Bates Winter 2015 STARTING AT THE BEGINNING: HOW TO START OR REIMAGINE A STUDENT ORG

Please get into groups of three ICE BREAKER: HOUSE, PERSON, HURRICANE

1.Creating shared meaning and community guidelines 2.Symbols and Branding 3.Setting up social media 4.Training new leadership - Knowing your resources 5.Identifying and mentoring new leadership POST-OFFICIAL STEPS:

 What kind of community do you hope to create?  What kind of community will your student group promote?  How do you want members of your group to interact with one another? CREATING SHARED MEANING AND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES

 List 3 characteristics you’d like your club to embody  List 3-5 community guidelines that would enable you to have a club that embodies the characteristics you previously listed  Let’s share out to the group! TAKE 2MINS TO REFLECT:

Does your club need or want a logo? Club colors? SYMBOLS AND BRANDING

 What will people think of when they see this symbol or logo?  Are any of your representations exclusive to any groups?  What message are you sending by using the symbols that you use?  What do you want people to think of when they see your logo or symbol? MARKETING

Brand Messages: The concepts, ideas, icons, colors, symbols that orgs send to customers to give meaning to their product or service.  What your org is putting out in the world Brand Contacts: The experiences that the customer might have with the brand that give them information/ messages.  What your participants are already coming to the table with Brand Associations: The meaning that the customer gives to the product.  What your participants take away MARKETING

How do we re-brand? What intentional brand messages can your org. send (via. Direct messaging, symbols, logos etc.) to change or re-brand your group?  Keep this in mind for when we talk about advertising, getting new members and being inclusive RE-BRANDING ASSOCIATIONS

 What is the most useful social media tool that will allow you to connect yourself to the Bates student body?  Facebook? Twitter? Instagram?  Is it useful to have multiple sources of social media for your membership or potential membership? Or is that too much clutter?  How will you update members on key information for and from your group? (i.e. meeting minutes, event info, event photos) SETTING UP SOCIAL MEDIA

 If you already have club members or new club leaders, what skills or resources do you need to connect them to in order for them to complete their positional responsibilities?  What resources do you need?  Funding  Programming  Advisors/ Advice  Publicity  Is there someone who can be your resource gatekeeper?  How will you access these resources? TRAINING NEW LEADERSHIP/ KNOWING YOUR RESOURCES

 How is your club going to be sustainable? How will you bypass the four year turnover effect?  Anyone Can Be A Leader – The Golden Rule of Organizing: Never do for others what others can do for themselves  How will you encourage members to increase their participation, involvement, and investment in the club?  How do you fight leadership or member involvement burn-out?  Cultivating leadership through mentorship  Will your club have a process or program to encourage mentorship of new leaders?  How will club members transition into active members and future leadership? IDENTIFYING AND MENTORING NEW LEADERSHIP

@ all 4-year institutions THE FOUR YEAR TURNOVER EFFECT  Students come into their institution with “new” ideas and are enthusiastic and excited about getting involved and making changes. They learn to access more resources and become even more motivated to make concrete changes.  Some students start to make these changes collaboratively and individually – some share this knowledge, some pass it on and some do all the work themselves. Some students become jaded or disheartened by the slow progress of change.  Students graduate.  New students come in with “new” ideas that are very similar to “old” ideas. Most students and student groups lack institution knowledge and sustainable leadership. New leaders have to re-learn everything and student groups are forced to start from square one.

 Think of one of the worst meetings you’ve ever been to:  Why was it so bad?  What personalities or interpersonal issues got in the way of making progress?  Did you get anything accomplished? PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO REFLECT:

1. What personalities or interpersonal issues got in the way of your meeting? What personalities or interpersonal issues do you feel could negatively affect your meetings? 2. Is there anything about running a meeting that makes you nervous or feel less confident? PLEASE WRITE DOWN & TURN IN: