Announcements

Strategic Initiative Brief: Virtual lessons learned

Unify-Communicate-Advocate

The Strategic Initiatives offer a home for strategic thought, drawing on members of the wider UC ANR community and beyond to 1) help people connect and 2) to help them identify and address issues of current and emerging importance. 

1. Virtual lessons learned: Capturing the positives from COVID 

When shelter-in-place orders were issued, many ANR people quickly pivoted their programs, successfully using a range of virtual options to deliver them. A recent example was the Dairy Program Team, who creatively delivered their webinar series; speakers developed their messages as five-minute videos. These videos focused on major points and were then used as the introduction for panel discussions and Q&A. Feedback on the sessions was very positive (including an observation from a facilitator who noted that for the first time they didn't have to worry about speakers going over time!). 

See the Virtual delivery page on our Learning and Development site for tips on how to better deliver virtually.

The way of the future? Many people have indicated they will continue to use many of the virtual delivery methods, noting they often ended up reaching more people than with their traditional approaches. Please visit the site and share new lessons learned to help your colleagues. 

For more on the SIs and their activities, contact:

Jim Farrar: Pests (EIPD)

OPEN: Natural Ecosystems (SNE) (Let us know if you are interested in making sure SNE has a voice)

David Lewis: (Water)

Deanne Meyer: Food Systems (SFS)

Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty: Families and Communities (HFC)

Mark Bell: Vice Provost (Strategic Initiatives and Statewide Programs)

STAR winners and retirees to be recognized June 17

ANR will host a special staff recognition event on Thursday, June 17, from 2 to 4 p.m.  via Zoom. We will be celebrating our ANR colleagues who are retiring in June, and we will also recognize the 2020-2021 ANR Staff Appreciation and Recognition program (STAR) Award winners.

Please register by Friday, June 11, at https://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=34993. Prior to the event, registrants will receive a formal confirmation email that includes the Zoom link.

Attention: STAR awardees, nominators and supervisors of awardees should register using the STAR registration form at https://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=34986, not the link above. 

For more information contact, Kellie McFarland at ANR Program Support Unit or (530) 750-1361. STAR Award winners will also be announced in the next ANR Employee News.

Interested in exchanging video ideas?

ANR offers online training on how to make videos. To further hone video-production techniques, Jeff Mitchell, UCCE specialist, is wondering if ANR colleagues would be interested in an informal way to exchange ideas.  

“I am talking about an active, quick-fire workgroup of similarly interested folks who could share tips and skills,” Mitchell said. While he doesn't have a specific communications mechanism in mind, Mitchell would like to hear from others who would like to share techniques about video production. If you're interested, please contact Mitchell at jpmitchell@ucdavis.edu. 

In the Frontiers in Communication article “Why Should Scientists be on YouTube? It's all About Bamboo, Oil and Ice Cream,” USDA-ARS scientist Eric Brennan writes, “DIY videos are not a silver bullet that will automatically improve science communication, but they can help scientists to 1) reflect on and improve their communications skills, 2) tell stories about their research with interesting visuals that augment their peer-reviewed papers, 3) efficiently connect with and inspire broad audiences including future scientists, 4) increase scientific literacy, and 5) reduce misinformation.” 

Brennan and Douglas Gayeton, creative leader of The Lexicon of Sustainability, recently joined Mitchell to give a presentation to ANR communicators on the use of video in science communication. Brennan, a research horticulturist in organic systems, noted that while his peer-reviewed journal articles may get a couple dozen citations, videos about his research get as many as 200,000 views. To view a recording of the presentations, visit https://youtu.be/FXxvbHV7Ois.

Dig into the Big Dig Campaign-In-A-Box toolkit

Your Campaign-In-A-Box toolkit is available to begin promotions for Big Dig Day, ANR's statewide giving day, on June 4. 

Check out these resources in the Campaign-In-A-Box:

• Save-the-date flyers for each program
• Peer-to-peer templates: Want to invite your friends/family/colleagues to support you and donate to your campaign, but don't know how to ask? Use a template to send a personal email or social media post!
• Press release template: Send to your local media outlets for additional promotion

Happy McGivins is our Big Dig Day mascot. You will find a "Flat Happy" cut out in the toolkit. Take Flat Happy with you to your garden, workplace, virtual club meetings, etc. and snap a selfie! Then post it on social media with a message that says, "I dig (INSERT PROGRAM NAME) because...(FILL IN THE BLANK!") #BigDigDay #GiveBack

Webinar recordings: 

ANR: "Big Dig Day & Social Media: Strategies for Success"

4-H: "Big Dig Day & Social Media: Strategies for Success"

Master Gardener: "Big Dig Day & Social Media: Strategies for Success"

If you have questions, contact Emily Delk, director of annual giving, at eddelk@ucanr.edu or (916) 564-4862.

New tools in ANR communications toolkit

See what's new in the ANR communications toolkit at https://ucanr.edu/sites/communicationstoolkit. Upon request, new slide templates have been added to the kit.

Google Slides

A Google Slides version of our UC ANR Powerpoint template can be found in the UC Davis template gallery. Scroll down to Presentation Designs to find the template called "UC ANR Google Slides Template English." To view the full template list, you may need to click on the down arrow which first appears at the bottom of the list.

UC ANR overview slides

Three PowerPoint presentation slides with UC ANR overview information, including a map of ANR locations and a list of statewide programs and institutes, have been added. Download UC_ANR_overview_slides by going to Logos & Templates, then clicking on Downloads, then the UC ANR logo.

If there are other resources that you would like to see added to the ANR communications toolkit, please email your ideas to lforbes@ucanr.edu.

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