The Latest Dirt - September 2024
Speakers Bureau needs your help!
by Hedwig Van Den Broeck under guidance of Andrea Salzman
Due to our many dedicated volunteers, Speakers Bureau is tremendously successful in our outreach to “extend research-based knowledge and information on home horticulture, pest management, and sustainable landscape practices to the residents of California and be guided by our core values and strategic initiatives.” - UC Master Gardener Program Mission Statement
With this article, however, I’d like to address the critical volunteer challenges we currently face within Speakers Bureau and the program risks. We are currently without both leadership and the many other critical roles needed to keep our Speakers Bureau programs continuing. Recruiting new co-leads, in particular, has been a bit of a challenge across our UC Master Gardener program. This is not just a Speakers Bureau issue.
It takes many of our talented hands to produce these wonderful programs. Unfortunately, we have no Speakers Bureau leadership, and only one webinar team volunteer (BIG thank you, Marissa Smithwick!!!) joined us this year. Therefore, we do not have the volunteer resources to carry on this project as we have done in the past four years. If we cannot find volunteers, the webinar programs will stop at the end of this year.
THIS IS WHERE WE NEED EVERYONE TO COME TOGETHER --- We have SO many talented Master Gardeners Volunteers in our midst. Speakers Bureau needs you to join this fabulous and important outreach project! Let us make sure we continue providing such valued education to our community.
You are ALL invited to join us on Zoom (date & time TBD)
and learn more about the many ways that you can contribute.
Previous leads, team members, Dawn, Laura, and Volunteer Support will be present to answer any questions or concerns you might have.
Speakers Bureau has done an excellent job of breaking jobs into small parts and creating new jobs based on volunteers’ interests. Andrea Salzman and Gail Burt meticulously documented all of these jobs during their tenure, and they are available as training tools. During the Zoom meeting, we will discuss all available volunteer opportunities, training, and mentorship.
Stepping up into leadership or non-leadership roles is crucial to making our projects shine and our outreach successful. And I do not doubt that joining this enthusiastic Speakers Bureau team will be something you can also get enthusiastic about.
If you cannot make the Zoom meeting and/or would like to talk to me directly about Speakers Bureau volunteer opportunities, I would love to hear from you. My email is hedwigvdb@gmail.com, or you can call me at 859.351.0953.
I volunteer for several other projects, and although I only function as a stand-in lead for Speakers Bureau, I will try my best to hold down the fort until more team members join, learn the ropes, and take over.
Thank you!