Audience Appeal Earns Mahaska County 4-H Members Awards at Iowa State Fair
Mahaska County 4-H members earned recognition as communicators at the Iowa State Fair.
4-H members compete in three categories of oral communication: educational presentations, working exhibits, extemporaneous speaking, and one category of visual communication. In educational presentations, the 4-H members teach their audience about a topic they selected and researched. In working exhibits, the exhibitors invite passers-by to try a skill they demonstrate. In extemporaneous speaking, the 4-H members prepare a speech in 30 minutes and deliver it to an audience. In poster communication, they convey a message visually.
“Almost any time fairgoers come into the 4-H Exhibits Building they can learn from a 4‑H member participating in a communications activity,” said Mitchell Hoyer, program specialist for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach 4-H Youth Development and 4-H Exhibits Building superintendent. “Effective communication means appealing to the interests of your audience.”
Mahaska County State Fair Educational Presentations Exhibitors:
Abby Drost, Mahaska Masters, Merit
Ally Nolan, Jefferson Go-Getters, Merit
Teale Pose, Garfield Boosters, Merit
Addison Beane, Mahaska Masters, Recognition
Mason Beane, Mahaska Masters, Recognition
“Many work situations require the ability to demonstrate a skill while instructing others who are learning the skill,” Hoyer said. “4-H members frequently practice this skill as they present information at club meetings and county fairs.”
Mahaska County State Fair Working Exhibit Exhibitors:
Megan & Anna Eveland, Independent 4-H & Mahaska Masters, Excellence
Teale Pose, Garfield Boosters, Merit
Nicole Edgren & Ally Nolan, Jefferson Go-Getters, Excellence
Abby Drost, Mahaska Masters, Merit
“Throughout their working lives, 4-H members will find that most workplace speaking situations call for extemporaneous delivery skills,” Hoyer said. “In 4-H, youth prepare for typical face-to-face contact in which the speaker and listeners are simultaneously sending, interpreting, generating and receiving messages.”
Mahaska County State Fair Extemporaneous Speaking Exhibitors:
Trisha Van Donselaar, Mahaska Masters, Merit
Grace Marshall, Garfield Boosters, Merit
“Billboards, television, newspapers, the Internet; the need to visually communicate effectively faces us each day. The poster class helps members improve layout and design skills as they interpret a promotional message about 4-H,” Hoyer said.
Mahaska County State Fair Posters Exhibitors:
Grace Marshall, Garfield Boosters, Certificate of Recognition
For more information on getting involved with the communications project area or joining 4-H, please contact Amy Brainard, County Youth Coordinator, at the ISU Extension and Outreach Mahaska County office at vermeerA@iastate.edu or 641-673-5841, or visit the Iowa 4-H website at www.extension.iastate.edu/4h.
