The Community Seminar Series Playbook: A model for outreach

"The Community Seminar Series Playbook" is a publication created by a team from the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) at the University of Illinois Urban-Champaign and the University of Illinois Extension. It is published by the Extension Foundation for the Cooperative Extension Service. This magazine was made possible with funding from the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) grant program. The 13-page publication describes the Community Seminar Series (CSS) model, which provides valuable, evidence-based health and well-being information to the general public, while helping graduate students and postdoctoral researchers develop vital public engagement and science communication skills. This playbook describes the processes the CSS leadership team follows to develop the series, develop the webinars, and evaluate the effectiveness of the sessions. It is a step-by-step description about how the team accomplished its work, and includes sample forms.

Publications

PLAYBOOK A model for community outreach and student development The Community Seminar Series from the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Illinois Extension

INSIDE

WELCOME

PUBLICATIONS Editorial, Design & Production Rose Hayden-Smith Heather Martin Copyright © Extension Foundation Creative Commons Attribution-Non- commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Interna- tional (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Published by Extension Foundation. Citations for this publication may be made using the following: Kansas City: Extension Foundation (2023). The CSS Playbook (1st ed). ISBN: ISBN 978-1-955687-23-2 This work, ISBN ISBN 978-1- 955687-23-2 is supported by New Technologies for Agriculture Exten- sion grant no. 2020-41595-30123 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommen- dations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In March 2020, the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Univer- sity of Illinois Extension launched the Community Seminar Series

The CSS Model Series structure, participants, and goals Series Development Gathering presenters, planning and promoting the sessions, registering participants Webinar Development Choosing topics and creating, delivering content

Series Wrap-up & Evaluation Debriefing what worked and areas for improvement, assessing partici- pant feedback, and planning future sessions Seminar Series Resources Templates, marketing flyers, forms, and other materials to help you build your own Community Seminar Series

(CSS). The CSS provides valuable, evi- dence-based health and well-being infor- mation to the general public, while helping graduate students and postdoctoral re- searchers develop vital public engagement and science communication skills.

The CSS program hosts three webinar series each year—in the spring, summer,

and fall terms—supporting the University of Illinois’ land grant mission to give the community access to high-level education and research and to contribute to the health of all citizens, regardless of race or socioeconomic status. Over 9,000 participants had at- tended the virtual seminars as of November 2022, including com- munity members, health professionals, and Extension educators. This playbook describes the processes the CSS leadership team follows to develop the series , develop the webinars, and evaluate the effectiveness of the sessions. The leadership team coordinates, markets, and evaluates all CSS programming, works with presenters to identify webinar topics and matches presenters and mentors. The team that created the IHSI CSS and this playbook included the following: • Chelsey Byers, MA (Family Life Educator, Illinois Extension) • Kelsey Hassevoort, Ph.D. (Research Development Manager, IHSI) • Max Wallace, BS (Graduate Coordinator, IHSI) • Dee Walls, MA (Extension Outreach Associate, Illinois Extension) We hope this publication provides other Extension teams with inspiration and information to create or enhance their own pro- grams for community outreach and student development.

HOW TO USE THIS PUBLICATION 1. Be inspired. Use our model to create a Community Seminar Series in your state or region. 2. Advocate. Show this publication to your Extension Director and talk about how to use a seminar series to enhance your institution’s public outreach. 3. Share. 4. Give feedback. Did this publication to inform your Extension work? Share what you’ve learned with us by emailing contact-us@extension.org. Share this publication with potential community partners who could help you scale a Community Seminar Series.

Website extension.org Contact Bryan Cave LLP One Kansas City Place

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Health seminar series combines Extension, university, and community resources Model CSS The

Webinar Developers & Presenters Six to 10 graduate students or post-doctoral researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign each present at one webinar in a series, on topics related to their research (and often requested by previous attendees). They also peer-review each other’s content.

Mentors & Webinar Hosts Each presenter is paired with an educator from Illinois Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

3 series per year

CSS Goals Educate the community about health & wellness

“Autumn Health Picks “ “Springtime Science” “Summer Self-Care”

6-10 one-hour weekly webinars per series

students in communication & presentation Mentor Fulfill the land grant mission by engaging the public

Attendees Community members, university and Extension staff from around the country, and health professionals

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Recruit presenters.

