Alumni Celebration

Centennial

So, whats YOUR story?

Southeast Missouri State University Homecoming 2014

Contents
Executive Summary SWOT Objectives Recommendations Save the Date Invitation Social Media Program Signage Further Recommendations Schedule Budget Evaluations Our Team
1 2 3 5 6 7 8 10 11 14 15 17 18 19

Executive Summary
To celebrate 100 years of student media at Southeast Missouri State University, we have created a special homecoming event for Mass Media alumni. At its most basic, the purpose of this event is to increase donations to expand scholarships like the Herb and Peggy Taylor Endowment, and we have tailored our strategy to facilitate that end. Alumni would gather in Rose Theater to socialize over coffee and doughnuts at 11:00 a.m., followed by a short address by Dr. Karie Hollerbach, department chair, and a student-produced video detailing the history of student media at Southeast. After that, there would be an open house with student ambassadors assigned to operate each of the media outlets housed in Grauel. Alumni would then be allowed to explore. Since we anticipate a diverse audience, we have devised an emotionally engaging theme coupled with clean design elements. Clean, bold lines clearly communicate the purpose and significance of the event without alienating any of the target audiences. Our tagline, So, whats YOUR story? encourages attendees to share their memories with each other. Our overall objective is to get any 46-60 year-old alumni to wax nostalgic and donate funds by illustrating, using student ambassadors, social media integration and strategic printed materials, just how much things have changed since they were students here. We have identified alumni 31-45 and 22-30 years old as less likely to donate, but as secondary objectives, fostering a sense of pride and community is vital to keeping them connected in the future. Finally, we have proposed multiple-dimensional evaluation, including gathering feedback from student volunteers, Alumni Services and attendees, social media tracking, monetary contributions and internship opportunities for current students within one year.

SWOT

Strengths
Number of alumni
Venue (reminiscent location)

Weaknesses

100 year anniversary of student media Recent Alumni Event (Bar Louie) Large population of alumni in nearby cities

Out of touch alumni Travel distances for alumni

Opportunities
Alumni are already here for Homecoming Ability to connect current students with alumni

Threats
Homecoming events Uninterested alumni

Objectives
Primary PR Objective To invoke a feeling of nostalgia among 46-60 year-old alumni so that they contribute to the department financially or otherwise (with internship opportunities for Southeast students) within one year of Homecoming 2014. Primary Marketing Objective To increase endowed funds for the Herb and Peggy Taylor Endowment among 46-60 year old alumni by 10% in one year. Strategy 1 Create a theme and event components as a Mass Media-specific event in conjunction with the Homecoming program and schedule of events. Tactic 1: Create a pathos-oriented slogan and logo. So, Whats Your Story? is engaging and pertinent to all alumni, prompting them to remember their personal experience with the Department of Mass Media. Tactic 2: Design activities to articulate personal experiences for alumni to share their story. Strategy 2 Encourage alumni to continue socialization after events conclusion. Tactic 1: Coordinate with local restaurants (Bella Italia, Broussards, El Sol) to agree to grant discounts to event attendees to be printed on the back of event programs. Secondary PR Objective 1 To create solidarity among 31-45 year-old alumni toward students beginning their careers in the mass media industry and generate the feeling of being needed among the established professionals in order to facilitate networking and internship opportunities during the event and the succeeding six months. Secondary Marketing Objective 1 To develop relationships between current students and 31-45 year-old alumni in order to create internship opportunities during the event and the succeeding six months. Strategy 1 Create instances that encourage alumni to share their professional experiences and their memories from time spent in the department. Tactic 1: Train current students to interact with alumni during the event with the emphasis on what they did with their degree.

Objectives

Strategy 2 Use participation in Department of Mass Medias Professional Speaker Series as a way to contextualize alumnis real-world experience. Tactic 1: Set up table outside of Rose Theater with information for alumni to learn about the Department of Mass Medias Professional Speakers Series and how they can take part in it. Secondary PR Objective 3 To increase sense of belonging among 22-30 year-old alumni so that they return to future alumni events hosted by the department. Secondary Marketing Objective 3 To increase participation of 22-30 year-old alumni in the departments alumni events in one year. Strategy 1 Demonstrate relevance and currency of the departmental curriculum by showing how to use social media. Tactic 1: Create promotional material for upcoming alumni events. Tactic 2: Engage alumni on Facebook and Twitter so that they are aware of this Homecoming event and other upcoming events. Tactic 3: Create and promote the use of the hashtag: #SEMOStory for the event. Tactic 4: Have a projector set-up in Grauel 113 with a live twitter feed shown on screen so that alumni can read what others are saying about the event. Tactic 5: Connect computers in The Arrow to a database of past issues for alumni to look up when they were writing for the newspaper. Strategy 2 Inculcate a sense of indebtedness to the University in recent alumni. Tactic 1: Appeal to emotion/reason with a series of blurbs with quotes and pictures of students on posters saying Thanks to Southeast, I did/got/accomplished xxx, where they share their story.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Save the Date

