CoCo: ACOMMs Bridge to the Corporate World

Platform of Julienne Alexis L. Joven: Candidate for Vice President, Corporate Communications Department

For the following year, I would like to focus on three goals: maximizing members potential, nurturing sponsors and clients, and fixing the system. Basing it on the SWOT analysis of what has been done in CoCo this year, I saw that while many milestones had been achieved, still more had to be strengthened.

Maximizing Members Potential

1. Activate members The irony of having too many members and too few tasks caused the phenomenon of missing-in-action CoCo associates. To fix this system, I have decided to build sub-teams for the department, allowing members to be able to work for ACOMM even if no projects are currently being held. 2. Cultivate competent CoCoAs To do so, I plan to hold a 3-part training series for the department, each one lasting for a whole day. The second leg would simply be a make-up training session, while the third one will be a refresher course to be done during the start of the second semester. The training sessions would involve hands-on activities such as writing ang MOA and choosing the appropriate marketing packages, allowing the associates to learn by experience and to simulate what has to be done during actual project handling. 3. who will be continuously encouraged to work for the organization To do this, I plan on creating a simple checklist of things to do for the year as a CoCoA, with a prize at the end of the year for anyone who completes the list. I will also announce CoCoAs of the Month to recognize those who put a sincere effort in doing their jobs, whether in or out of a project.

Each batch will also have a batch representative not only for easier communication but also for members to have a taste of holding positions in the organization. 4. and who will enjoy while doing so. My goal is to have two CoCo bonding days, one per semester, in order to make them feel like members of a family. Consolidation of members schedules is key. 5. Improve relationships between VP and AVP and between them and the members I will simply continue being as approachable as the current CoCo officers, being available through Facebook, text, and email.

Delegation of Responsibilities 1. Give out CoCoA assignments At the beginning of the year, I will be giving CoCoAs a list of the projects of all the departments for the year, in order to make it clear what the workload for the school year will look like. Every coco will also have at least one project per semester. 2. Learning the whole process: crafting kits and MOAs, contacting sponsors, implementation of marketing packages It will also be ensured that there will be rotation of tasks for each project to help CoCoAs learn the whole process of obtaining sponsors, starting from creating the kits to really working with sponsors. This will maximize the potential of members and will eventually train future CoCo leaders. 3. Create teams beyond projects: Database team, PR team, and Delegate Management In order to not be limited to projects, I will be formulating teams for the members. The database team will be in charge of organizing and further collating the contact details to add to the organizations database. The PR team will be in charge of creating press releases and newsletters to update sponsors on our activities so far. They will coordinate with Doc and Pub for this. Delegate Management will be in charge of collecting the names of possible participants

for our events like Social Media Summit. Coordinate with HR to combine contacts of every ACOMM member.

Nurturing Sponsors and Clients

Making ACOMM Known Outside the Ateneo 1. Maintain good relationships with past sponsors The first step is to give our current sponsors a pamphlet of this years projects (without dates included this time). This should be done really early with Doc and Pub. Also, there will be invites to new projects, and they will be updated in a newsletter every semester even if we are not working with them in order to keep the relationship strong. 2. Create new partnerships with potential sponsors yet untapped Of course, new sponsors are always encouraged. CoCoAs will be doing searches outside for interesting new sponsors. The ACOMM website and radio guestings can also feature open calls to sponsors for events. Alumni can be tapped to do this, too. In the end, there should be a central database for the entire organization where we can add all these info. 3. Always ensure quality clients For potential clients, we should always ensure that the organization gets something in return for the work they ask us to do and that they will pass the existing Client Identity Guide (CIG). 4. Back-up protocol for unresponsive sponsors Deadlines set for unresponsive sponsors should be followed firmly. 5. Possible projects with other college communication organizations This idea will still have to be pitched to the next ACOMM president and EB. It will definitely create a name for ourselves in the collegiate level and will build further contacts among Communication students across the metro.

