Debbie Archer called to order the annual meeting of the PLN Communications Committee at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007.

The following persons were in attendance: Debbie Dalhouse, Frankie Gould, Elizabeth Gregory, Tom Knecht, Haven Miller, Gloria Mosby, Liz Mosely, Garvin Quinn, Bob Reynolds, Dee Shores , Carolyn Whatley, Annie Young, Robin Adams and Debbie Archer.

Reports from Monday, Aug. 27 meetings

Program Leadership Committee Meeting - Gloria and Frankie

•  PLN 2008 meeting will be held in Greensboro , N.C. Aug. 25-29 at the Sheraton Four Season.

•  The PLC face-to-face winter meeting will be held on Dec. 11-12 with location TBA.

•  PLC conference calls for following year are scheduled for Oct. 18, Feb. 22; April 17, June 19 and July 17 if needed.

CECP Steering Committee - Robin

•  Moodle is the new software for creating CECP modules

•  Module creation needs to move forward

•  Copyright is the only CECP approved module

ECOP National Marketing Initiative - Frankie and Elizabeth

•  Committee appointed to better market and communicate the Extension brand

•  Shared results of the survey - Extension seen as trusted, in-touch, recognized, relevant and capable, but also old and unwieldy. Most marketing efforts now designed for county and state government elected/appointed officials and community leaders. Organization's most significant challenges are budget/funding, communication a consistent brand or message for Extension in the state, and coordinating efforts and resources from various Extension programs. Most offices spend less than $99,999 for marketing and majority have shops with 0-4 staff members.

•  Group now in second phase - RFP sent for a national marketing survey

•  2 proposals now being considered

•  Desire is to have final results by next summer

Digital image management system - Tom

•  MSU using Gallery

•  Open source

•  Gives various users access

State Reports

•  LSU-Frankie - "After the Storms" tab developed and distributed

North Carolina - combined marketing director for 1862 and 1890; A&T directed flash drives

Journal of Extension Report - Gloria

•  JOE is soliciting articles and needs reviewers, particularly with expertise in the agricultural sciences

•  1890s submitting few articles and only has one reviewer

•  JOE rigor has increased and they have a 30-40 percent acceptance rate

eXtension Update - Dan Cotton joins the group

•  Make sure everybody has an eXtension ID - 4,698 active ID's; 30% of CES workers and only 75% of the goal

•  eXtension has 5-6,000 pages of content

•  eXtension has new website aboutextension.org

•  several new launches planned entrepreneurs in Aug., EDEN in Sept., parenting, consumer hort and daireXnet in Oct., livestock/poultry/beef cattle production in Nov.; diversity and long-term care giving in production

•  Goal is to have 10-12 up by Feb. 21-22, 2008 in time for the Ag Outlook Conference. Planning a national launch and some type of event.

•  Encourage people, especially communications staff, to work with a Community of Practice, particularly those where specialists in your state are taking leadership roles. Shared with the group the work done by Carol and Virginia in Alabama to support the Fire ants COP.

•  Discussion within group on what support means and how work with eXtension can be measured. Group discussed developing a marketing/communications toolkit that COP's can use.

CECP module development updates

•  Disaster Communication - content coming along; draft complete by Jan. '08. May be split into two modules or determine how to narrow the focus. Frankie suggested using SCOOP- Safety and Continuity of Operations Plan as a separate module.

•  Exhibits - no work done

•  Developing Rules for Writing - on going ready for review by Aug. '08. Hard to develop this as a writing module. Using some interactive tools in Moodle to make the module more interactive and provide some type of feedback.

•  Digital Photography - on-going - Aug. 08 ready for review

•  Developing Media Relations - content in good shape, moving over to Moodle. Need to contact authors of "Media Relations Made Easy" since the audience will be expanded. Ready of Jan. '08 review

•  Marketing - assumed the module had been CECP approved. Elizabeth will check to see and move to Moodle

Communications Committee Officers

•  Debbie completing chairs role, Dee becomes new chair, Robin becomes vice chair and Haven is elected the new secretary. Gloria leaves as PLN Representative and Debbie elected to this post. Frankie continues her role and the 1962 PLN representative.

Action/Information Items for PLN Meeting

•  Status of Guidelines for Charges, Royalties, Permissions and Sponsorships - information item, location final copy and have ready for Oct. PLN conference call

•  Unified Process for Marketing and Communicating eXtension COP - information item

State Reports:

. Georgia - flash drives, recruitment materials, vegetable disease fans and sells of book "A Walk Through Georgia," College Media Relations Policy developed and approved

. Texas - restructuring of communications/marketing staff; name change to Texas Agri-Life Extension, Texas Agri-Life Research, but not the academic section; more focus on strategic branding.

. Kentucky - communications unit evaluation - questions on how to report and use the results PLN Executive Committee Report - Frankie, Debbie
      . Confusion over action and information items
      . Guidelines of Royalties, etc., get status and/or policies from every state before moving document forward. Group will rethink the document, change the timeline and put back on the agenda.

Communications Committee Conference Call Schedule
      . Wednesdays at 2 Central and 3 p.m. Eastern Oct. 17, Feb. 20, April 16, June 18, July 16 (if needed)

PLN Communications committee adjourned the meeting at 10 a.m. The next conference call is scheduled for Wed., Oct. 17 at 2 p.m. CST.

Minutes submitted by: Robin Adams