Southeast Missouri State University

the

formal invitation to follow

10.4.14

Alumni Celebration

Invitation
Southeast Missouri State University

the Department of Mass Media

&

invite you to the

Centennial

Alumni Celebration

TWENTY FOURTEEN

Rose Theatre

Refreshments - 10:30 a.m. Program - 11:00 a.m. 573-651-5104 RSVP: masscomm@semo.edu

Facebook

Alumni Celebration Facebook Event

Department Facebook Page: Profile & Cover Photos

#SEMOStory

Announcement

Sample Stories

Program

Grab a bite & share your story!

Centennial

Centennial

N. Sprigg St.

Broadway

Present this program at any of the restaurants featured below and recieve

Refreshments Welcome Presentation

10% off your bill.

A- Rose Theater B- El Sol Mexican Restaurant C- Broussards Cajun Cuisine

1105 Broadway St - (573) 803-2775 120 N Main St - (573) 334-7235 408 N. Pacific St

The Department of Mass Media welcomes you back; now feel free to explore!

Journalism Rose Theatre GB 113 - Mac Lab GB 102 - RAGE

GB 117 - Arrow Office

Television/Film

Public Relations

D- Bella Italia Ristorante

Radio

E- Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant & Lounge

19 N Water St - (573) 334-0954

20 N Spanish St - (573) 332-7800

Front

Back

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Signage

11

Signage

Alumni Spotlight

12

Signage

Before & After

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Recommendations
Select a group of talented TV/Film majors and allow them the opportunity to create short films on alumni stories (of people from all mass media majors) to be screened at the Alumni Celebration in Rose Theatre.

Solicit local restaurants to offer discounts to alumni attending the celebration to encourage socialization among mass media alumni after the event.

Have a table set up in the lobby of Rose Theatre to allow interested alumni to request additional information about the departments speaker series.

Further recommendations
Create and maintain an active Facebook page for the Department of Mass Media

Reach out to faculty alumni, requesting their attendance.

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Schedule
May 4 June 4 July 4 Aug. 4 Sept. 4 PREPARATION AND PLANNING X X Oct. 4 Nov. 4

Draft list of dept. ambassadors training instructions Solicit dept. student leaders to serve as ambassadors Dept. Chair selects young alumni for X spotlights Request quotes and headshots of X young alumni for spotlights Reserve Rose Theatre X Meet with J. Dufek and F. Jones about X student video for opening Create Facebook Event X Reserve computer and projector from X IT. Request recent Arrow copies X Reserve tables and chairs for Rose Theatre DEVELOPMENT AND APPROVAL Send all print material for approval X from Dept. Chair Send design before/after foam cord X posters for hallway for approval Send alumni spotlight for approval X Submit Whats your Story video for X approval Send directional signage for approval x Send Facebook designs for approval X Send Tweets for approval X Send speaker series info for approval X Pitch Whats Your Story to Arrow Editor Dept. Staff drafts ambassador training X Place food order IMPLEMENTATION Send Save the Date Evites X Send Invitations to print X Send Invitations to guests X Turn in training instructions to X ambassadors Send directional signs, spotlights, before/after posters and Redhawks to print Place all signage: directional signage, spotlights, before/after posters and Redhawks

X X

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Schedule
May 4 June 4 July 4 Aug. 4 Sept. 4 PREPARATION AND PLANNING X Oct. 4 Nov. 4