SERIES Development PART ONE

Select webinar topics. Recruit Extension mentors. Request continuing education,

professional development unit approval. Develop marketing and communications material. Promote the series.

sign-up spread- sheet. Presenters are also asked to sign up to serve as peer reviewers for their fellow presenters. Once presenters have committed to a presentation date, the CSS leadership team sends them Zoom invitations for the relevant meetings involved

Recruit Presenters This step begins at least two to three months before a series starts, to allow adequate time for presenter onboarding, topic selection, mentor matching, and series marketing. Presenters are recruited through a variety of methods, including the following: • targeted emails to faculty, requesting that they share the opportunity with their research trainees (graduate students and postdocs) • targeted emails to graduate student organi- zations (e.g. Nutritional Sciences Graduate Student Association) • virtual newsletters distributed campus-wide to graduate students (Grad Links) and faculty and staff (e-week) Members of the CSS leadership team meet indi- vidually with interested prospective presenters or, where possible, with groups of prospective presenters to share program goals and expecta- tions in more detail (see slide deck) and to answer prospective presenters’ questions. Once a research trainee commits to presenting, they are added to the CSS team on Microsoft Teams (the platform currently used to coordinate the program). This allows presenters to sign up for a presentation date and add the required information about their presentation (title, description, etc.) to the series

Gather participant feedback.

in the webinar development process (their webi- nar session, slide review session, and slide review sessions for which they’ve agreed to serve as a peer reviewer). Select Webinar Topics The CSS leadership team works with presenters to select a theme and related topics for each webinar series, making sure there is sufficient variety in the topics. The topics are selected primarily from requests by previous series attendees and from suggestions made by student presenters. After each webinar series is complete, program leadership creates a wrap-up document that summarizes the list of presenters, topics, dates, attendance, feed-

Creating a

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Marketing and communications content for the webinars—like these email and social media banners—should be final at least six to eight weeks before a series begins. u

Webinar Topics

“Stand Up Against Sitting Down: The Benefits of Sitting Less” “The Myths and Misconceptions of Metabolism” “Active Aging: Using Exercise to Maintain Health Across the Lifespan” “Brain Waves: What Can They Tell Us?” “The Science of Vaccines” “Aromatherapy in Brain Health: Facts vs. Fiction” “Making Your Habits Stick: All you need to establish lasting behavior change”

When making requests to these entities, the CSS leadership team must provide information about the webinar topics, descriptions, objectives, and pre- senter credentials. This last piece of information is collected via a presenter bio form that all presenters must complete when they sign up for a series. Once our requests to be able to provide CEUs and/or CPDUs have been approved, the availabil- ity of continuing education credit can be adver- tised on series registration/marketing materials. If approval is pending, materials can be marked “approval pending” to send marketing out ahead of the series. Develop Marketing & Communications Material Marketing and communications material for each series are developed by the Illinois Extension statewide marketing team, with input from the CSS leadership team. To allow sufficient time for mar - keting asset development and series promotion, we have found that (topics, dates, session descriptions) should be finalized at least six to eight weeks before the start of the series. Marketing assets for a series typically include digital Flyers, social media graph- ics, and email/social media banners. The Extension marketing team is also responsible for creating a webpage on the Illinois Extension website to host all session materials (recorded webinars, handouts, and evaluation links). To maintain consistent branding across series (as well as consistency with University of Illinois Ur- bana-Champaign brand standards), the Extension

back, and recommendations for continuous im- provement for each webinar in the series. Potential topics identified during the series are summarized and used for input for future series. Recruit Extension Mentors Once webinar topics are identified and finalized, the series sign-up spreadsheet with series dates, presenters, and topics is shared with prospective Extension mentors. Mentors typically sign up to work with a presenter based on the mentor’s expertise or interest in the topic the presenter is covering. Once mentors have signed up, the CSS leadership team sends them Zoom invitations Mentors typically sign up to work with a presenter based on the mentor’s expertise or interest in the topic the presenter is covering. “

to the relevant meetings involved in the webinar development process (their mentee’s slide review and webinar sessions). For all new mentors, a member of the CSS lead- ership team shares a mentoring guide, outlining their duties and offering them tips for making it the best experience for them and their students. Request Continuing Education, Professional Development Unit Approval When offering continuing education for par - ticipants, the CSS leadership team works with services that provide continuing education units (CEUs) for allied health professionals and/or con- tinuing professional development units (CPDUs) for teachers/educators. The CSS leadership team partnered with the University of Illinois College of Education to offer CPDUs to interested webinar attendees, and an outside organization (Continu- ing Education Institute of Illinois) to offer CEUs. In our experience, we only receive audience re- quests for CPDUs during the summer series (when school is not in session and teachers are available to attend series webinars), so the CSS currently only offers CPDUs for the “Summer Self-Care” series. CEUs are offered year-round.

marketing team has developed a unified template and stylized wordmark for the program. This template allows for distinctive marketing for each series, while maintaining a unified brand. Addi - tional marketing material is in the appendix. Promote the Series Once marketing assets have been developed, the CSS leadership team can begin promoting the series. This involves the following steps:

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WEBINAR Development PART TWO Draft the presentation. 1. Peer Review the presentation. 2. Draft the Presentation During this phase, the graduate student develops a complete outline of their presentation and meets with their Extension mentor to receive feedback on the overall scope and flow of the presentation.

