How to Begin

If you are interested in teaching Annie's Project in your state, please contact us first to check and see if Annie's Project is already being taught in your state. If it is, we will be able to connect you with the appropriate people to help you with your ideas and goals for bringing Annie's Project to a new audience. If not, we will work with you to get you trained and ready to teach this program in your state.

Once proper connections and training have been completed, you will be ready to facilitate. Annie’s Project can be a challenging course to facilitate. The information below will help you through the process.

Budget

• Basic Annie's Budget (.xls)
  • Funding Explanation for Iowa 12 for 2012
  • Spreadsheet for Iowa 12 for 2012 (.xlsx)

Steering Committee Support

A steering committee meeting is an essential element in preparing for an Annie’s Project course. A steering committee meeting is a well-planned, one-hour discussion with female stakeholders from the area. A one-hour discussion means the facilitator must be prepared and keep on time.

The goal of the steering committee meeting is to build credibility and investment with stakeholders. Credibility and investment come from stakeholders giving their input and the facilitator using it.

1. Have steering committee members prioritize and expand on topics
2. Gather names of agricultural professionals who will be presenters, preferably female
3. Collect names of potential participants
4. Ask steering committee members to promote the course

Vetting Instructors
When you open Vetting Presenters for an Annie’s Project Course you might feel overwhelmed. Don’t be. This document is a written version of what Tim shared with you in your Annie’s Project training.
The document is broken into three parts.

1. Read the instructions first, pp. 3 through 6.
2. Before you schedule your appointments with potential presenters, read the Topic Paragraphs, pp. 7 through 12. The paragraphs give you a better understanding of who you need.
3. When you get ready to meet with a potential presenter, take a copy of her Topic Page(s), e.g. Crop Insurance for the insurance agent, to read.

Online Registration

Advertising for an Annie's Project Annie’s Project requires more than an 18-hour commitment from participants. The marketing campaign has to convince potential participants that Annie’s Project is worth their time. As a facilitator you, too, have invested much time. You have secured funding, held a steering committee, scheduled the Real Colors® presenter, reserved the facility, and lined up the caterer. Do not short change your efforts by minimizing your marketing campaign. While many recommendations in Advertising for an Annie's Project Course seem typical to promote a program, the intensity level is higher. The document has recommendations and examples for advertising pre, during, and post.

Intake Evaluations for an Annie's Project
When you open Intake Evaluation for an Annie’s Project Course, you’ll notice that we have both the information gathering and dissemination directions. This document is a written version of what was shared with you in your Annie’s Project training with a twist. You will need to print and copy two documents for every participant.

1. Demographic Intake Instrument
2. Risk Management Intake Instrument

Participants fill out the intake evaluations the first evening, you spend some time processing the data according to the directions, and next thing you know, you have results like Tom's that you can share with participants and instructors. Those results can help the instructors to see what they need to focus on within their topic area.

End of Course Evaluation
The end of course evaluation has been significantly modified for 2012. Like the intake evaluation it asks for the participant's identification code. Like the intake evaluation, it is available both online and in a pdf version. The pdf version allows the site coordinator to print copies for each participant, have them completed by hand, enter the data, and request a report in the same manner as the intake evaluation. It will require a fair amount more data entry for the facilitator, so it's in the facilitator's interest to attempt to have participants complete the End of Course evaluation online.

• End of Class Evaluation pdf version
• End of Class Evaluation online version
• End of Class Evaluation docx version
  (Note that fundamental changes using the docx version to adapt to your state or site will make it difficult or impossible to enter your data online for automatic reporting as discussed in the Intake Evaluation directions. Feedback is requested and appreciated.)