Tardy Award Presentation by Emily Boyd

Tardy Award The grant is presented to two alumni relations professionals who have been in the industry for at least 2 years Must submit a proposal on what you would like to do research on/which schools Named after former Indiana Alumni Association President Jerry Tardy Presented by CAAE – Council of Alumni Association Executives

Background Looked at the UOAA “big picture” as well as the Fall 08 Board Meeting One of the main topics that the board and staff discussed was student and young alumni programming Took the ideas and brainstorming of the board to narrow down exactly what our challenges were at the UOAA and what I needed to research

Our Challenges Struggle to find the best way to engage our young alumni population Need to find programming that will entice our recent grads to attend events, stay connected and give back to the university Lack of engaged Student Alumni Association members has led to disconnect when they become new grads Need to “re-vamp” our current Student Alumni Association With record high enrollment numbers, now is a crucial time to engage our students

Proposal Gather research from schools with successful SAA programs and successful young alumni programs Research best practices of SAA programs, look at the ways they have been successful in the transition from student – young alum Assess the best way of connecting young alumni back to the UOAA, through membership, events, volunteering, etc… Find specific programming that will engage our young alumni and recent grads Research Young Alumni Councils and determine if that would work for UOAA

Goal Be able to help implement a successful structure for the new SAA Develop a strategic plan for new events and programs designed specifically for our young alumni Explore the option with staff of developing a young alumni council or young alumni reps on boards Learn more about best practices at each AA

Peer Institutions University of Florida Alumni Association CASE Award Winning SAA programs Successful Young Alumni Council University of Central Florida Alumni Association 45,000 alumni under 30 years old Successful e-communications and web presence

Findings… What makes their Alumni Association’s strong? Strong Membership Programs Fluidity between student/new grad membership Big differential b/w member and non-member rates “Non-ask” touches (i.e. birthday emails, thank you’s, etc) Co-branding on all materials Valuable use of Social Networking Sites Converted groups, profiles, to Facebook fan pages Set-up Fan Pages for each affinity group and chapter Maintain some control over pages by being an admin and having chapter members become admins as well

Findings cont… Sponsorships Having Affinity partners sponsor professional/development nights (UCF) Strong buy-in and support from National Board Partners/Donors sponsor SAA Events/AA Events

SAA Findings… What makes our peer institutions student programs so successful? One major theme for both universities…. CO-BRANDING! All marketing, membership and events pieces have both the AA and SAA logo on them SAA Members get the same materials as AA members; calendars, membership cards, discounts, etc…

SAA Findings cont…. Freshmen Seminars Get Buy-in from Students Events they are looking for Philanthropic Tie-ins Food drive with spirit t-shirts, school supplies drive, etc. Students only tabling at orientation Events that students create/implement Successful Marketing Recruitment emails, tailored to appeal to students Peer-to-peer marketing Letters to parents prior to orientation Solid SAA brochure

Young Alumni Findings… What makes their young alumni programs strong? Young Alumni Councils or Chapter Rep National Young Alumni Council – devises plans for chapters One size fits all events i.e. Swamp Swap Strong emphasis on Networking Events/Professional Development Community Service Events Tie-in with “University Day” to build connection back to University Keeping up with current mainstream ways of communication Facebook Videos to Young Alumni from other Young Alumni UCF YAC shooting their own videos Personalized emails from Young Alumni Reps/ Board Members

Young Alumni Findings cont… Synergy with SAA SAA Membership cards with local chapter listed Joint networking events Surveys / Focus Groups Finding out what is really important to students before they graduate Synergy with Membership Keeping rates lower for a longer period of time Chapters receive a portion of membership dollars for their accounts, helps give them motivation/buy-in Must be an AA member to be a member of the chapter

Where do we go from here… What can we do now at the UOAA? Stronger focus on membership synergy between SAA and UOAA Both UOAA and SAA members will now be receiving same benefits (i.e. calendar, preferred partners, etc) Membership Cards with UOAA Chapter name on them Bigger differential b/w member and non-member rate at events Pre-game parties will be $5 for UOAA Members, $20 for non-members Stronger focus on sponsorships

Where do we go from here… How can we improve the SAA? Hired Regan to help revamp structure/ develop new plan Hiring student workers to help with tabling at orientation Spirit T-shirts (i.e. Beat t-shirts) Tradition Book (i.e. UF’s F Book) Co-Branding of all materials How do we do a better job at engaging our Young Alumni? Stronger Focus on Professional Development Events Networking Events Focus on more community service events /University Day Include a Young Alumni representative on chapter boards

Closing Thoughts Questions? Comments?