The end of all things

For my Capstone project my sister Hannah and I decided to put on a fundraiser tournament for our Women's Golf team. As a small team with little attention funds are always limited and we wanted to put on the tournament as a sort of going away present for the underclassmen we are leaving behind.

We decided to do a four person scramble format with a team prize and different competitions throughout the course. We also wanted to allow players to meet the team and coaches and get to know they people they were supporting. Therefore we wanted to have the team members and coaches join players on competition holes so as to support them and aid them with their games.

My part in all of this was PR, media, artifacts and basically getting the word out and making it look good. My measurable objectives were as follows:

1. To increase involvement and participation of the Dixie State Women's Golf Facebook page. By increasing traffic and involvement advertising will reach a greater and more interested audience.

2. To create a media package which effectively conveys the details of the fundraiser.

3. To generate a full field of golfers and good attendance at the banquet to follow through effective marketing and ease of access to information.

These objectives proved to be harder than I thought they would be. The flyer it's self was a challenge due to NCAA regulations and just the number of people who had to approve of it. It went through 5 iterations (which can be seen in the previous post). The final product looked like this:

One of the most effective ways of increasing our social media presence online was by publishing players bio's with pictures. The most successful bio had over 140 likes, multiple comments and almost 20 shares:

Overall we gained 30 page likes from the beginning of the semester to now.

By the end of the semester we had gained 25 followers from scratch.

Not everything went according to plan though. I put out the flyer and went public with all of the information much later than I should have and that damaged our field size. We ended up with 3 teams, 12 players, and a few extra luncheon and silent auction attendees. Also with only one way to sign up, online, it limited the number of people who were willing to put in the time and effort to register, especially in our host community SunRiver.

I think one thing I did really well though was being consistent with updating the Instagram account I created and Facebook. It was our main source of advertising as it were and it helped to keep people informed and reminded them that the tournament was coming up and that we exist as a team.

The thing that probably had the biggest transformation was my style guide. It lacked a unique quality in the flyer and needed to be changed for the day of. This is what it looked like in the end:


This was implemented throughout the tournament, luncheon and silent auction.

Altogether I'm proud of what Hannah and I accomplished. We didn't have as big of a field as we would have liked and there is a lot of room for improvement for next year, but we did what we set out to do in creating a tournament by the players, for the players as an investment in the future of the program. We still haven't gotten the final numbers back yet, but we know we raised well over $1,000.00 and raised a good deal of interest for next year. I'm grateful for the opportunity to complete this project as my capstone and look forward to running it/helping out with it in the future. I love my team and I love my school, so the completion of this brings me a good deal of pride and joy. Thank you for seeing it through with us Eric. It wouldn't have been the same without you.

The Evolution of the Ugly Duckling Poster

Graphic design scares me. I haven't really been trained in it and while I usually know what looks good, I sometimes don't know how to get there on my own without specific instructions. Which explains this flyer.

It started out looking like a typical cheesy flyer, nothing special with chunky graphics. It was busy and scattered.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5BgtWI8b06sTktlUlhyeU40TWM/view?usp=sharing

To make matters worse the next step added a logo.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5BgtWI8b06sZ2xmLUJ2Y3Z1RWc/view?usp=sharing

With some much needed redirection I started working on a layout that was much more pleasing to the eye as well as being more professional. Using the principle of continuity I was able to better integrate the information through only using two fonts. Also the simplicity of one photo was a vast improvement over the scattered nature of the previous installments.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5BgtWI8b06sWTNIM1dlQUFHSEE/view?usp=sharing

The next iteration I desaturated the background so that the text and golfer would stand out better.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5BgtWI8b06sTmZrRGNTVVdOZ2s/view?usp=sharing

The Final edit had to include some changes to the content, due to the NCAA. Charity had to be taken out and the word cash could not be mentioned. This with the addition of stating the fact that all proceeds go to the Women's golf team provides enough information to inform people of the event while drawing them to search it out more via the Facebook page.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5BgtWI8b06sclFTcmpnb3k3WDA/view?usp=sharing

Overall this was a big learning process for me. I gained some skills in photoshop, was pushed to think outside the conventional box, and worked around a lot of specifications with wording. I'm very happy with the end result and am excited to put it out to do it's job.

Deadlines

Media Package created and delivered for review: Wednesday, March 2nd.

First weekly player biography: Friday, March 4th.

Social Media campaign launched: Monday, March 7th.

All flyers posted at golf courses, campus, businesses, etc.:  Tuesday, March 29th.

Objectives

For this last semester Hannah and I want to do a fundraiser for the Women's Golf Team here at Dixie State. This will include a golf tournament, banquet and silent auction, as well as various side competitions/mini fundraisers.

My responsibilities in this will include the social media and registration. My objectives are as follows:

1. To increase involvement and participation of the Dixie State Women's Golf Facebook page. By increasing traffic and involvement advertising will reach a greater and more interested audience.

2. To create a media package which effectively conveys the details of the fundraiser.

3. To generate a full field of golfers and good attendance at the banquet to follow through effective marketing and ease of access to information.

An Introduction

As the youngest child in my family I'm accustomed to the description of "Hannah's little sister". But I'm ok with it because it's true. I'm excited to take on this last semester, and especially this class, with her. There's so much to do, learn and experience in these short months but I'm confident that it will be unforgettable (maybe in many ways) when it's all over.

Here's to happy endings!