The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service

  
Vol. 13, No. 31  June 12, 2007

IN THIS ISSUE...

...Word from the Associate Director - Extension and Applied Research
...CMS Training Dates -- Please Sign Up!
...Reduced IET Staffing
...Country Living
...4-H Discovery Days Action Team - Request for Applications
...Marie's Pick of the Week
...River Valley District Awarded First Health Rocks! Grant in Kansas
...Linking Academics and Health: Coordinated School Health Conference
...Marketing Minute: Making Meetings Meaningful
...Master Schedule

                                                                                                           ...Tuesday Letter Archives

WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
Got another good message from Kirk Weisler. Were you aware that Kirk is going to be our motivational speaker at this fall's K-State Research and Extension Annual Conference, October 15 - 18, 2007?

THE SEVEN C's OF SUCCESS by Brian Tracy

After having studied top achievers and peak performers over the past 25 years, I've concluded that these unique men and women, have in most cases, mastered what I call the Seven C's of Success. 

1. Clarity - Eighty percent of success comes from being clear on who you are, what you believe in and what you want.

2. Competence - You can't climb to the next rung on the ladder until you are excellent at what you do now.

3. Constraints - Eighty percent of all obstacles to success come from within. Find out what is constraining you or your company and deal with it.

4. Concentration - The ability to focus on one thing single-mindedly and see it through until it's done takes character and determination.  

5. Creativity - Flood your life with ideas from many sources. Creativity needs to be exercised like a muscle, if you don't use it you'll lose it.

6. Courage - Most in demand and least in supply, courage is the willingness to do the things you know are right.  

7. Continuous learning - Read, at the very least, one book a week on business to keep you miles ahead of the competition. And just as you eat and bathe, organize your time so you spend 30 minutes a day exploring e-mail, sending messages, going through websites, because like exercise, it's the only way you can keep on top of technology. If you get away from it, you'll lose your edge.

With some minor modification to make them ring to the tune of educators, I believe these seven C's work pretty well for any of us within K-State Research and Extension! --Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu

The available dates are:
Tuesday, June 19
Wednesday, June 27
Friday, July 6
Monday, July 9  

--Linda Sleichter lsleicht@oznet.ksu.edu

REDUCED IET STAFFING
From June 16-20 most of the IET staff will be off-campus, attending a professional development conference. The IET Helpdesk will be staffed during this time, but many of OzNet's services, including e-mail and web functions, will be in unattended mode.

Should there be an interruption in service, IET staff will not be in the office to immediately address it, but will respond upon notification.  To report a disruption of service during this period call IET at 785-532-6270 and the appropriate people will be notified.

Normal operations will resume June 21, 2007.   

And a reminder:  There is now a new Oznet Intranet address, https://intranet.oznet.ksu.edu .  Also, when prompted for your username and password, you must now put ad\ in front of your username, triggering additional password encryption and better security.  This change does not affect CMS webs as the usernames and passwords are handled differently. --Larry Jackson ljackson@ksu.edu

COUNTRY LIVING
Just the title makes many people dream of a country estate setting that many, if not most Americans, would consider ideal. The perception is that if we could just live in the country, it would be cheaper and better than living in the city. Generally, however, for a similar home and features, the opposite is too often true. Because of the many differences between country and city living, many needs must be considered before a move to the country. Such planning will help avoid surprises, unnecessary expenses, and the dream becoming a nightmare.

Country Living is the title of a new bulletin that Kerri Ebert and Morgan Powell in Biological and Agricultural Engineering are finalizing.  The initial version, from which they drew heavily, was compiled by a Kansas Environmental Leadership Program (KELP), Applied Leadership Project. Two Extension Agents have expressed strong interest in this publication and will be reviewing it. We expect there will be much interest in it and want to make it as broad as possible to meet needs for all Kansas locations.

We welcome input from anyone who has interest in this subject and who would be willing to review it. Just contact Morgan, well@ksu.edu ; or Kerry, KEbert@ksu.edu ; at 785-532-5813, to let us know of your interest and we will send a copy.

We need to hear from you before the end of June to consider your input. --Morgan Powell

4-H DISCOVERY DAYS ACTION TEAM - REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS
We will have several openings on the Discovery Days Action Team this year!  Agents, adult volunteers, and youth are all needed to serve. Agents and adult volunteers serve three year terms. Youth serve two year terms.  Applications for the Discovery Days Action Team are due in the State 4-H Office by June 15 each year.  Application forms are available at: http://www.Kansas4-H.org/ActionTeams/ . --Justin Wiebers jwiebers@ksu.edu

MARIE'S PICK OF THE WEEK
While continuing to review the database for items especially effective at helping us understand how our work can be highlighted to share outcomes, impacts, and success stories, this week’s selection is an Impact Report from Dan Fung.

Health Rocks!, which targets youth ages 8-12, utilizes a collaborative approach to reduce youth risk factors. By focusing on positive youth development and life skills development, Health Rocks! prepares young people to make healthy lifestyles choices which include avoiding tobacco and alcohol, managing stress and developing physical activity habits. 

Eubank and Lott applied for the grant following their attendance at Kansas' Health Rocks! training held in April at Rock Springs 4-H Center as part of Extension's annual HealthFest!. The fourth annual HealthFest! is scheduled for April 18-19, 2008. For more information about HealthFest! or Health  Rocks!, contact Elaine Johannes, ejohanne@ksu.edu ; or Carol Fink, cfink@ksu.edu . For information about the local implementation of Health Rocks!, contact Robin Eubank, reubank@ksu.edu ; or Amanda Lott, amandal@ksu.edu . --Elaine Johannes

LINKING ACADEMICS AND HEALTH : COORDINATED SCHOOL HEALTH CONFERENCE
Kansas Coordinated School Health will host its 2nd Annual Conference on October 1st and 2nd at the Wichita Airport Hilton, Wichita, Kansas. Dr. Cindy Symons, Kent State University professor and former school teacher, will keynote the conference and will present on "Linking Academics and Health: Healthy Students Make Better Learners." Breakout sessions will address school health and include a variety of topics, such as physical activity in the classroom, oral health, tobacco, and body mass index.

For more information, including a tentative agenda and hotel information, please go to www.kshealthykids.org , and click on "Upcoming Events;" or contact Shannon Bergmann at sbergmann@ksde.org  or 785-296-2726. --Elaine Johannes ejohanne@ksu.edu

-Schedule them correctly. Avoid Monday morning blahs and Friday afternoon getaways. Tuesday mid-morning is the best time to schedule meetings. Set a meeting length, so that meeting participants can schedule accordingly.

-Prepare an agenda, and stick to it. Some fluctuation is necessary, but avoid letting the meeting ramble off-topic. Instead, make sure the essentials are covered first and discuss more open-ended topics toward the end.

-Send material ahead of time, so that meeting time isn't spent reading verbatim what could have been sent via e-mail.

-If you are just trying to share information - not trying to make decisions or instigate actions - then consider avoiding a meeting and instead post the information via e-mail or your Intranet staff page.

-Speak succinctly and concisely. It may be necessary to introduce some background information before making your point, but try to do so as efficiently as possible.

For more on conducting an effective meeting, check out the book, 'Herding Chickens,' by Dan Bradbary and David Garrett. For K-State Research and Extension marketing questions, contact Pat Melgares or Linda Sleichter. --Linda Sleichter lsleicht@oznet.ksu.edu

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