National Project

The 2010 National Training Workshop will be here before we know it! 

• The conference hotel, the Marriott Town Center, provides a complimentary airport shuttle from 6:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Use the courtesy phone at the airport’s ground transportation center. Those needing the accessible shuttle while receive a separate email on specific instuctions for getting the shuttle.
• Plan your conference experience. Click here for a copy of the final NTW program book, and click here for a PDF of the hotel layout.
• The Unconference Principle says that at a typical conference, the sum of the expertise of the people in the audience is greater than the sum of expertise of the people presenting. Unconferencing is a way to tap everyone’s expertise so that each person receives the maximum benefit.
  In order to make Unconferencing effective and worthwhile, you need to be prepared to share your expertise. Below are the topics for this year's Unconferencing sessions, to be held on Wednesday morning from 8:30 - 10:00. You will have the option of switching groups at 45 minutes, but such is not required. Each session will have several facilitators who will introduce the topic and help guide the discussion. Click here for a listing of Unconferencing topics.
• Again this year, we will have a live auction to raise funds for our farmer scholarships. The NTW planning committee is asking each state to bring one item for the auction that is representative of your state or program. The live auction will be held after dinner on Tuesday evening, October 12.
• The state exhibits are always a large part of the NTW, and the State and Regional AgrAbility projects will have space again this year to set up a display for their program.
• A hospitality suite will also be available for NTW attendees. Please bring snacks that showcase the agriculture of your state.

PLEASE RSVP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO AMBER WOLFE AT AWOLFE@ARTHRITIS.ORG OR 1-800-783-2342 IF YOU WILL BE BRINGING AN AUCTION ITEM, PARTICIPATING IN THE STATE DISPLAY AREA, OR BRINGING SNACKS FOR THE HOSPITALITY ROOM.

The national arthritis and agriculture conference planning committee has decided upon a name for this event and continues planning for the conference. “Arthritis, Agriculture, and Rural Life: State of the Art Research, Practices, and Applications” will be held in Indianapolis in May of 2011.  More information will follow in the e-Note and through email and web communication.

Amber Wolfe traveled to Nebraska in September to participate in the Nebraska AgrAbility Program’s events at Husker Harvest Days and the Nebraska Rural Health Association Annual Conference. A three-minute web interview on Arthritis and Agriculture can be found on the Market Journal’s website, marketjournal.unl.edu, and a written interview will be published in the next edition of the Nebraska Farmer.

Submitted by Amber Wolfe