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February 15-17, 2005 Evaluation Results

Title: Motivating Young people to Have Active Lifestyles 
75 responses. Excellent=39, Good=31, Fair=5. Average 3.45
Comments:

• Seemed to have a strong ambition for motivation of healthier youth.
• Need copies of slides.
• Great! Provided arsenal of resources.
• Wonderful information to use to teach others, very motivating.
• The information I received that pertained to this area was very helpful.

Title: Public Health and Extension Partnership 
79 responses. Excellent=51, Good=5, Fair=2, Needs Improvement=1. Average 3.59 
Comments:

• Great example of collaborating, but not being territorial.
• Excellent presentation on NC Extension partnering with Public Health.
• Wonderful information and examples of ways we can collaborate with others.
• Great success stories and options for partnerships.
• Good presentation, however we need to really work together.

Title: Why Do We Have A Weight Problem and What Can We Do About It? (Panel Discussion). 
78 responses. Excellent=43, Good=30, Fair=4, Needs Improvement=1. Average 3.47 
Comments:

• Great variety of presenters - all with interlocking ways of solving the epidemic!
• Really informative and gave many excellent ideas that can be used.
• Could maybe have improved this by separating groups and having us rotate around to the different speakers. It was a lot of information to digest in a short period of time.
• Showed the interdisciplinary aspect of this issue.
• Good panel. Good diversity of information.

Title: Tackling Childhood Overweight and Obesity - One Community at a Time. Lessons Learned from the National Health Service Corps. 
78 responses. Excellent=45, Good=29, Fair=3, Needs Improvement=1. Average 3.51 
Comments:

• Excellent presenter.
• Nice to hear a govt. official understand public health views.
• Visuals would have been helpful. Hard to get all the good facts down fast enough. More info on National Health.
• Informative concerning national goals.
• Good information and helpful to see the national perspective on youth health issues.

Title: Evaluation Indicators and Age Appropriate Approaches. 

78 responses. Excellent=29, Good=34, Fair=11, Needs Improvement=4. Average 3.12 
Comments:

• Great information, as well as examples of how to use the logic model. Very useful info! (3)
• Needed examples of how to evaluate programs. "Tools used" and examples.
• They did a good job for such a tough subject.
• Would hope this group could develop a standardized evaluation method following all groups asking for this.
• Nice job to keep engaging.

Title: Share Fair Session of Youth Programs that Promote Healthy Lifestyles by Age Appropriateness and by Indicators. 

81 responses. Excellent=24, Good=38, Fair=15, Needs Improvement=4. Average 3.01 
Comments:

• Wish there were more. Always good to see what other are doing.
• I learned a lot about curriculums from other states that I plan to use.
• Nice variety. Great idea for after lunch.
• Great experience on what different states are doing. Got great ideas to take back.
• Resources were very helpful to be utilized with our county program.

Title: Structured Work Groups for Action and Solutions for Working with Parents and Youth.

79 responses. Excellent=22, Good=40, Fair=12, Needs Improvement=5. Average 3.00 
Comments:

• Our state worked very well together and came up with some great ideas.
• Thanks for the "guide" Action Plan worksheet.
• Productive time. A good start.
• We need to make sure we follow up and get the plans done.
• This was an excellent opportunity to brainstorm and devise a strategy plan.

Title: Structured Workgroups for Action and Solutions for Working With Parents and Youth. 
73 responses.

Excellent=19, Good=36, Fair=16, Needs Improvement=2. Average 2.98 
Comments:

• Excellent. Quite possibly the best part of the conference.
• Had great potential but you can't bond in 1½ hours. Some state level people were too involved in promoting their curriculum.
• Great session for idea exchange. And to learn about different curricula. Just not enough time.
• Very informative on how different states will put in a plan on how to fight overweight. How to work with different agencies.
• Hard to get so many ideas together.

Title: What Difference Will We Make? Reports from Workgroups. 
69 responses. Excellent=14, Good=41, Fair=11, Needs Improvement=3. Average 2.95 
Comments:

• Took a lot of time. Post results on Web site.
• Very informative, great to see how so many are on the "same page."
• Great way to see what different states are using and how to use different program, and how to order.
• Good to hear where other states are (stand) on the issue.
• Many states were able to leave with a plan. Great ideas were shared.

