WEEK 5 CHECK INHas it really only been 5 weeks?? Not 10 years??

Agenda

■ Need a volunteer for a notes taker?- Emily Hansen, CAMN

■ How’s It Going?

■ What Nature Means – launching TODAY

■ Website Redo – launching TODAY

– Chapter Timeline

■ iNaturalist guidelines

■ Annual Meeting

■ Zoom Meetings

■ Volunteer Service Opportunities

■ Coronavirus timeline

How’s it Going?Survey Monkey Sent

■ Please use Survey Monkey to complete

■ https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TMNWeek5CheckIn

What Nature Means?

■ Video diary project that will be shared on the Texas

Master Naturalist website

■ Please keep your recordings to 1 minute if at all

possible.

■ Follow all locally mandated health & travel

restrictions.

■ Provide us consent to use your video, and then

upload your video

■ Please record and upload your video by Friday, May

15th

“In this unprecedented moment of pandemic, reflect upon what nature means to you and what benefits it provides you, especially in times like these.”

NEW TMN State Website

■ Events Calendar

■ Chapter News Submissions for Blog

■ Chapter Timeline for Roll Out

– Regional approach

– Two week window, beg. May 10th

– Region 1 - Week of May 10th-May 23rd

– Region 2 - Week of May 24th-June 6th

– Region 3 - Week of June 7th-June 20th

– Region 4 - Week of June 21st-July 4th

– Region 5 - Week of July 5th-July 18th

– Region 6 - Week of July 19th-August 1st

iNaturalist Guidelines

■ ALMOST there. . . . .

■ Has been sent to TMN member focus group for input.

■ Now under final edit/review stage by TMN Leadership & Texas Nature Tracker Team

Annual Meeting

■ Updated Proposal System – Deadline currently May 31st – May Extend to June 15th

■ Planning all options – will be surveying all current TMNs and previous attendees of

Annual Meeting

■ Field Session Planning still going!

AgriLife Zoom Accounts

■ STOP use of Zoom through the AgriLife Regional TMN Zoom Accounts

■ Working with Agency IT to determine next steps/options available . . .

■ In the meantime . . .

Online Conferencing

■ In the meantime . . . TMN meetings on ANY and ALL online conferencing platforms MUST have

added security:

■ Require Registration

– Through conferencing platform OR external registration option – such as a Google Form

■ Meeting ID

– Always use the “Generate Automatically” option if using Zoom.

■ Require a Meeting Password

– Each meeting from now on MUST use the required meeting password option.

– Passwords need to be emailed to participants separately.

– Passwords should NEVER be shared via social media.

■ TWO+ PERSON Meeting Team

– Recommended that at least two people are hosting the meeting – one person to lead

discussion, one person to monitor chat, room entries, volume levels, etc.

■ Other Meeting Options

– These additional meeting options are not required but may be helpful to secure your

events from bots/hackers.

■ Video Settings

– It is suggested, but not required that the Participants video option is turned off when

setting up meetings. This will start the meetings with participant video off.

Participants can change this during the meeting.

■ Enable Wait Room

– Using this option will require the meeting host to allow entry for every participant.

This is useful for meetings where you know who to expect. Less useful for public

meetings or large meetings with participants you may not be familiar with.

■ Social Media

– It is strongly recommended that meeting links are not directly shared via social

media. Instead, link to your chapter website or a registration page for the meeting.

Volunteer Service Opportunities

■ Approving Volunteer Service Hour Opportunities/Projects

– MUST follow local, state, federal health & travel restrictions FIRST

– Then follow standard TMN approval process

– PLUS – consider volunteer safety

■ Starting Idea Exchange for Volunteer Service Opportunities

– Facebook Post – Comments

– Email them to us to share!

Coronavirus Timeline

■ Texas A&M AgriLife Extension has suspended all face-to-face events through at least

May 4th

■ Expecting slow release to “normal” through Summer.