Leadership and Communications (LAC)

2007/2008 - Mt. Hood

Dear Workshop Participants:

Welcome to the Leadership-Communications Short course at the Resort at the Mountain in Welches, OR, March 11-20, 2008. I am looking forward to your time with us and I will do everything I can to make it a stimulating and meaningful experience. Within the next few days, we should have the on-line payment site available. If you will be paying for your tuition via credit card, this is the easiest option. If you choose, you can elect to send us a SF-182 and be billed for the course (you can download an invoice from the on-line payment site). If you use a SF-182, be sure to indicate how payment will be made and to whom the invoice should be sent (including the address where the invoice should be sent). Please keep in mind that our agreement with the Forest Service is that participants on the list sent to me by Shelly Witt are obligated to pay for the course, i.e., if something comes up and you cannot attend the course, you must find a substitute or you will be billed for the fixed costs we incur (a bit more than half of the total tuition).

You will soon be receiving by regular mail, a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to complete and return. The MBTI is an important foundation for our exploration of leadership and communications. Please try to take about 30 of your least harried minutes (if you have any at all!) to complete the instrument. To get a valid assessment of your preferences, it is important for you to respond to the questions in terms of your true, personal preferences--not what is expected of you at work or in other roles, or how you would like to be. Perhaps of immediate concern to you will be travel to and logistical arrangements in Oregon. The course will be taught at the Resort at the Mountain, 503-622-3101 or 800-669-7666, http://www.theresort.com/ in Welches, OR, about 45 minutes east of Portland, on the slopes of Mt. Hood. We have reserved a block of rooms at the rate of $77 for a single (the local per diem rate), $87 for a double. You will need to contact the hotel to reserve one of the rooms in your name. Be sure to tell them you are with the Forest Service Leadership & Communications workshop. The block of rooms will be held until February 11, 2008.

The Portland airport is about 45 minutes from The Resort. If you don't want to rent a car, there is a shuttle service, Luxury Accommodations, that serves the Resort. You can contact the shuttle service at 800-831-7433 or luxury1@juno.com. The shuttle cost is $35 per person for the first two people ($70 if you shuttle alone) and the price goes down as more people are added. The folks at Luxury Accommodations will try to put groups of folks who arrive at about the same time together to save money, so be sure to tell them that you are with the Forest Service Leadership & Communications workshop.

Please also let me know your travel plans so I'll be able to double check with Luxury Accommodations to be sure that everyone is accounted for. There is a grocery store and small shopping center a short walk from the Resort, but most of the restaurants in the area are far enough to require driving. I'll rent a van to help get people around and I'm sure we will have other cars among the participants, so you don't have to have a car to get around. If you want to rent a car for the weekend, we can arrange a shuttle back to Portland on Friday afternoon.


If you have a sudden change in plans or get stuck at the airport without a ride, give me a call on my cell (Ed. Note: Dr. McMullin shares his contact information with registered participants.).The short course will be in session until noon on Thursday, March 20th. Schedule your flights after 3:00 p.m. to give yourself time to get to the airport.

The short course is planned as an intensive learning experience so come prepared for a challenging two weeks of hard work. The short course includes lectures, practical exercises, and discussions. The strength of any short course largely depends upon the quality of the instructors and we have a distinguished group of enthusiastic instructors with a wide range of expertise and experience. Instructors are drawn from University faculty and natural resource agencies and organizations. There will be a balance between theory and practice. I am attaching a Present Status Survey for you to fill out and return as soon as possible. The information is helpful to the instructors as it provides them some insights into their audience. I am also attaching a list of participants and the agenda from last spring's course (note that the agenda will change somewhat this year, with more emphasis on conflict resolution and a bit less emphasis on meetings and facilitation). I encourage you to go over the course agenda with your supervisor to discuss expectations. I am looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday, March 11th.

Steve L. McMullin, Associate Professor
Associate Department Head
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences President-Elect, Southern
Division American Fisheries Society Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
24061-0321
Phone: (540) 231-8847
Fax: (540) 231-7580

Sincerely,

Steve McMullinWorkshop Coordinator