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Greeley Museums Interactive Learning; December 1, 2009 Prepared by: Jocelyn Martinez Prepared for: Sheryl Kippen CONFIDENTIAL: FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

Greeley Museums PR Plan

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Page 1: Greeley Museums PR Plan

Greeley MuseumsInteractive Learning; December 1, 2009

Prepared by: Jocelyn MartinezPrepared for: Sheryl Kippen

CONFIDENTIAL: FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

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Executive Summary:

The Greeley Museums come together under one umbrella to pump fun back into learning.

The organization breaks the negative stigma that history is boring by hosting events that both

teach and entertain the residents in the Weld County community. One of the big annual events

that it puts on is Baby Animal Days at the Plumb Farm Learning Center. This event enlists the

help of many volunteers who are all trained extensively in how the event is run. The training

material that the organization has been using is dated and in need of modernization. The goal of

this plan to do just that and have it put together in an updated form in time for training sessions

for the Spring 2010 event.

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III. Situation Analysis:

The problem facing many museums today is the stigma that history is boring and

museums are stuffy; the Greeley Museums are not immune to this issue. Along with issues of

awareness in general of its four successful locations, this organization is trying to find ways to

overcome the negative perception that museums deal with everyday. In an attempt to reverse

negative attitudes, the Greeley Museums host many festivals and events annually that involve

bringing in actors and live animals; these events allow community members to interact with

history. One such event is Baby Animal Days, which is hosted every spring at the Plumb Farm

location and brings in many breeds of live animals.

Making the Plumb Farm’s event successful demands the coordination and work of

hundreds of volunteers who range from animal providers to animal fact presenters to those taking

tickets at the front gate. All of these volunteers must be properly trained on the ins and outs of

the event: where the animals go, what kinds of animals are present, how to work with the

animals and even how to work with the incoming crowds. This training has been done through

lectures paired with videos and paper fact sheets; the issue with this kind of training is that it is

old fashioned and can be hard, as well as expensive, to change and edit in order to accommodate

new information about the event and all of its inner-workings.

When working with such a wide variety of volunteers, especially teen volunteers, it is

important to find a medium that can be used for training that is beneficial for all involved.

Another issue with the previous way of training is that lecture training sessions, out-dated

videos and training packets have become a thing of the past; training videos are static and can

only be updated as the budget allows, which means that it may not always be up-to-date on

changing procedures.

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IV. Organization Analysis:

The Greeley Museums are a collection of four museums and include the Greeley

Historical Museum, which is housed in the old Greeley Tribune building and opened in July

2005; the Plumb Farm Learning Center, donated by C.O. Plumb in 1997; the Meeker Home,

which was the home of Greeley founder Nathan Meeker and his family; and the Centennial

Village Museum, the first of Greeley’s museums, which opened July 4, 1976, and features

structures from the 1860s up until the 1920s. These museums are overseen by several

coordinators, an office manager and the museum manager. The organization also works with

hundreds of community volunteers annually who assist in the running of festivals, single-day

events as well as everyday tasks, such as working in the various museum stores. It also has a

short chain of command, including various elected community office members:

Museum Manager→Department Director Culture→Department Director Leisure

Services→City Manger→Greeley City Council

Apart from this chain of command, the organization also has an advisory museum board that

provides advice, ideas and support.

The organization knows how important its reputation in the Greeley community is, but is

also aware that it is not as well known in the community as it would like to be.

The Greeley Museums are not really in a competitive market because all four locations

work together under the same umbrella with the same goals. The annual budget is awarded by

the Greeley City Council and is approximately $400,000 - $500,000. Along with applying for

grants, the organization often pairs up with Friends of the Greeley Museums to put on events and

fundraisers, such as the annual Potato Day event held each fall. The organization also works with

local schools to arrange field trips for students of all ages.

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V. Publics Analysis:

The Greeley Museums deal with many publics, both internally and externally.

Along with the small staff discussed above that consists of a team of coordinators, office

manager and museum manager, the organization works alongside other important decision

making community officials which ultimately lead up to the Greeley City Council, which is in

charge of awarding the organization its annual budget that makes events such as Baby Animal

Days possible.

The organization also would not be able to put on their many annual events without the

assistance of their many loyal volunteers, some of which have returned for many seasons to work

in the museum stores and assist in events.

Although there are not really any major competitors or opponents outside the museums

that limit the organization, there are many external publics that help the organization.

The Greeley Museums deal heavily with customers of their four locations, both regular

visitors and new faces; it works very closely with local schools to arrange field trips for students.

The museums also work with the media in attempts to attract new customers and visitors to their

special events as well as tours that offered daily at each location during scheduled open seasons.

Friends of the Greeley Museums is another group that partners with the organization to

put on events and fundraisers.

