Planning Your Program

Why is This a Key?

Follow these seven steps to help guide the members through an effective program planning process

1. Select a program planning committee.
2. Set Goals.
3. Brainstorm or survey members.
4. Plan a program.
5. Get approval of group.
6. Assign Responsibilities.
7. Evaluate.

Keys to Understanding

Program Planning Committee

Purpose of this committee is to:

• collect facts;
• analyze and evaluate these facts;
• develop a plan for the club year;
• help carry out that plan;
• evaluate how effective the plan was at its conclusion

Setting Goals

Goals are statements of what the members, volunteers, and parents would like to see accomplished. You can identify these goals through group discussion, surveys, or planning committees.

Brainstorm or Survey Members

Brainstorming is the unrestrained offering of ideas or suggestions by all members of the group. No evaluation of ideas takes place until the brainstorming session is completed. Topics for brainstorming should relate to the club’s goals and may include educational programs, social activities, fund-raising projects and community service.

Plan the Program

The committee should keep the group’s goals in mind as they select activities, fund raising projects and community service. The plan should meet the needs and interests of all 4-H members.

Group Approval

A list of future possible activities should be brainstormed during a club meeting. A calendar should be developed which lists all the planned activities for each month. It should then be presented to the 4-H club members for approval. After approval, all members and parents should receive a copy.

4-H Member Assignments

All 4-H members should be responsible for one or more activities on the planned program. Have them sign up for the task they feel most comfortable completing.

Evaluation

Evaluation helps improve your next program. This should be ongoing and can be conducted through discussion, questions, open-ended statements, and questionnaires.

More Tips for Effective Meetings

• Plan meetings with variety.
• Communicate upcoming events, dates, and responsibilities.
• Consider the age of the members.
• Recruit experienced members to help the meetings go well.
• Meet with the officers.
• Encourage a free discussion period during each meeting.
• Ask members instead of telling them.
• Praise democratic participation.

What Key People are Saying

A good 4-H club/group doesn’t just happen. Careful planning is necessary for any successful undertaking, and is a very important process in 4-H. — Carolyn Wilson, 4-H Youth Development Agent, Guernsey County, 1999

Giving the youth a say in the activities of their club and of the County horse program is important to them. This is how they learn what works and what does not. It is how they learn to be leaders. — Deborah Newman, Cuyahoga County 4-H Advisor

Our members choose their own officers and serve on committees in the Club. They learn responsibility and the need for peer support. This makes project learning better for them. It helps them be leaders later in school clubs. — Elizabeth Williams Young, Cuyahoga County 4-H Advisor, 1999

Keying In

Using the points provided in this Key, can you find a way to use at least four of them in helping to plan your group or club’s activities for the year?

Key Resources

• The Green Pages 4-H Advisors Program Book
  Ohio State University Extension Fact sheet 4-H PO6-99 “Effective 4-H Club Meetings,” Columbus, OH, The Ohio State University
• The Ohio 4-H Club Advisor’s Guide 4-H 955
  Ohio State University Extension

Teaching Outlines

We hope you found this material helpful. If you did and would like to use it as the topic of a training session with other youth leaders (time - Approx. 1 hour), select the topic(s) of interest to you below, fill in your E-mail Address and click “Send!”send this page to us at the address below:

4-H Keys for Leaders
2490 Lee Boulevard, Suite 108
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118

We will contact you with more information about our Teaching Outlines.

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This youth leader's guide my be reproduced and distributed for educational purposes if the following attribution is made under the title of the guide:

A PUBLICATION OF
Brandyce Cogar, Program Assistant, 4-H Youth Development, and
Gregory M. Yost, Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Youth Outdoors, Cuyahoga County
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION, CUYAHOGA COUNTY

Unless otherwise noted, all material within may be distributed freely for educational purposes. Anyone redistributing the material must include this copyright notice and must use the appropriate citation including the URL. Credit should also given to Diamond Advertising, Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio, for development of web-based format. Also, we would appreciate users sending notice to Gregory P. Siek as to how the material is being used. No reproduction for commercial use is given without a written permission agreement.

Series developed with grant support from Ohio 4-H Foundation, 2004.