2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Cooperative Extension advisors are usually assigned to a geographic area, whether it be county, region or state. ASHS and other professional society meetings allow visits to other places and interaction with colleagues, but knowledge of specific horticultural practices may also be requested and conveyed in non-traditional venues. In September, 2016, we helped sponsor and participated in the first conference on arboriculture in Kiev, Ukraine, with over 70 arborists, students and university faculty in attendance. Knowledge of modern arboriculture is not widespread in Ukraine and interaction of local arborists with the university faculty in Kiev was undeveloped. Meeting planning was done using messaging through social media after identification of stakeholders in Ukraine. We found that essential ingredients for this conference were similar to those for our local extension activities, specifically local interest on the part of both practitioners and academics, sponsorship for the meeting venue and arrangements, ability to convey research and resulting horticultural practices in the local language, and speakers who could address horticultural points and practice of interest and significance to the audience. Results underscore the effectiveness of delivery methodology and research-based extension as well as the value of horticultural knowledge itself, and may serve as encouragement to colleagues to offer expertise outside of their usual geographic boundaries, especially in nations that have no Extension-based system of information sharing.