"What's On Your Mind" Series
Last week ITS launched a new speaker series that we're calling "What's On Your Mind". The intent of these sessions is to provide IT staff the opportunity to listen to a variety of speakers in leadership positions across the University talk about the things important to them. Our first speaker was President Spanier. Upcoming speakers include Dean Chris Brady of the Schreyer's Honor College in December and Jim Broadhurst, Chair of the Board of Trustees in January. There are other speakers planned for February, April and May.
I was disappointed with the relatively small number of people who turned out to listen to Dr. Spanier. We invited all IT staff from across the University so the potential audience was more than 1,000, yet we had approximately 150 in the live audience. That's not even a third of the ITS staff!
Curious to learn why people chose not to attend, I've asked several for their reasons which fall into these categories:
- the time was inconvenient.
- I knew I could watch it later in streaming video, and had a deadline to meet, or couldn't get away from my job.
- I didn't expect to learn anything new or that would help in my role.
The session with Dr. Spanier was selected to meet his schedule which started at 3:30 and ended about 4:40. Most people in shared ride pools or who have requirements they must meet immediately following work should have been able to attend.
The second reason is understandable. We're required to keep systems and support functions operating which means not everyone can be excused for this sort of activity. We recorded the session so these people and people who couldn't travel to UP could have an opportunity to view the President in this setting. I just can't imagine this accounts for 85% of IT staff not attending.
The third reason is particularly troublesome. Increasingly we hear from university leaders and from our community that we don't know how to portray the value that IT provides Penn State. We're told that we often use our values, rather than the values of our user base, in talking about our plans and our services.
The purpose in creating this speaker series is to allow all of us in IT to hear what's on the mind of a range of executives, faculty, and staff. The more we understand the challenges and opportunities these people are focused upon, the more we should be able to create improved services, and the better we should be able to show the value these services provide to our constituency.
Perhaps we didn't make the intent of this series clear enough, or we didn't advertise enough, or maybe people need explicit permission to attend? What I do know is that most of us are serious about doing all we can to make Penn State better. Part of achieving that goal is our understanding the issues facing those in leadership positions. I hope you use this series as an opportunity to learn more about how we can do just that.
I was disappointed with the relatively small number of people who turned out to listen to Dr. Spanier. We invited all IT staff from across the University so the potential audience was more than 1,000, yet we had approximately 150 in the live audience. That's not even a third of the ITS staff!
Curious to learn why people chose not to attend, I've asked several for their reasons which fall into these categories:
- the time was inconvenient.
- I knew I could watch it later in streaming video, and had a deadline to meet, or couldn't get away from my job.
- I didn't expect to learn anything new or that would help in my role.
The session with Dr. Spanier was selected to meet his schedule which started at 3:30 and ended about 4:40. Most people in shared ride pools or who have requirements they must meet immediately following work should have been able to attend.
The second reason is understandable. We're required to keep systems and support functions operating which means not everyone can be excused for this sort of activity. We recorded the session so these people and people who couldn't travel to UP could have an opportunity to view the President in this setting. I just can't imagine this accounts for 85% of IT staff not attending.
The third reason is particularly troublesome. Increasingly we hear from university leaders and from our community that we don't know how to portray the value that IT provides Penn State. We're told that we often use our values, rather than the values of our user base, in talking about our plans and our services.
The purpose in creating this speaker series is to allow all of us in IT to hear what's on the mind of a range of executives, faculty, and staff. The more we understand the challenges and opportunities these people are focused upon, the more we should be able to create improved services, and the better we should be able to show the value these services provide to our constituency.
Perhaps we didn't make the intent of this series clear enough, or we didn't advertise enough, or maybe people need explicit permission to attend? What I do know is that most of us are serious about doing all we can to make Penn State better. Part of achieving that goal is our understanding the issues facing those in leadership positions. I hope you use this series as an opportunity to learn more about how we can do just that.
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I have to admit, on the day of this "What’s on your mind series", I was "on the fence" trying to balance my workload with attending this session. I then assessed and determined that this was an opportunity to directly interact with the leader of a Big Ten University. We don't often get those opportunities. As such, I attended and was enlightened to hear President Spanier's honest, but positive outlook for the University in these troubled economic times as well as his respect, support and recognition of ITS's contribution to the University. Many thoughtful questions were presented to President Spanier during this session. I left the session feeling good about the work I do and that the contributions I make to the University are appreciated. I can only say, I’m glad I attended, plan on attending more, and I’m thankful to those who organized these sessions.
I was there and really enjoyed it. I've had the chance to hear Dr. Spanier in a number of settings -- from the State of the University to small faculty meetings while I was in IST. I find him especially open and honest when speaking to smaller groups ... I felt this was the case at our session. He was candid and showed an amazing amount of respect for the work we do in ITS and IT in general at PSU. He is a well connected University President, so he knows the national issues very well. I never miss a chance to hear either he or the Provost speak.
I would suggest for future sessions a more intimate venue be used ... I know space is a real challenge, but finding something that makes it feel more informal would be great. The Foster Auditorium in the Library comes to mind as does the theatre in the Palmer. These are large-ish rooms that have a more intimate feel.
But with that said, I can't say how impressed I am that the President took time to come and talk with us. I am proud of the work we do and to see him take the time was really great. I also think having a series like this is a smart move -- it raises the stakes on us all. I appreciate the effort in making this happen ... I know it isn't easy to pull it off.
I ended up "fighting a fire" under reason #2, however I did watch it later. It's nice to see that he appears to understand our plight in IT, and genuinely appreciates and respects the work we do as a whole. It was also refreshing to see his truthful comments on where we stand as a University right now.
Thanks also goes out to the staff that made viewing this later possible. Kudos and congratulations! I watched it from my home over a not-really-the-fastest broadband connection and it streamed with absolutely no glitches in video nor audio. I know a LOT of commercial sites that can't claim that!
Actually I fall in either #4 or perhaps #0 as I did not hear about this event. I actively follow NWoP, which I thought is the 'official' vehicle for events such as these. Searched the NWoP archives and found nothing so I don't think I missed it there. Might I ask where this was announced? I would love to be on that list!
Also, using the handy Google to search for the recording brings me a site on TLT, which then takes me to a staff.its.psu.edu site which I do not have access. Could someone link up to the recording so people outside ITS can watch it?
Thanks,
Ed
Ed,
We announced this series through several lists, but because people may need to get permission to attend, typically used list of directors or managers, and asked them to spread the word.
Try this link to see the video of Dr. Spanier's remarks:
https://streaming.psu.edu/media/?movieId=7529
For both the Dr. Spanier and Dr. Brady lectures, I was out of the office at the scheduled time. Not usually the case, just bad timing.
The streaming video of Dr. Spanier's lecture is great, but the Adobe Connect presentation of Dr. Brady has such poor audio quality (extremely high gain and resulting distortion) that it's not usable. The video is also small and grainy, just an overall poor setup.
I'm very pleased that recordings are being made available to us. My feedback (to whoever is in charge of recordings) would be to stick with the streaming video delivery method used for Dr. Spanier's lecture. Thanks.
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the quick response and link.
I think you might have found your culprit for low attendance. A quick straw pole of a few IT people in multiple areas yielded no one knowing about this presentation. Whether that is a fault of the managers or directors, I don't know. However, plenty of items like IT-Pro Roundtables, MacAdmins meetings, and NWoP meetings are announced via the NWoP list and I am sure many need permission to go to these too. I would suggest announcing there next time for maximum exposure.
Cheers,
Ed