1. Schedule a Zoom meeting for each series webinar. A member of the CSS leader- ship team handles this and it can be done as soon as all presenters for a series have signed up and decided on their session title and de- scription. The team sets up each meeting so that partici- pants wait in a waiting room until the presenter is ready to let them in. 2. Create a registration form four to five weeks before the series begins and include it in your series Flyer. The CSS

p CSS promotional video

This outline serves as a guide as the presenter prepares a set of draft slides. The student also receives a PowerPoint template to maintain con- sistent branding for the series and Illinois Exten- sion’s best practice guide for presentations. The guide includes suggestions for the PowerPoint’s visual look and fair use of images, as well as for creating handouts and engaging with an audi- ence during a presentation. The document also contains links to websites that may be helpful in designing learning programs for older adults, who often comprise a substantial portion of the audi- ence for these webinars. Peer Review the Presentation In the second phase of the process, Extension mentors and peer mentors review the graduate student’s webinar content one week before the presentation. 1. The graduate student shares the slide deck and handouts with the reviewers by 5:00 p.m. the day before the review. 2. During the review, the grad student shares a brief overview of their background and re- search expertise.

leadership team has used a vari- ety of tools to create the form— our own Extension program registration system, Zoom’s registration, and the college’s registration system. All have had their perks and drawbacks. Use what works best for you. A CSS lead will ask for the following informa- tion from registrants: • name • age, gender, race, and ethnicity • how they heard about the program • if they want professional development credit (CEUs/CPDUs) • whether they are an Extension employee • sessions they plan to attend We also collect demographic information from webinar attendees via a Zoom poll at the begin- ning of each session. 3. Distribute marketing materials through the following: • your university’s internal communica- tions (such as weekly email newsletters • email address • county/state • level of education

Deliver the webinar.

to faculty, staff, graduate students; and weekly email blasts) • news releases to local publications, in flyers, and on community calendars • social media • state Extension websites and Extension associations Gather Participant Feedback To identify and evaluate the effectiveness and reach of the program, the CSS leadership team surveys webinar attendees, asking them about their knowledge on the topic before and after the session, how relevant the session information is to their lives, and what they recommend the CSS covers in future sessions. Attendees receive a link to a Qualtrics or Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) survey in the chat at the end of the presentation; they also access the survey by scanning a QR code on the final slide. You can find more information about the specific eval - uation processes employed for the Community Seminar Series in the “Webinar & Series Evalua- tion” section.

3. The grad student, the Illinois Extension mentor, and the peer mentors review the slide deck for content, flow, and how information is presented on the slides. 4. The grad student incorporates edits. 5. The grad student prepares an outline of the presentation and reviews it with the Illinois Extension mentor and the peer mentors for feedback. Deliver the Webinar In phase three, the graduate student presents the webinar. A CSS leadership team member sends an email to participants one hour prior to the session, including the Zoom link, and an evaluation link. The student presenter, the mentor, and CSS leads all join the webinar 15 to 20 minutes prior to the start time so that the student can set up their slides and the mentor and student can clarify such things.

See WEBINAR page 12

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SERIES Wrap-up & Evaluation PART THREE

RESOURCES Seminar Series PART FOUR

Marketing Materials

Series Preparation Documents

Debrief for Lessons Learned Following each webinar, the CSS leadership team, the presenter, and the mentor debrief the session to determine the lessons learned. To evaluate a whole series, the CSS leadership team reviews participant survey responses aggregated in Excel, with multiple choice questions sorted by bar charts and written responses recorded in the series evaluation document. Answer Additional Participant Questions The leadership team curates a list of questions asked during the session and sends it to the graduate student so that the student can answer questions that weren’t not fully addressed during the session and share additional information about the topic. Post Series Recordings After the debrief, all sessions materials and a closed-caption recording of the webinar are post- ed on the Illinois Extension webpage. A CSS lead

Debrief for lessons learned. Answer additional participant questions.

Seminar Series Flyer Individual Session Flyer Virtual Newsletter Example

Seminar Series Signup Sheet Presentation Best Practices Guide Extension Mentor Guide Slide Reviewer Guide CEUs & Biographical Data Form

Day-of-Session Materials

Post series recordings.

Suggest future series.

Extension Mentor Introduction Script Session Follow-Up Email Example

Recruitment Resources

Evaluation Materials

emails a short summary of the session with a link to the recording to participants. Suggest Future Series The CSS lead asks the presenter for suggestions for future webinar topics—and looks at partici- pant surveys for ideas for future series. student presenter, and ask participants to share in the chat where they’re joining from and to take the demographics poll. They also provide a link in the chat for those who want professional devel- opment credits to check in. Once the slides begin, participant videos should be kept off to focus on the speaker and the presentation. The session ends with participants being given access to the evalua- tion survey.

Email to Faculty to Recruit Presenters for CSS Email to Previous Presenters for Upcoming Series Medical Student Recruitment Flyer

REDCap Survey Session Debrief Template

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as if the student will take questions from the audi- ence as they come in or at the end of presentation. Once everyone on our end is ready, a CSS lead accepts participants from the waiting room and starts recording the session. The Illinois Extension mentor opens the session, following a script to welcome the group, introduce themselves and the

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