Program Development & Evaluation Center

Counting Clientele Contacts: Examples

Situation Number and Type of Contact Notes
In response to a telephone call, a secretary reads part of an educational pamphlet to the client and subsequently a faculty horticulturalist describes recommendations. 2 phone consultations Only the faculty member enters the contact data in Workload.
An automated phone system counts the number of incoming and outgoing phone calls. 0 Transfer of information is unknown.
A secretary gives an educational pamphlet to a client who visits the Extension office and subsequently a faculty horticulturalist describes recommendations. 1 office consultation Handing out a pamphlet does not count as a contact since we do not know if the person read the pamphlet.
Two agents teach to a group of 90 participants of a pesticide safety workshop for 1 hour each. 90 group learning participants Each agent should report contacts in the portion of the class that they themselves taught. If all 90 stayed for both parts then each should count 90 contacts.
An agent teaches a one-day workshop with four main topics to a group of 20 participants. 20 group learning participants For a single day event, the agent should report one contact per participant, irrespective of the number of topics covered.
A County Extension Director meets with the new county manager to explain Extension and what it can and does provide for the county. 0 The primary purpose is marketing/public relations. It does not have an educational focus and therefore, not a clientele contact.
A state specialist creates a website for faculty in other states who do similar work. 0 The website is geared toward other faculty, not the general public, so it is not counted as a clientele contact. You would report this in your ROA.
An adult community member wants to become a volunteer and submits to a background screening process. At the Extension office, the 4-H agent discusses with the volunteer the qualities of a good youth volunteer and proper youth development practices. 1 office consultation Part of the volunteer recruitment and screening process is education so this is counted as a consultation.
Two volunteers each teach a topic during a one-day workshop to a group of 25 participants. 25 group learning participants Individual volunteers record and report their contacts to the supervising agent. Because each volunteer is acting on behalf of the same agent at the same event, a unique count of contacts is reported by the agent.
A faculty member sends educational information by email and then stores the email in a separate email folder. 1 email consultation Faculty should store emails for audit purposes.
During a visit with one producer, the agent receives an invitation for lunch at the local diner. The agent meets with 10 more producers at a local farm and they receive educational information. 1 field visit and 10 group participants The first situation is one-on-one at the clients location. The second is an educational gathering of multiple people and each participant is counted and their demographics collected.
An FCS agent is a vendor at a health fair/community event and informational materials are passed out to attendees. Three attendees stop to ask questions of the FCS agent and receive additional educational information. 3 field visits While the dissemination of materials is not counted, the conversation between the agent and the attendee is counted as long as educational information was transfered.
A secretary maintains a log of each person who walks into the Extension office. 0 Transfer of information is unknown.
An agent conducts a Master Naturalist training for the same 25 participants each week, for 12 consecutive weeks. 300 group participants (assuming no absentees) For a multi-day training, the agent should report one contact per participant for each weekly session. Any participant who misses a weekly session should not be counted that week.
An agent had a five minute educational broadcast every weekday morning at 7 a.m., which reached 30,000 listeners as shown through the ratings. 260 educational materials The original broadcast is counted only (5 each weekday for 52 weeks). Note, if this is a summary or recitation of a written work or another broadcast, it does not count as original work. Indicate the audience ratings in your ROA.
An agent teaches in an out-of-state training program for a group of 20 farmers from Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. 20 group learning participants Out of state events are counted as a clientele contact.
A County Extension Director meets with a county health department staff member at their office and tells them of the newest research on diabetes. She offers ideas on how the staff member how they can incorporate that information into the diabetes information they deliver to clients. After the meeting she visits with three county animal control staff in an adjacent office and discusses with them recent research in this area and gives background information on the Extension staff who deal with animal-related issues. 1 field consultation and 3 group participants The first is counted as a field visit because it is one participant. The second visit is with multiple people and should be counted as group learning participants so each individual's demographics are collected.
4-H co-sponsors "Ag in the Classroom" which has 100 different participants each day for five days. Each child attended 10 30-minute classes taught by 10 teachers. (5 days x 100 children x 10 instructors). 500 group learning participants Each faculty should count the group attendance of their own session(s), including any taught by a program assistant or volunteer.
