Virtual trainings have been completed for the season, but recordings of these sessions can be found below.

 

If you are an experienced evaluator or coordinator who would be willing to join an on-site visit with new evaluators, please send Andrea an email at astevens@lakes.me.  

 

 

LakeSmart Success and the Power of Community (via Zoom)

Join us for part one of a two-part series of online trainings for new LakeSmart evaluators and coordinators. This one hour presentation via Zoom will walk through the history of the LakeSmart program, how it came to live at Maine Lakes, and how it uses the power of Community-based Social Marketing to successfully change behavior and protect lakes. It will also cover the logistics of how the program works, including an overview of who does what, how LakeSmart evaluations are reviewed, and how to start recruiting interested homeowners in signing up for LakeSmart evaluations. You’ll hear from some successful LakeSmart leaders in their communities and learn about the resources available to help you along the way to a fully developed LakeSmart program.

 

 

The LakeSmart Evaluation (via Zoom)

Join us for part two of new evaluator and coordinator training focused on the LakeSmart evaluation process. We’ll spend two hours walking you through the evaluation questions one by one, reviewing what to look for, what to consider when scoring each question, and some of the common stumbling blocks evaluators run into. Experienced evaluators will be on hand to answer questions and give insight into the challenges they’ve faced during evaluations. We’ll also walk through the post-evaluation steps, including report writing and some of the new tools we are developing to make that process easier. With this training under your belt, you’ll be ready to do some practice evaluations and schedule some on-site visits with the LakeSmart Manager and some local LakeSmart volunteers.

 

 

After the two Zoom trainings above, new LakeSmart team members should plan to schedule an in-person, on-site group meeting with Andrea. Plan to meet her at a property where you can walk through the evaluation process. She’ll run through the evaluation with you, and help you gain confidence with the LakeSmart evaluation process. She’ll also walk through the format of reporting for homeowners. She may have time to cover some of the Survey123 application that is used for entering LakeSmart evaluation data (but see the Survey123 training below).

 

Visits, starting the week of July 5, will be scheduled at the conclusion of the LakeSmart Evaluation training or directly with Andrea (astevens@lakes.me).

 

Using Survey123 for LakeSmart Evaluations (via Zoom)

Becky Schaffner, from the Maine DEP, will run through the ins and outs of setting up Survey123 on your tablet or computer and walk through the process of entering LakeSmart data into the Survey123 database. The database is an immense time-saver for evaluation review and also gives us an excellent historical record of completed evaluations and recommendations. Maine Lakes offers many ways to get help with Survey123 but joining this Zoom with Becky is a great way to get started.