MSU Extension Fall Extension Conference

Below you find information on the sessions that will be held during Breakout Session 4 on Wednesday, Oct. 21 from 4:15-5:15 p.m.

4-H Tech Changemakers in Chippewa County: Building Digital Skills and Introducing AI Across Extension Programs

Learn how the 4-H Tech Changemakers program in Chippewa County has expanded digital literacy by building technology confidence, strengthening partnerships, and engaging diverse audiences. This session will explore how technology education, including artificial intelligence (AI), can be integrated across Extension programs and community initiatives. Participants will brainstorm ways to incorporate AI tools and 4-H Tech Changemakers curriculum strategies into their own work while identifying opportunities for collaboration. Attendees will leave with ideas for developing partnerships and adapting this model across institutes to expand digital literacy and community impact.

A Completely Reasonable Professional Development Session

What if professional development involved accusations, bluffing, and dramatic last-minute speeches? This interactive session invites participants to play Blood on the Clocktower, a highly social board game designed around teamwork, storytelling, and community interaction. Come curious, leave suspicious of your coworkers. We will limit it to 12 players per round, but more folks are welcome to join and observe - it is still fun to just watch the chaos unfold!

Best Waze to Use PEARS Events: Getting Right to the Point

Review common mistakes and key event details so you can confidently create registrations that are accurate, user-friendly, and ready for publication.

Building Our Own Table: A Toolkit for Transformative Cooperative Extension Food Sovereignty Partnerships that Center Black Women Leadership

Zoo City Farm and Food Network is a Black woman-led local food policy council, industry association, and a network of conscientious consumers, urban growers, folk artisans, and microretailers. They own multiple properties across Kalamazoo and have developed a micro food industry ecosystem model for a sovereign food system. For nearly a decade Zoo City Farm and Food Network has partnered with MSU Extension. Based on our experiences working together, we have developed an iterative framework of inquiry and best practices that support our ongoing work together. As an Extension educator, Mariel has had to be imaginative about ways to support the work and demonstrate the humility needed to work through discomfort when strategies for progress have not been what was considered traditional in the context of the white-dominant institution. Remi has faced multiple challenges advocating for her voice and the quality of her work to be reflected in the local food system. As DEI is being dismantled in institutions across the United States, we’re adapting our approaches and maintaining our vision. We will share the toolkit we developed and offer an interactive session exploring the materials and activities together.

Coaching Without the Title: Influencing Up and Across

Ever left a meeting wishing you had spoken up? Struggled with a coworker whose actions impact your work? Wondered how to give honest feedback to your supervisor without damaging the relationship?

Some of Extension’s most important leadership happens without formal authority. This interactive session will help you coach peers, influence decisions, and navigate courageous conversations using practical tools, real-world scenarios, and hands-on practice to build stronger relationships and lead from any seat in the organization.

Conflict to Collaboration: Leading Strong Personalities in Volunteer Programs

The session introduces a structured, risk-based framework (coachable, escalating, and high-risk situations) to help staff determine appropriate responses. Participants will learn and practice the PALS approach (Pause, Ask, Listen, Speak) to guide difficult conversations, along with strategies for managing “big personalities,” setting boundaries, and redirecting behavior while maintaining dignity.

Instructional techniques include:

• Real-world scenarios and case examples drawn from volunteer systems
• Guided reflection and self-assessment questions
• Practical scripting for difficult conversations
• Interactive discussion on common myths and assumptions
• Application of decision-making frameworks (risk assessment, 5R model: Retrain, Redesign, Reassign, Refer, Retire)

Participants will leave with actionable tools, real time responses, and frameworks they can immediately apply in both in-person and virtual volunteer environments.

Everything DiSC Workplace Profile  - Part 2

Have you ever wondered why some people just don’t get you? Or ever thought "I cannot even begin to know what my boss needs—even when I ask, I am still not sure." Most of us have felt that way at one time or another! The good news is there’s a simple tool designed to help you understand yourself AND other people too. Everything DiSC® helps you build more effective working relationships based on an understanding of different behavioral styles.

This is a two-part session. Attendees must attend both parts.

How Hosting a Foreign Exchange Student Taught Me to Be a Better MSU Extension Educator

Lessons learned from interactions with the local school district, life with a non-native English speaker, and regular interaction with teenagers, on how to be a better communicator, educator, and employee.