With special events, the Greeley Museums work with many vendors and other service

providers. For example, Baby Animal Days would not be possible without the people who kindly

share their animals for the education of community members.

The Greeley museums work with many publics throughout the various arenas of the

community and many of the relationships are beneficial for both parties.

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VI. Goal:

To create a favorable and beneficial training program for the organization’s volunteers.

VII. Objective(s):

To incorporate all the elements used for training in a modern medium for organization’s

volunteers to be ready for use in April 2010.

To create a training program that is beneficial to the organization and its volunteers that

will be measured by post-presentation questionnaires at time of presentation.

VIII. Target Audience(s):

The target audience for this PR plan is the large group of volunteers who will be trained

to participate in any of the Greeley Museums’ animal events.

IX. Key Message(s):

The Museums appreciate the many people who graciously give their time to volunteer for

this event and express their devotion to the education of our community.

X. Strategy:

To update the current training program with the appropriate communication tool.

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XI. Components:

1. PowerPoint:

The PowerPoint presentation because the client was looking for a more updated

medium in which to conduct her training program. PowerPoint is the best medium for

this because it allows the organization to have a universal presentation that it can

copy, distribute and update as needed. This is a format that is flexible allowing it to

withstand years of use. This format is also free, which saves the non-profit money

that can be better spent elsewhere.

2. Activity Sheet:

The activity sheet is a component that is distributed prior to the PowerPoint

presentation. This component is a sheet of questions that coincide with topics

presented to volunteers. The activity is useful because it requires that the volunteers

pay attention to the presentation in order to get the answers that will later be asked on

the post-presentation questionnaire.

3. Post-presentation Questionnaire:

The post-presentation is a simple way of evaluating that the volunteers have retained

the important information that was given during the PowerPoint presentation. This

component not only tests the volunteers but also the effectiveness of the new training

program.

4. Post-presentation Surveys:

There will be two surveys, one for volunteers and one for organization employees.

The surveys will measure the success of the PowerPoint by asking opinions of the

new training program in regards to quality and ease of which it can be updated.

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XII. Budget:

Section 1 – Activities & Person Hours:

Activity Responsibility Rate Hours TotalAnimal Day Events Volunteer $0.00/hr. 120 $0.00

Total projected cost person hours $0.00

Section 2 – Outside Services:

Description CostAnimals, donated $0.00

Total projected cost outside services $0.00

Section 3 – Materials:

Item Quantity Cost Total Venue

Discs for PowerPoint 25

$14.88/20-Pack + $0.97 Shipping $15.85 Wal-Mart.com

Activity Sheets 150 $0.07/sheet $10.50 Fed-Ex Kinko’sPost-presentation Questionnaires (Volunteers) 150 $0.07/sheet $10.50 Fed-Ex Kinko’sPost-presentation Questionnaires (Staff) 20 $0.08/sheet $1.60 Fed-Ex Kinko’sPost-PowerPoint Training Quiz 150 $0.14/sheet $21.00 Fed-Ex Kinko’s

Total projected cost materials $59.45

GRAND TOTAL $59.45

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XIII. Timeline:

Date Task Person ResponsibleSept.:

11 First meeting with client Jocelyn MartinezNov.:

13 First draft of PR plan due to Dr. Peck Jocelyn Martinez22 Present components to client for approval Jocelyn Martinez

Dec.: 1 Final draft of PR plan due to Dr. Peck Jocelyn Martinez8 Present final PR plan to client Jocelyn Martinez

April: *EVALUATE OBJECTIVE 1* Sheryl Kippen5 Get activity sheets/questionnaires printed Sheryl KippenWeek of 18-24 Train volunteers for Baby Animal Days Sheryl Kippen *EVALUATE OBJECTIVE 2* Sheryl Kippen

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XIV. Evaluation:

The organization will be in charge of measuring the success of the PR plan. The success

of the plan must be measured by the plan’s success or failure of meeting its objectives.

The first objective is simple to measure. In order for the plan to meet this object the

PowerPoint presentation must be done and submitted to the organization by April 2010.

The second objective is a measure of the quality of the new training program. This

objective will best be measured by the questionnaires that are completed shortly following the

PowerPoint presentation session. It could also be accurately measured by a survey that would be

completed by both volunteers present for the presentation as well as other employees of the

organization. The volunteers will evaluate the quality of the presentation in regards to was it

better and more informative than lectures, videos and/or handouts. The employees will evaluate

the simplicity of the new medium in regards to the ability to keep it updated and universal.

Measuring these two objectives may be slightly time-consuming, but can still simply be

implemented by the organization. If both of these objectives are achieved then the plan is a

success.

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XV. Appendix:

Components:

1. PowerPoint slides in handout form

2. Activity sheet

3. Post-presentation quiz

4. Post-training surveys (2)