Best Kept Secrets
For years, some of our colleagues here in Iowa and many more throughout the nation have remarked that extension is a “best kept secret.” Just last week, Representative Bruce Bearinger referred to us that way when tweeting about our hotlines. Type “extension best kept secret” into Google and most of the top 10 results refer to extension work. (The others deal primarily with hair extensions, where I imagine a secret is a good thing.) But being a secret is nothing to be proud of for us. I’ve heard the reasons why for years – we tend to be busy and don’t like to promote ourselves. Most extension professionals don’t like the spotlight. It’s hard to fully understand all the variety of work we do.
To reverse this situation, we need a game plan. We need equipment, drills, plays, and strategies. (Sort of sounds like football, but then again, the Super Bowl was just last Sunday.) We need a playbook and our Organizational Advancement team is preparing one right now. You’ll receive your copy in time for Extension and Outreach Week, March 24-30.
The Advancement Playbook is a guide for our organizational marketing efforts. It contains plans to promote and advance Extension and Outreach and advocate to external partners about our educational mission and program impact. The Playbook will make it easier for all players in our system — statewide, on campus, and within counties and regions — to function as one team with one game message: We are a community-based education unit providing the state with educational goods and services that benefit many.
And therein lies the trick, which a playbook is designed to help address – to sort through the clutter, learn fast, and communicate faster. See you there.
– Cathann
The playbook looks to be a great step in beginning the conversation about our “secret.” It is definitely time to blow the top off this secret business. Looking for a great game and winning this contest of educating the people of Iowa about the Extension and Outreach.
Just exactly what is the Organizational Advancement team and who are members of the team? Are there any members from the cities, towns, and country who are the arms and legs of Extension?
Francis,
The Organizational Advancement unit consists of four staff members on campus as well as four advancement specialists in the field, each covering multiple counties. However we work with and rely on fellow “advancement ambassadors”:
• Extension and Outreach faculty and staff on and off campus
• 900 elected county council members
• Key partners across the university
So, yes, the “arms and legs” of Extension and Outreach are part of the Organizational Advancement team.
The ISU Extension & Outreach “Cyriders” RAGBRAI team is playing in a field of 15,000+ bike riders every summer in July. Traveling the full width of Iowa by bike for a week and the training hours spent in and around Iowa’s rural communities proves we are committed to Iowa. We are proud to wear the colors of ISU and promote healthy people, environments and economies. The team was formed 7 years ago and would like to invite others to join in. We promote the benefits earned with this activity and fun lifestyle. I challenge anyone to come up with a more dynamic marketing tool for ISU E & O.