An agent visits 25 buyers at a livestock auction in order to build relationships. 0 The purpose of the visit was not to transfer educational information.
An agent writes a monthly blog about gardening in South Florida that highlights the latest research at UF and how to put that research into practice at home. 12 educational materials This is the equivalent of a monthly column in a newspaper or newsletter.
According to 4- H club records, a 4-H club met 9 times during the year. Club minutes document that total participation at the 9 club meetings was 205. 205 group participants Additional reporting is required for 4-H related activities. 4-H club attendance should be well-documented and estimates avoided.
A County Extension Director trains her staff on a new computer technology. 0 Training of staff or other UF faculty is not a clientele contact. This information should be included in the CEDs ROA.
An agent and two volunteers teach six topics during a one-day workshop to a group of 40 participants. 40 group learning participants For a single day event, the agent should report one contact per participant, irrespective of the number of topics covered. Because each volunteer is acting on behalf of the agent at the same event, the volunteer contacts are considered to be the same as the agent's.
An agent writes a gardening article and sends it to an email distribution list of 5,000 residents that he maintains. He receives ten phone calls from recipients of the email who want additional information. 1 educational material, 10 phone calls Any significant and original written work should be counted as an educational material regardless of distribution. The direct contact from interested citizens should be counted but not the mass mailing itself.
A farmer sends in a soil sample to be tested. 1 office consultation Any diagnostic service performed in a laboratory should be counted as an office consultation. This assumes the service includes providing the client with educational information so they may put the factual data in context and know how to proceed. Simply giving a client a printout with test results is not considered an educational clientele contact.
Three Master Gardeners taught a workshop on making rain barrels to 50 people on three different occasions. (3 volunteers x 50 participants x 3 events). 450 group participants The faculty member that oversees the MG program should enter these contacts under his or her own name.
An agent determines that 400 of the 500 newsletters placed at an Extension fair booth were distributed. 1 educational material Count the original work only.
An FCS agent teaches a series of 3 separate workshops on family budgeting, preparing wills, and purchasing life insurance to 30 county employees. (3 events x 30 participants). 90 group learning participants Even though the participants are the same they attended three separate events so each is counted as a separate contact.
Total fair attendance at the county fair is determined to be 9,500. 0 Do not report fair attendance. Attendance at a county fair is not in itself an Extension contact.
County director convenes a 20-member advisory board to discuss issues affecting the Extension office, and then spends a designated hour to train them on the latest techniques in pesticide management. 20 group participants The general information provided to the advisory board is not considered an educational event and should not be counted. The hour set aside for training on pesticide management techniques is countable and should be counted.
A 4-H event is held to teach 25 youth about marine biology. Two parents stay and listen in the back of the room. 27 group learning participants Agents should use good judgment when deciding whether to count participants who are not a member of the intended audience. A parent who is an active listener is to be counted but a parent who is reading a magazine to pass the time is not.
An agent identifies a crop disease while at a local farm. 1 field consultation Any diagnostic service conducted on site should be counted as field visit.
A County Extension Director gives an overview of his or her office to new volunteers. 0 This is a management/operations task and not the transfer of educational information about a specific Extension service.
A LAKEWATCH volunteer schedules a meeting with 10 citizens at a lake located in their neighborhood to discuss the water quality and what they can do to improve it. 10 group learning participants Faculty member who oversees the LAKEWATCH program reports the contacts. It is counted as a group rather than field visit due to being a formally scheduled event with a large number of attendees.
A club leader files an application for a club charter that needs to be reorganized. The agent contacts the leader by phone and explains the quality indicators of a community club, the importance of working with diverse youth, etc. 1 phone consultation The faculty member is conveying educational information to the club leader.
An EFNEP program assistant discusses a problem with a client using email. A total of 12 emails are sent between the two parties to solve the problem at hand. 1 email consultation A series of emails or phone calls to answer a specific question or resolve a problem should be counted as one contact.
Six faculty work on a newsletter with each contributing a 6-inch column with original material. 1 educational material Each faculty member counts the newsletter once. On a collaborative work, the contribution to the end product must be significant relative to the other authors.