). Determine cost for events (spouse attending just social events). There was a suggestion that Eileen Welch look into obtaining discount tickets for the Tram.
Charlene Spiegel, Chair, Sangeeta Kala McCandless, Sheila Conneen, Julia Runyan and Jude Rudder.
Speakers Committee
Develop conference theme and tracks. Select topics/speakers and develop objectives for each presentation.
Sam Thompson, Chair, Cindy Blue Horse Lemyra Debruyn, Dudley Vines, Sheila Conneen, Sangeeta Kala McCandless and Sharon Walsh.
Fundraising Committee (3 major subcommittees – two co-chairs needed)
Sponsorships. Solicit sponsorships for conference. Sandy Liakus and Janet Blair.
Raffle and Silent Auction. Solicit items for silent auction and raffle items from businesses as well as other county MG programs. Julia Runyan will contact the NM Quilters Association and ask for the donation of a quilt for the raffle.
Welcome Gift Bags. Obtain donations and/or solicit funding to purchase items to fill small welcome bags for conference attendees. Julia Runyan, Marianne O’Sullivan and Kathleen Andrews will lead this effort.
We all have some responsibility for fundraising – especially soliciting items for the silent auction.
Publicity
Select a logo for the conference. This logo will be used on all materials as the conference brand.
Develop a flyer for “Save the Date and Reserve your Spot” to be distributed August 31 to MGs around the state.
Develop a section of the website that will be devoted to the conference and activate paypal to accept conference payments. Develop the ability to track payments, names of conference participants and their contact information.
Develop a marketing strategy for the conference that targets both MGs and the public.
Scott Lake, Janet Blair and Mike Stoy Co-Chairs, Eileen Welch and Jude Rudder
AV Committee
Coordinate conference AV needs with venue. Coordinate with other counties to create loop of pictures for luncheon and video loop during breakfast of the Carbon Cowboys. (maybe there are other interesting and entertaining videos with a sustainability theme that would be interesting)
Conference Budget
Mary Vesely will be handling the money. If committees need help developing their budgets, Mary will help you.
Program
Mike Stoy suggested that hiring Barbara Rosener to develop and print the program would likely save us money (she did the Placitas Garden Tour brochure and it was great). Committee Chair Sharon Walsh will look into this possibility.
Registration
There are a couple of different elements to registration - advanced registration, follow ups with registered participants and the day of the conference registration.
Judy Carter, Chair, Eileen Welch, Jan Koehler, Julia Runyan, Marianne O’Sullivan Gailen Zody and Rosario Fiallos.
While we have committees with specific duties there will need to be considerable interaction between committees. Publicity and registration need to work closely on advanced registration. Also, if you have ideas for any committee, please share it with them in a timely manner.
The second meeting of the committee was held August 17 after each of the subcommittees had an opportunity to meet. The following provides an overview of subcommittee reports.
Venue
We have a signed contract with Marriott as of August 18, 2017.
Publicity Subcommittee and Registration Subcommittee
The subcommittee has identified their tasks, timeline and proposed budget. Major recommendations:
Logo for the conference has been completed as well as branding specifications. In addition, Mike Stoy has produced a wonderful original graphic that we discussed turning into a t-shirt for the conference. The Steering Committee will discuss this further.
Website needs to be established before August 31 (this is the date we wish to put out a “Save the Date” email to master gardeners). Domain name will be nmmgcon2018.org and it was recommended that we have godaddy host as they host our current website. Initially website will have information about date, location, conference theme and registration information. As more details about the conference are confirmed the website will be updated. Cost associated with website hosting $60.
On-line Registration will be handled by Eventbrite as it is a flexible site that meets our needs. The cost of this service will be factored in to the price of the conference. Eileen and Mary are still in discussions with Paypal to handle the on-line payments. Mary will also accept (and encourages) payment by check.
Printing. We will need to produce a nice colorful program as well as flyers and possibly rack cards. We will use the same designer used by the Placitas Garden Tour because she was able to obtain much better prices for printing (due to the volume she prints with various clients) than we could get on our own (PGT folks have already done this research).
Committee will continue to work on their timelines and to provide tentative budget estimates to Mary by August 21.
Speakers Subcommittee
The subcommittee reviewed the structure of talks and topics at the SFMG Conference and the feedback on it:
Keynote 1.25 hours. Feedback – too long.
2 one –hour breakouts in the morning where participants chose between 6 different topics and one tour.
2 one-hour breakouts in the afternoon where participants chose between 7 different topics.
22 speakers at the conference and only 3 topics were offered twice – this was noted as a problem.
The subcommittee agreed to offer tracks in which the topics have some relationship to each other. Candidate tracks and topics include:
The Sustainable Home Gardener
Measure your Carbon Footprint
The Pollinator Garden during the Four Seasons: Combining Beauty and Function
Graywater Use in the Garden
Effective Rainwater Use
Seed saving
Sustaining Your Community Through Gardens
Food Pantry Garden
School Gardens
Community Garden
Garden to Table Program
Traditions of Sustainability in New Mexico
Bridging Tradition and Science (Randy Chatto)
Preserving Techniques
Spanish Traditions
What does Tradition Teach Us?
The subcommittee will continue to brainstorm topics and speakers.
The Steering Committee will be meeting in the next week to establish: the registration fee schedule for the conference and deadlines. The deadlines will include the date when early registration will close and registration will open to the public.