Title: Panel Response to the Workgroups. 
57 responses. Excellent=26, Good=24, Fair=7. Average 3.33
Comments:

• Very motivational; excites me and makes me eager to take ideas back and make needed changes.
• The panel response gave us a great outlook on what we need to put the problem from "Why?" to "What?". We need to change the problem of overweight and obesity.
• Good ending activity - motivational and encouraging.
• Really pulled ideas together and provided ideas on things that may need to be looked at or added.
• Panelist presented their own agendas. I was interested in their feedback.

What were the highlights of this conference for you?

• Dr. Weaver was most excellent, also benefited from interactions/networking with other participates.
• Hearing what other states are doing.
• Hearing what is happening in other groups.
• Some of the panelist's presentations were interesting. Sharing with different states.
• Variety of speakers, focusing on this issue from all sides.
• Networking opportunity with other agencies and other States. (21)
• Learning about Dr. Donald Weaver and his Service. Ability to dialogue with 4-H leaders to improve trust with FCS.
• Obtaining new and refreshing ideas. It was also great to meet others from different states and agencies who share the same interest and willingness to share.
• I came looking for curriculum to use for school age children, especially. I got titles from many states and groups.
• Structured work groups for action and solutions for working with parents and youth. What difference will we make? - Reports from Workgroups.
• State time - needed more.
• Panel discussion
• North Carolina's Extension and Public Health collaboration. Was able to look at program areas outside of mine and see how we can work together.
• The Assistant Surgeon General and Physical Anthropologist.
• The presentation by the Community Developer - Mighk Wilson and the energy and exuberance by the attendees to take action on this problem.
• Hearing information from fourteen different states. Realizing what a common bond that we all have in how to make a difference in the lives of the population that we work with.
• Panelists from a variety of disciplines.
• Knowing that the Surgeon General is actually concern and aware of Obesity problem. Share Fair exhibits.
• Evaluation Indicators and Age Appropriate Approaches. Like the pedometers. Hearing what other states are doing. Knowing what works and not.
• Share Fair sessions, Logic Model, Research Statistics.
• Working with other from my state - we are from same organization so we could have done that when we returned from the conference. I think it's great to involve both 4-H and FCS in fighting obesity. Usually 4-H professionals are not familiar with obesity issues.
• Good coordinating with National Agents and great food. Close to Disney.
• Learning new ideas.
• Curriculum and resources. Integration.
• Wonderful presentations.
• The speakers on the specific topics.
• The quality of the speakers; the range of experience of the attendees. A personal re-commitment to being a health choices role model.
• • The expertise of the speakers.
  • Surgeon General's remarks. Cathy Thomas's presentation. Dr. Leslie Lieberman's presentation information I had not been exposed to before.
• The importance of Extension Partnerships, and developing programs to address childhood obesity and overweight issues.
• Learning the background and all the effects that childhood overweight has on the entire population.
• Dr. Weaver's presentation, Dr. Rennekamp's presentation.
• Ideas for programming and collaboration. I can take back to my parish and state.
• The conferences was excellent.
• Speaker on Urban Planning, overall good conference.
• Meeting new people and gaining new ideas. It was also important that we got out in a timely manner.
• Share Fair and State time.
• Opening session was great.
• The Cooperative Extension Nutrition program.
• The panel information from "Why Do We Have a Weight Problem and What Can We Do About It? Panel Discussion"
• State Planning session and State reports. Different speakers from different fields to reflect on Obesity.
• State discussion, sharing among states, and the weather.
• The breakout groups and the Share Fair.
• The first three sessions were outstanding.
• Hearing new ideas and innovative programs.
• Sharing ideas. Learning that it is important for all agencies to share ideas not just Extension. Learning that in some states the State Department of health does work with Extension. Dr. Weaver. The response from the Panel.
• Break-out in sub-groups to work on/develop strategies to implement locally.
• Sharing resources.
• It was good to see what challenges Cooperative Extension faces. We have a wonderful working relationship in our county. Franklin, North Carolina, our 4-H and FCS agents are great resources for us to use in Nutrition Fairs and special topics within the school system.
• Background information. Taking time to plan for how we are going to address the issue.
• See what other states are doing. Poster session.
• Enjoyed the "slides". Free gift (pedometer) nice bonus. Excellent job - Kudos to Nayda Torres and UF staff for pulling all this together.
• I enjoyed all of the speakers and the Share Fair. Structured workgroup for particular age group was very helpful to me, being new to Extension as an FNH agent. I learned o so many resources available to me if I just "tap" into them.
• All the resources I learned about that are already out there that I can use. Getting to brainstorm with others from our state.
• The panel from "Why Do We Have a Weight Problem and What Can We Do About It? Panel Discussion"
• Different speakers and their presentations wish they had more than 15 minutes. Some of the speaker seem rush and I felt they did not get out the ideas they wanted to get out, but all the speaker were very informative and I got a lot our of the program. On how I can take back to my community on how to fight this problem.
• Seeing what other states are doing.
• Meeting new people from different states with same goals/interest. learning a lot more about childhood obesity as well as what to do about it.
• Learning about resources that are available from other states.
• Learning about new/different programs in other states.
• Good variety of topics covered by speakers.
• Public health and Extension partnerships and why do we have the problem and what we can do about it.
• Discovering what is available in other states and what is already in place in our own state. Really liked the "working" meeting aspect - well organized (forms and moderators).

