The Nuts and Bolts of Webinars

by Nancy Turnage, VRPS Member Services Coordinator

75 minutes.  After countless hours and input from many sources, VRPS webinars typically come down to 75 minutes of "showtime".

As an example, this discussion will spotlight "What You Need to Know About Tobacco" which was conducted and recorded on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.

Rita Miller, VDH

November, 2015

Rita Miller, VRPS Board Lay Member and Virginia Department of Health Cessation Services Coordinator for the Tobacco Use Control Program, collaborated with Janit Llewellyn Allen, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Project Manager, on conducting a webinar for VRPS membership in which they inform attendees on (1) the dangers of tobacco use, and (b) limiting tobacco use within parks.

Timing is everything, and as they compared notes and planned at 2015 VRPS Annual Conference in Virginia Beach, Rita and Janit were also able to reign-in Annual Conference Keynote Speaker Tom O'Rourke, Executive Director Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission, to provide insight into their project.

January, 2016 

Janit met with VRPS Member Services Coordinator Nancy Turnage to schedule the webinar and identify the nuts and bolts.

Rita and Janit worked independently compiling slideshows to showcase content, with Rita focusing on:

• History of Tobacco
• Target Marketing to Youth
• Introduction of New Tobaccco Products
• The Toll and Perils of Tobacco
• How to Take Action
• The Facts About Cigarette Butt Pollution

Janit Llewellyn Allen, DCR

while Janit explored how three Virginia localities are addressing tobacco control and prevention.  Janit solicited the input of VRPS members Sarah Baldwin (Deputy Director, Fairfax County Park Authority), and Jim Perdue (Parks District Manager, Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation) to share their experiences of tobacco use restriction in parks within their localities.

On a separate but related effort, Rita and Janit are also collaborating on an article for the June edition of VRPS' Parks and Recreation magazine.

February, 2016

Courtesy Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation

When Rita and Janit felt they had final drafts, they solicited the assistance from peers at their respective Virginia agencies for feedback.

VRPS Central Office began marketing the webinar via the weekly E-update member newsletter, E-blasts, and Social Media posts.  Webinar registration and information was made available on the VRPS website.  Typically, VRPS webinars are free to VRPS members only.  Due to the nature of the critical content of "What You Need to Know About Tobacco", and in keeping with its goals, VRPS made the decision to make the webinar free to the general public.

VRPS goals include:

• Provide and encourage continuous training opportunities for members;
• Improve recreation, parks, and leisure services to the public;
• Update members on current trends and opportunities in the profession;
• Disseminate information to the public through use of publications and media;
• Maintain current academic curriculum;
• Involve interested citizens in advisory, participatory, and volunteer efforts supportive of parks, recreation, and leisure services programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia;
• Maintain a professional register of qualified recreation and park personnel.

March, 2016

While the slides were being created, edited, re-edited, and shared, the VRPS Certification Education Board was reviewing the webinar application to be eligible for .1 CEU by attendees who request to purchase and earn the CEU.

The CEU Board is comprised of:

• Chair, Shannon Moore, CPRP, Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation
• Ed Matthews, CPRP, City of Norfolk Recreation, Parks, & Open Space
• Vic Garber, CPRP, Charlottesville Parks & Recreation Department
• Ashley Greene, CPRP, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
• Arlana Fauntleroy, CPRP, James City County Parks & Recreation

The board reviews CEU applications to assure that the educational opportunity meets all criteria as defined by VRPS and NRPA:

1. Activity is planned in response to educational needs that have been identified for a target audience.
2. Activity has clear, concise, and measurable written statements of intended learning outcomes.
3. Qualified instructional personnel are involved in planning and conducting each activity.
4. Content and instructional methods are appropriate for the intended learning outcomes of each activity.
5. Participants must demonstrate their attainment of the learning outcomes.
6. The participants evaluate each learning activity.

April, 2016

Jim Perdue, Janit Llewellyn Allen, Rita Miller finalize details prior to the webinar.  Sara Baldwin was able to contribute remotely.

• VRPS scheduled a connectivity webinar test for all persons to be speaking during the course of the 75-minute webinar.
• The webinar was held and recorded.
• CEU certificates were distributed to those attendees who purchased and earned the .1 CEU.
• The webinar recording was made available via emails to registrants, the VRPS website, social media, and E-update.

Courtesy Fairfax County Park Authority

Many thanks to all the professionals who made this webinar, and all VRPS webinars, possible!

Making Connections at VRPS Annual Conference

by Janit Llewellyn Allen


* Environmental Program Planner,
Virginia Depatment of Conservation and Recreation

* VRPS Professional Member

* 2015 Annual Conference Education Session Speaker:  "Connecting through Webinars"

The VRPS conference is a great place to make connections. Whether by listening to speakers or through conversation at one of the fun evening events, you will meet folks eager to partner with you and help you develop as a parks and recreation professional. Making these connections often lead to relationships with colleagues across the Virginia. Through VRPS contacts you may be able to accomplish something you did not think possible – a new program idea, funding for that park update, writing that article you have been meaning to get to for a while or even a promotion or new job!  

I first met Rita Miller from the Virginia Department of Health and a VRPS Board member at the VRPS offices when I was preparing for a webinar. We talked and realized our mutual interests in health and outdoor recreation could benefit both our agencies and VRPS. After getting our state agency leadership teams on board with the idea of doing a joint paper about tobacco cessation in parks, we decided to meet in Virginia Beach at the 2015 VRPS Conference. While at the conference, we had a less than formal meeting in the hotel lobby. Our casual setting drew in others including keynote speaker, Tom O’Rourke, Executive Director of Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission. There in the hotel lobby before dinner, we talked, listened and began to hammer out an outline for our paper.

Rita and I believe our partnership grew during the VRPS conference. While we work in separate agencies with vastly different missions, our combined approach and commitment to recreation and healthy lifestyles fired up by conversations at the VRPS conference is motivating us to outreach about tobacco use in parks. We hope our partnership will lead to a win-win-win-win - for the Health Department, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, for parks and recreation and most importantly for the children touched by local, regional and state parks and programs and facilities who will address tobacco cessation.    

Be on the lookout for a spring VRPS magazine article written by Rita and me. The article offers outdoor recreation professionals the opportunity to take a lead role in implementing health goals for tobacco cessation. The door is open for parks and recreation professionals to affect change and make a difference in the lives of children and families across Virginia.