Prep Rose Theatre Draft list of dept. ambassadors training instructions Confirm food order with Chartwells Solicit dept. student leaders to serve Schedule s ocial m edia p osts a nd X as ambassadors tweets hair selects young alumni for Dept. C X Gather professional series volunteers spotlights contact info. Request quotes and headshots of X Test p rojector i n G B 1 13 young alumni for spotlights Reserve Rose Theatre X Place Aw rrow cD opies n newsroom X Meet ith J. ufek i a nd F. Jones about student video for opening Test audio of TV/film short movie X Create Facebook Event Reserve computer and projector from X Prepare reception area in Rose IT. Theatre Request recent Arrow copies X Follow-up with a interested in Reserve tables alumni nd chairs for Rose Professional Theatre Speakers Series Meet with ambassadors to explain DEVELOPMENT AND APPROVAL X game p lan Send all print material for approval X EVALUATION from Dept. Chair Count mount of guests Send a d esign before/after foam cord X Monitor T witter sentiment and use of posters for hallway for approval #SEMOStory Send alumni spotlight for approval X Create social media report with X Submit Whats your Story video for Facebook & Twitter approval Amount of speaker volunteers signed x Send directional signage for approval up f or t he s eries Send Facebook designs for approval X Amount of endowed scholarships set X Send Tweets for approval up in the following year Send speaker series info for approval X Amount of internship offers for Pitch Whats Your Story to Arrow current Editor students in the following year Dept. Staff drafts fa mbassador Request feedback rom Alumni training X Services and tudent Place food os rder volunteers IMPLEMENTATION Send Save the Date Evites X Send Invitations to print X Send Invitations to guests X Turn in training instructions to X ambassadors Send directional signs, spotlights, before/after posters and Redhawks to print Place all signage: directional signage, spotlights, before/after posters and Redhawks

X X

Day before
Day of event Day before Day before Day before Day before

X X

Day of Day of X Day of Week after X

X Year after X Year after

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Budget

Expense

Cost

Quan-ty
4 5 TBD 250 125 250/TBD 250 250 4 packs 10 10 6 gallons 6 gallons 6 gallons 6 gallons 1

Total
$192.00 $140.00 TBD $30.00 $122.50 $40.00 $0.00 $122.50 $0.00 $125 $180 $58.50 $60.00 $58.50 $58.50 $0.00

Before/A(er Foam Core Posters $48.00 Alumni Spotlight (Poster paper) $28.00 PrinDng: Save the Date (four per page) $0.12 PrinDng: InvitaDons (two per page) $0.12 PrinDng: Programs (two per page) $0.98 InvitaDon Envelopes $0.16 Address Labels $0.00 Postage $0.49 Command strips $0.00 Assorted Donuts (dozen) $12.50 Assorted Muns (dozen) $18.00 Orange Juice $9.75/gallon Water $10.00/gallon Coee $9.75/gallon Decaeinated Coee $9.75/gallon Student Worker $0.00

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Evaluation
The success of the event would be evaluated in multiple instances by gathering qualitative and quantitative data. First, students in each student media would report amount of attendees observed in their student media, share how the experience was for them and what they perceived the alumni liked and disliked. Secondly, to assess the success of the hashtag and to gather qualitative data, a student-worker should monitoring attendees sentiment and use of the #SEMOStory hashtag on social media posts during and after the event. This student worker would create a report for each social media platform that would include increase in likes/follows, interactions (mentions and retweets) and sentiment (positive/negative/neutral content in posts). Thirdly, to assess the success of the socialization opportunities, a student worker would contact the restaurants to gather feedback on the use of discounts on the day of the event. Fourth, to assess the success in generating the feeling of being needed among alumni, the number of interested professionals to participate in the Professional Speaker Series would be counted. Fifth, to assess how successful the event was in generating the sense of nostalgia and feeling of indebtedness to the department, we would monitor alumni contributions to the department and its students, both in endowment funds and amount of internship offers to current students within a year after the events completion. Lastly, we would request feedback from alumni services to compare the universitys perceptions and gathered information once the event was over.

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Our Team
Tyler Graef
Tyler is a senior studying mass communications and political science at Southeast. He specializes in strategic writing and design, and is currently involved with Riverfront Public Relations and doing freelance writing for the Southeast Missourian.

Trevor Mulholland
Trevor is a senior studying public relations with a minor in management at Southeast. He is fluent in event planning and design. He is currently planning events for Future Business Leaders of America, Brookfield Zoo and the National Association for Campus Activities.

Alex Frisby
Alex is a senior studying public relations and foreign languages at Southeast. She is passionate about social media and designing in a nonprofit agency. After graduation she hopes to move to Nashville, Tenn. to work for a small nonprofit parks department.

Andrea Gils
Andrea is a senior studying public relations and journalism at Southeast. She writes for PRSSA National and is the newsletter editor for the PRSA St. Louis Chapter. She hopes to work for a global public relations firm where she can make use of her traveling experience and multiple languages knowledge.

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