The Rural Leadership North Dakota Seminar held its second session in Minot January 22 through 24. All leadership participant's were able to attend and we had a terrific time!

Thursday afternoon, Jay Fisher with the NDSU Extension Center welcomed us to the seminar and provided us with a history of the center serving the Minot area and shared information on new crops and other projects currently being researched there.

Our spotlight speakers, Judy Larson and Paul Nelson, are professors at NDSU in Fargo and have a long list of accomplishments including being married to each other for many years! Judy and Paul's topic for Thursday and Friday was "Communicating Effectively". We learned about non-verbal cues, the art of listening, effective methods of giving speeches and much more. Judy and Paul are fantastic speakers with magnetic personalities and all participants in the seminar agreed that they made our time together highly enjoyable.

Mike Rose, Lori Scharmer and Emily Tescher-Johnston described their roles in their respective departments with in the NDSU Extension service and congratulated us on our participation in the course.

John McMartin with the Minot Chamber of Commerce talked to us about economic development in the Minot area. He described past successes, projects currently under way and hopes for the future.

On Friday, Judy and Paul's focused on different forms of media and ways to best utilize them. We practiced writing letters to the editor and did outlines for our speeches.

Rod Hewlitt, the Dean of the Business College at Minot State University, presented information on the "inter-modal" system of transportation currently under study for the Minot area. The transportation system would allow  farmers and others to sell "value added" products and increase the profit margin on goods produced.

In the afternoon, seminar participants toured KXMC-TV in Minot. Shaun Sipma gave us a tour of the production studio and described different ways that the station receives "leads" for stories. We learned the most effective time frames for submitting press releases and did mock interviews.

Senator O'Connell spoke to us on the importance of good communication in the political arena. He commended leadership participants for taking the initiative to improve ourselves and our communities.

Friday's activities were ended with a fabulous meal at the Dakota Rose Bed and Breakfast. We were joined by Senator O'Connell and his wife and enjoyed good food, wine tasting provided by the Pointe of View Winery and several speeches from class participants.

Saturday morning began with Bruce Carlson with the Verendrye Electric Cooperative. He explained how cooperatives work and the importance of working together in groups to accomplish amazing things.

We were joined by Sue Hamilton and Michelle Weishaar with the Toastmasters Club of Minot . They served as excellent examples of effective speaking.

Seminar 2 was a huge success! See you soon at Seminar 3 in Williston!