Countdown to N4HC: 89 Days

The days are drawing closer to National 4-H Conference! As Ged Matthews, a conference coordinator, spoke about the logistics behind our travel to Washington D.C. my excitement grew. Facilitators will arrive to the conference center a few days early to prepare and receive additional training before the delegates arrive.

On our latest Zoom (similar to Skype) call with all of the National 4-H Conference facilitators, we discussed the procedures and “go to people” for our roundtables. Our roles, as facilitators, our host, and the liaison’s jobs were further clarified. We, the facilitators, have the role of preparing the delegates to answer the challenge question developed by the host for the federal agency that is assigned. The liaison has the role of assisting the facilitator with communication between the youth and the federal agency.

We will be hearing what agency we will be working with in the coming week. At that point, we can begin to do preliminary research to become educated on the topics so we are able to assist the delegates with their research and answer questions they may have.

In addition, returning facilitators, like myself, have been assigned a first-year facilitator to assist them through conference and help to answer questions they may have. Some facilitators have never been to the event and having a peer to contact is beneficial. When I was a first-year facilitator, I had been the previous year as a delegate and had a general idea of how this event is run, however, my returning facilitator mentor was one of the biggest contributors to my success. I hope to provide guidance to my mentee, as my mentor did for me.