Dear BNC faculty colleague: As you probably know, BNC staff, students and faculty lead daily tours of the BNC and Discovery Park to a wide variety of groups, including potential stakeholders (e.g., CTOs in industry, program officers from federal funding agencies, science journalists, distinguished colleagues, faculty recruits and graduate student applicants). Increasingly, these visits are directly associated with potential large-scale research collaborations. In many of these cases, the appropriate "tour guide" is a member of the faculty who is known to the visitor. To assist you in giving the best tour possible in these situations, our Engagement group is offering a workshop on February 12th from 1:30-3:30 PM in Morgan 121...the details are given below. If you have those two hours free, I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity. Best Regards- Tim -- Timothy D. Sands Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director, Birck Nanotechnology Center Discovery Park, Purdue University TOUR TRAINING !!!! Candiss Vibbert, Associate Director for Discovery Park Engagement and Associate Vice Provost for Engagement, invites you to a workshop designed to provide you with the information and materials necessary to host a wide variety of guests at Discovery Park. This workshop will be offered on February 12 from 1:30­3:30, in Burton Morgan 121. If you cannot attend at that time, but could attend a morning session on that same day from 9:00-11:00, please RSVP with that information. Since last July, over 1500 individuals have visited Discovery Park and many of you have been tapped for assistance. This workshop will provide you with a DVD of a video that you can use for a broad overview as well as one-page handouts and a list of key talking points for audiences with whom you would like to highlight the key characteristics of Discovery Park. We have a broad range of supplemental materials, guides to assist you in considering what areas to stress for differing audiences, a brochure about our facilities, and a website where these materials can be found. A script for tours of both Bindley and Birck have been developed with stopping points and key information on posters, so that it will be easy for everyone to host groups. Candiss¹s goal is to create a large group of FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENTS who are confident that they can host visitors at Discovery Park and will convey a consistent message to these guests. This workshop should be a big step toward this end. If you cannot attend a session on the 12th, but are interested in hosting guests to Discovery Park, please send your name so that other sessions may be held. Please RSVP to Valerie Lawless at (lawlessv@purdue.edu) and Deborah Starewich (dstarewi@purdue.edu).