Making ACOMM Known Inside the Ateneo 1. Projects in partnership with other organizations Time management and manpower will be evaluated before getting into project partnerships with other organizations. If ever Saturday events are inevitable, they must be promoted more aggressively. However, partnership projects should be less than ACOMMs own projects. A rehash of the Social Marketing Workshop with AJMA can be pursued. 2. Always ensure quality clients Follows same guidelines as mentioned above for CIG

Fixing the System

Transparency of Procedures 1. The Black Book of Everything CoCo: simple and easy-to-follow At the beginning of the year, each CoCoA will be given a hard and soft copy of the CoCo manual. This will include the step-by-step procedure of getting sponsors, file samples of MOAs and letters included in invite and thank you kits. Marketing packages and the CIG will also be there, along with other guidelines plus the dos and donts. This will be the ultimate manual that members will be able to return to anytime to double check their work progress. 2. Clean and complete database I propose that the whole organization should have one central database on sponsors, clients, participants, speakers, venues, and other connections of all members. This should include the organization, contact info, contact person, projects with them, last date of contact, next date of contact, partnership details, action to be taken, future projects they are interested in, and other details/preferences/comments. However, we will ensure who will have access to the database in order to avoid leakage to other organizations. 3. Updates after every project on what exactly was done Members will be updated through online posts on the procedure taken and partnership involvements, most especially for the benefit of CoCoAs who were

not involved to see what had been done, including the post-processing per project team. 4. Archives of all materials used, including kits, photos, videos for sponsors, and script This will also be done in partnership with Doc and Pub, in order to gather everything used. The archives should be accessible to other members, too. 5. Market ACOMM online; research online groups We can do this through the organizations website and by exploring other venues online where we can advertise our projects, managing a strong brand.

Improvement of Cooperation with Other Departments It is very important to update regularly and cooperate with other departments if we want to have ACOMM work as one well-oiled machine. The following sections discuss what this years departments suggest to improve relationships with CoCo.

1. FINANCE CoCo will inform the Finance department if we have gathered sponsors who will provide prizes, freebies, and/or financial supports so that Finance will not be troubled on whether they will be the ones shouldering certain expenses. An early system will be set up to lessen the burden of Finance. 2. PROJECTS Overlapping responsibilities will be avoided. Instead, teamwork will be done, with both the Projects and CoCo gathering sponsors and speakers for their events, most especially since CoCo members may know speakers and Projects members may have sponsor contacts, too. We will communicate with each other, because more people looking for sponsors is good. 3. DOC AND PUB The answer to effective cooperation between CoCo and Doc and Pub is time management. Careful planning and organization is needed, doing whatever can be done as early as summer. Also, Doc and Pub will be the ones ensuring that the MOAs are implemented, with sponsor logos appearing on their posters and other materials.

4. HUMAN RESOURCES HR would like help from CoCo in terms of obtaining prizes/tokens for speakers. They also suggest having one Google Doc database for the entire organization. At the initial interviews for the year, all departments should ask members what contacts they have, including sponsors, speakers, PlevSem venues/resorts, and such.

Projects
1. The Black Book of Everything CoCo 2. The ACOMM Database 3. Membership Card A challenge to be the first to complete stamps from all sponsors on the card will be set to encourage members to really use it. Sponsors will be asked at end of each semester to see if ACOMM members had really visited but at the same time, we will be checking standees in each venue if they are visible to members. It has been suggested for the card to be made into an ID so that members can easily carry it around in their ID cases. Logos on the card should be in highresolution and benefits will be posted online; some contacts from this year can be contacts for next year, too. I will ensure all members get their cards, and PROs should distribute to GA absentees. 4. 3-part Training Series [3rd part refresher course in 2nd sem] 5. CoCo Bonding Days 6. Projects in partnership with other college Communication organizations 7. Projects in partnership with other Ateneo organizations These must be geared towards sponsors, marketing, and advertising; a bigger, bolder SMW can be done.