SOUTH VENICE — In the Selby Room on the Venice campus of State College of Florida Tuesday evening, one of the almost 30 audience members joked that the college’s prospective new president will need to be able to “leap tall buildings in a single bound.”

It was a joke that got the room laughing, but those who were there for the first of three community feedback sessions were all seriousness about sharing their thoughts on challenges a new college leader could face and qualities he or she might need to be successful in the post.