How could the conference have been more useful to you?

• I enjoyed more smaller group sessions, shorter session times. Ask states to bring curriculums, books, videos and/or resources and have them on display for us to look at throughout the conference. There were a lot of resources that I would have liked to see. Ask agents to bring handouts of activities they have done related to this topic to share with other.
• Just looking forward to utilizing the followup Web site - thanks for that too!
• Everything was great. I ate too much. Maybe we all should have brought example of curriculum materials were using.
• The whole conference has been useful for me, specially a variety of method, approach, and designed to develop effective program. Congratulation to all staff who organized the activity. I hope Puerto Rico will be an implementation site in this issue to share with other Hispanic audience in other state where a high percent are Hispanic.
• More working sessions rather than having speakers back to back.
• Be sure to follow through with the Web sites and communication, I know I will.
• I would like to have had more time to talk with other agents to find out what's working well for them. Great conference. Thanks.
• Should have had a mini-session on how to set up the pedometer - measure and program step, length etc., at the very beginning. Recent articles reviewed lack of accuracy but made the point that what really mattered was just to increase activity. Please request that participants turn off cell phones (or at least put on vibrate), it is very inconsiderate and disrupts presenters and participant concentration! To have adequate number of handouts for participants.
• This conference met my needs. Again, networking is invaluable as is hearing about what others are doing.
• I would have liked to have had more time to talk to the individual presenters. It was great! I would love to go to the next one. Thank you, very interested participant.
• Need some interaction-practical solution-some program that is making a difference. Information was repeated several time-too much. It was too much sitting, the presentations were to long.
• Learning of the broad level of programs.
• Possible two and half or three days for conference. More time to spend networking and working on strategic planning.
• I think that the statistical data and the accompanying study should have been provided so that we could replicate them in our state. We should have been given or presented with an easier way to get the curriculum.
• Have speakers with successful programs. More speakers from outside the Southern Region. Unrealistic to write and state plan on site. Need more on policy - how present policy affects our lifestyle behaviors. Make sure facilitators speak clearly and are enthusiastic.
• A lot of new information was presented. A lot of participants could have a better knowledge of current recommendations for nutrition and fitness. Make Web site information available to all conference participants. Make evaluations a separate hand-out.
• Would have liked more examples of programs that could be used to help combat childhood overweight. Would have like to see more displays for the Share Fair. Would like to have seen more participants at the conference.
• Having worked in this field as a clinician there is a lot of focus on diet, nutrition and exercise, however, these are only the tip of the iceberg. You must consider, economics, education level, willingness to change, also the impact of the "If it feels good do it 80's generation" now raising children. BMI is an important teaching tool that should be documented and used, not as a weight loss tool but as a teaching tool. Rural areas have difficulty with the walking, biking. Also no sidewalks present. Danger to those who wish to walk. What about the KLUTZ's of life, those who are not athletically inclined and trip when walking.
• Served to re-invigorate me. Gave me time to organize my thoughts, integrate information and develop a concrete plan of action. May have been helpful to give time for developing an individual plan of action. Similar to the work plan meeting. I would have run the conference a few hours longer. A panel on Best Practices would have been very helpful. Presentations which have been proven at producing the desired results.
• More research data. After conference, if there could be a list of curriculum age appropriate brief description, evaluation etc. Maybe even if the state could share impact made thus far.
• Could we get the PowerPoint presentations from Dr. Sarah Lee on Motivating Young People to Have Active Lifestyles.
• All the information was very good. However, we did a lot of sitting, lots of lectures. With many of us having a 4-H background (number, learn by doing) I believe you would have held our attention better with more hands-on, small group activities. But all information was useful and will be helpful in future development of programs.
• A few more examples of collaboration among various agencies.
