The MOU Fair booth was a blast this year and it was all because you volunteers jumped in to make it happen! Even those of you who just visited the booth helped make it happen and even those who are just members or could be members focusing your energy towards us, also helped make it happen. Several shifts had 3 or more staffers! And (much to my and another person's opportunity) some had one staffer (not recommended with all of the new hand's on stuff we have - boy did I sleep well that night!).
So from all of you who had any type of experience with the booth this year, we are wanting your feedback based on your experience of what worked, what didn't work and what we could do different next time. My request would be that we lean heavily on what did work. I know me and other committee members are pretty well worn out after weeks of prep, supporting and staffing. Hearing what worked would be like a pat on the back to someone who just rode the "across the arabian desert horse race" as my sore feet can attest. For the "what didn't work" please add what you think would work better or differently to make our work easier, more fun and provide more congenial access for future fair goers. Keeping this part "to the point" will help us be able to hear you better and able to assimilate your suggestions without our wondering why we did this. Please feel free to rant all you like on the "what worked" part. I could use that right about now as my clothes from last night hand drying from the downpour that greeted me as I left my last shift last night. For the "what we could do next time" to make the entire experience better - here is where you get to pop in your creative ideas on how to organize the material for each shift, how to instruct or train or inform the volunteers better, how to display the material better, how to make it more comfortable for the staffers while still being inviting for visitors, and anything else you can think of. I would like to make perfectly clear that the "education committee" for the MOU is not a bunch of political, powerful, in control, experts or even top level birders. We are just four people who love the fair and love bringing the joy of birding to anyone who has an interest. You have as much sway and say as any of us. We are just the ones who put our necks out and said we will make it happen. And, another by the way, everything we did was for the first time so it was all an experiment for us. We really did not have a clue as to what we were doing, what would work, and what might have been a problem. So your input is worth it's weight in gold. My only request is that your input and feedback lean towards the positive. People hear better from a positive place than ending up defending from a negative one. We humans are an interesting species. I wonder what the birds think of us? Please reply off line as much as possible so we don't take up a lot of posting room with business. Thomas Maiello Angel Environmental Management, Inc. Maple Grove, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
