SOUTHEAST ADVISORY LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 

The Organization and Staff Development Group of PLC endorsed a proposal submitted by Dr. Judy Groff, Advisory System and Program Development Leader, North Carolina Cooperative Extension in 1999. The first Southeast Advisory Leadership Conference on Strengthening Advisory Leadership took place May 3-5, 2001, in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Ten states participated in the conference with approximately 80 Extension faculty and advisory leader participants. The conference was planned as an interactive conference to gather baseline data about advisory leadership in the South, share resources and ideas, and learn how successful systems operate. The objectives were to:

1. Clarify the benefits of involving people in advisory leadership.
2. Share how advisory leadership is organized and how it is accomplished.
3. Identify critical issues relative to advisory leadership.
4. Identify characteristics and strategies to achieve an ideal vision of advisory leaders and
    Extension workers who lead them.
5. Share resources and curriculum for building capacity of advisory leaders.

Products of Conference

• Conference Proceedings published on the Southern Rural Development Center Web site.
• Recommendation to develop training curriculum for agents and advisory leaders.
• Consensus to continue this conference on an annual basis with a goal of more volunteers at the next conference. Virginia indicated an interest in hosting the next conference. 
• Exemplary models: Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia.
• Other proposed models.
• Baseline data collected from survey of participating states.
• List of desirable characteristics of advisory leaders and extension agents who lead them.
• Identification of key issues regarding advisory leadership.
• Recommendations on operational themes.
• Recommendations for resolution of key issues.
• State plans for application of knowledge in their advisory systems.
• This conference as an example of a successful Multi-state Program Proposal.

States brought curriculum materials used with advisory leadership or displays about what advisory leaders are doing. The first day theme was,  Involving Volunteers to Enrich Programs.  Dr. Jon Ort talked about the genius of the Land-Grant university and why advisory leadership is so important in keeping extension relevant and funded during state and federal budget cutbacks. Following that, Dr. Ben Ruffin, Chair of North Carolina Board of Governors for the University of North Carolina General Administration, congratulated the group, asking how they can help the organization, and Ethel Tarleton, volunteer from Louisiana spoke about the benefits to the people who volunteer.

Day two featured the following themes:

• Organizing and operating for success with Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Texas as state models.
• Defining success in advisory leaders and extension workers.
• Identifying essential elements for a model for excellence.

The conference ended with Dr. Peggy Meszaros, Director, Center for Technological Impact on the Family and Immediate past Provost, Virginia Tech, speaking on "The Power of Partnerships."

From Strengthening Extension Advisory Leadership in the Southern Region, a Southern Region Extension Advisory Leadership Conference held in Charlotte, N.C., May 3-5, 2001