• Having material goals/models/outcomes/evaluations to coincide with what USDA wants/needs/for yearly reports and funding.
• More movement, cut down session would have been nice. We talk about youth just sitting. . . that's all we did. Sessions were kinda long. Someone from USDA should have attended this conference to hear our concerns.
• Many of the presenters ere very idealistic . . . not in touch with real world situations. The ideas were great, but will they work in my community, probably not. Wish more simple, easy to start ideas had been shared.
• Actual state program presented - ex: Walk for Texas; Eat Smart, Move More. More talk about physical activity ideas.
• Would have been good to have some young people here.
• Good conference. I especially enjoyed the networking and ideas from other state. Note for future reference: Tearing this from the notebook destroyed the binder. Please put the reports and comments people mentioned in the report on the web. There were too many e-mail address on URL to get them all written down.
• More time spent on examining existing programs that are successful in other states, counties. Less time in data and stats. More breakout sessions in specific topic areas i.e. session on programs, etc.
• We need more information on evidence-based practices, curriculum, etc. Need more information on evaluation. Much of the conference was not new. Need to spend more time on research, what does the research say?
• Need more information on where we go from here.
• More time the network and share ideas. Had each state participate in poster sharing ideas, to "showcase" their programs and hands-on activity. Or "showcase" their success stories.
• More on: physiological aspect... how to communicate about overweight; how to access our environment to determine the toxicity levels and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Many of the presentations were repetitive. I would have like to hear more on different approaches to dealing with problem.
• All aspects were beneficial.
• More breakout sessions; smaller groups to interact.
• More discussion and examples of 'age appropriate" particularly differences in learning and teaching approaches to under 5 year versus school age. Pre-schoolers need and respond to different approaches (learn through play) than kindergartners.
• You may want let your panel speakers know that all of our speakers reported the same statistic. You could designate a separate speaker to do a presentation on stats.
• The conference reinforce the knowledge that I have to work with youth and adults. The partnership is very important because this reduce the duplicity of effort.
• If I could choose what workshop I could attend, would give the speaker more time to give their presentation. Give more break, too much sitting on Wednesday.
• The conference was good, however, receiving more resources that would be obtainable to take home to use to plan, implement and evaluate.
• If the sharing groups had been aware of having information from each state, it would have been a little smoother.
• Reserving more blocked rooms for the conference participants. A more detailed conference program. Descriptions were a little vague.
• Individual sessions on developing programs to address Obesity Epidemic maybe concurrent workshops. States/counties sharing programs from their state, county, successes, failures drawbacks, etc.
• More on changing attitudes- self esteem, cultural perception.
• Need handouts for everyone. Cell phones need to be turned off. Need to have a state workshop to make sure there's follow up use overhead for reports rather than flip-charts to large group.
• More information on physical activity. Have many of the curriculum that has been mentioned on display would have been very beneficial.
• The speakers should have had more time since they offered a wealth of information. I also wish there had been more time for questions. I would have enjoyed an entire day or even half day of "curricula introductions" from all the states just to learn what was available for use.
• Would have been good to have more representative from Public School system, and to have been able to compare how the partnerships are different in counties and states. Maybe future state or regional meeting such as this one could have more specific representatives from other areas or partnership so that more planning and partnership can be formed at the conference. It is often hard for some to pick up new ideas and follow through once they return home due to many other responsibilities.
• A press release should have been send out to local media. We would have our conference and initiative shared with a very large audience. Marketing our efforts is very important.
• Please announce for people to turn off their cell phones!
• Realize that this is not a childhood issue, it is a family issue. Pediatric Health issue, physical Fitness issue, Public Health issues, cost issues. Child development people need to come to the table.
• Networking.

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