Happy 250th birthday, America! We hope you join us in celebrating our country's birthday by popping into some of our training sessions this month to spark new skills! As always, if there is a topic you would like us to cover, please let us know!

Our monthly online ActiveCampaign sessions are offered on July 14th and July 16th, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. Join our Managing Contacts session on July 14th to learn more about managing your contacts. To learn more about creating and sending campaigns, join our Creating Email Campaigns session on July 16th.

We have three accessibility-related trainings to offer this month.

Accessibility All-Stars

One of our primary functions in Extension is sharing information, and these days much of that knowledge is communicated online. Join us for some quick tips to ensure your web content is user-friendly for everyone and reaches the widest audience possible.  We'll go over some basic guidelines for inclusive design and some tricks and tools to make it easy! This session is on July 9th from 10-11 am. Sign up in XLMS.

Accessibility Fundamentals: Fonts

Join us for a quick training covering the fundamental accessibility principle of fonts. Considering accessibility when choosing fonts is crucial because it makes digital content more readable for a broader audience, including individuals with visual impairments, learning disabilities, or low vision, as well as anyone who is distracted or multitasking. Learn how to choose fonts that help make content more accessible. This session is on July 15th from 10-10:30 am. Sign up in XLMS.

Accessibility Fundamentals: Headings

Join us for a quick training covering a fundamental accessibility principle. For this session, we will cover how to use heading levels to organize and structure your digital content appropriately. Well-organized content allows users to understand and navigate information effectively. This session is on July 29th from 2-2:30 pm. Sign up in XLMS.

Our monthly online Eventbrite session is on July 7th from 9-10:30 a.m. This session covers Extension Eventbrite requests through event publication, including budget forms, adding details to the event, online events, modifying ticket information, adding custom questions to the order form, making your event live for registration, and managing attendees once your event is published.

We are offering two Express sessions this month. Topics change each month, depending on questions received, suggestions, etc.

Master Your Schedule with Google Calendar's Appointment Schedule

In this quick, practical session, we will dive into Google Calendar’s powerful Appointment Schedules tool. Note: You might remember the old "Appointment Slots" feature, but Google has completely overhauled it! The updated system allows you to create a professional, shareable booking page that integrates seamlessly with your existing Unity calendar. It automatically prevents double-bookings and—best of all—your county residents and stakeholders do not even need a Google account to reserve a time with you.

Whether you are managing soil sample drop-offs or arranging structured office hours, this training will help you claw back valuable time in your week.

This session is offered on July 22nd from 10-10:30am. Make sure to sign up in XLMS.

Extension Website Images

Want to make your Extension website look sharp, professional, and engaging? Join us for this quick session on web image best practices. We’ll cover everything you need to know to make your visual content shine, including proper sizing, positioning, and best practices. Plus, we’ll share tips and tricks for using Canva to quickly create and format high-quality images that fit perfectly on your site.

This session is offered on July 28th from 10-10:30 am. Make sure to sign up in XLMS.

Join EIT staff for an introduction to the extension content database. Learn how to navigate the database and how to use the publishing tools to create new factsheets. 

This session is primarily for specialists, but agents are welcome to join to learn how to navigate the database and find useful information.

Join us on July 1st from 9:30-10:30 am. Sign up in XLMS.

Photo Editing 101

Join Ben Farmer for a virtual training to go more in-depth on the photo editing side of Photography. We will cover Adobe Lightroom as well as a few other tools that you can use to make your photos stand out. This hour-long session will give you the knowledge on how to crop, color correct, and enhance your images regardless of what device you used to take the photo on. This session is being offered both July 7th and July 14th. Sign up in XLMS.

Extension Websites 101

This session will cover the basics of using our NC State Extension website platform to update your county center or topic website. We will demonstrate how to use the content block editor to create a new page or news post. We will cover image best practices, modifying your menu, and checking for accessibility. This session is appropriate for both county staff and specialists. All new employees or employees unfamiliar with our new web platform who will be working on Extension websites are encouraged to take this course. Sign up for this session in XLMS, offered on July 8th from 2-3:30 pm.

Customizing Your NC State Extension Topic Site

This session will cover how to customize and organize your topic site in the Extension website platform. We will demonstrate how to add content blocks to your topic site homepage, like static images, icon menus, text, video, and more. We will cover how to control your newsfeed displays, including adding or removing news blocks, controlling news priority, and featuring articles. We will also cover how to modify and organize your pages and menu. This session is appropriate for specialists and anyone who manages a topic site within the ces.ncsu.edu system. Sign up for this session in XLMS, offered on July 23rd from 10-11 am.

Beyond the Chatbox: CRAFTing Better AI Conversations

Ever feel like interacting with an AI is a bit of a gamble? Sometimes you get gold; other times, you get a hallucinated mess. The secret isn't in the model—it’s in the framework.

In this hands-on session, we will break down the CRAFT framework, a professional-grade strategy designed to transform vague requests into precise, high-quality results. Whether you are drafting reports, generating code, or sparking creative ideas, CRAFT provides the structural "blueprints" you need to succeed every time. This session takes place on July 30th at 10-11:30 am, so make sure to sign up in XLMS!