Planning Successful Activities

1. American Chemical Society Lucy Eubanks, Councilor from the Western Carolinas Local Section, serves as LSAC’s Chair of the Tools, Technology, and Operations (TTO) Subcommittee. She also represents LSAC on the Leadership Advisory Board (LAB), chairing LAB’s Learning Assets Subcommittee (LAS). She had chaired both her local section and The Division of Chemical Education. Her teaching career spanned the globe from Frankfurt, Germany, to Seattle, WA; to San Diego, CA; and to Clemson, SC. She has participated in several ACS curriculum projects, and was Editor-in-Chief for two editions of Chemistry in Context. Planning Successful Activities David W. Ball is Professor of Chemistry at Cleveland State University.  As Councilor for the Cleveland Section ACS since 2001, he currently serves on the LSAC and the Committee on Nomenclature, Terminology, and Standards (NTS).  He has been chair of Cleveland Section ACS twice, in 1998 and 2009.  He has also been active with local section activities involving the National Chemistry Olympiad and National Chemistry Week. Alexa Serfis is a Councilor from the St. Louis local section, and has served on LSAC for three years. She is the Chair of the Local Section Assistance and Development subcommittee. This group of LSAC members works with sections who may have struggles and need some help and advice to be “all they want to be”.

2. American Chemical Society Activities with Impact Opening activity

3. Planning Successful Activities: Agenda • Setting the Targets • Planning the Activity • Measuring and Consolidating the Gains American Chemical Society

4. American Chemical Society Participant Introductions

5. Planning Successful Activities: Agenda • Setting the Targets • Establishing the goal • Selecting the type of activity • Describe the audience • Planning the Activity • Measuring and Consolidating the Gains American Chemical Society

6. Factors That Determine Goals American Chemical Society

7. Setting the Goal: Typical Goals • Increase membership • Engage current membership • Raise funds • Find jobs for unemployed members • Increase chemical literacy among general public • Increase interest in chemistry among students • What else? American Chemical Society

8. Selecting the Type of Activity • Awards meeting • Technical symposium • Jobs fair/career day • Social event • Outreach • Education • Advocacy • What else? American Chemical Society

9. Planning Activities: The Time/Place Matrix Time Same Place Different Same Different American Chemical Society

10. Describing the Audience • Current members • Highly successful and engaged • Less engaged • Unemployed • Prospective members • Public officials and policy makers • Teachers and students (including science museum staff and customers) • General public American Chemical Society

11. American Chemical Society Setting the Target: Scenario Small group activity

12. American Chemical Society Setting the Target: My Activity Individual application activity

13. Planning Successful Activities: Agenda • Setting the Targets • Planning the Activity • The project management dimension of activity planning • Using FORMS as a planning tool • The people dimension of activity planning • Measuring and Consolidating the Gains American Chemical Society

14. The Activity as a Project: Factors to Consider • Schedule and timeline • Venue/logistics • Budget • Invitations and communications with audience • What else? American Chemical Society

15. Schedule and Timeline Scheduling Considerations • Other ACS activities (especially national meetings) • Holidays (pluses and minuses) • What else? Timeline and Sequencing • Decide on activity type and date • Get support from Executive Committee • Secure venue • Enlist volunteer support • Get commitment from guest speakers (as needed) • Issue invitations • Arrange logistics and room set American Chemical Society

16. Budgeting • Cost to members (hard and soft dollar costs) • Joint funding possibilities (agree on splits in advance!) • Funding “in kind” options • What else? American Chemical Society

17. Invitations and Communicating with the Audience • How much lead time? (too much versus too little) • Can we use multiple media to communicate? • Should we ask for an RSVP? • What else? American Chemical Society

18. FORMS as a Planning Tool • FORMS: Forms Online Report Management System • Web-enabled database application available to multiple users • Used to plan, add, access information about events and activities through 2020 • Single registry for information and supporting material (flyers, agendas, lists, volunteers) • Copy function can simplify planning process (just copy and modify a similar previous event) • url: www.acs.org/forms (then login with ACS ID) American Chemical Society

19. FORMS: Upcoming Events and Activities American Chemical Society

20. FORMS: Overview Tab American Chemical Society

21. Planning Successful Activities: Agenda • Setting the Targets • Planning the Activity • The project management dimension of event planning • Using FORMS as a planning tool • The people dimension of activity planning • Measuring and Consolidating the Gains American Chemical Society

22. Finding the Magic Match Motivation Organization’s needs Talent

23. Volunteer Motivation: Five Factors

24. Components of a Task “Spec” • Description of responsibility (“What would this person do?”) • Deliverables (“What will I need to produce?”) • Time commitment and deadline (“How much time will this take, and when will I need to be finished?”) • Resources that are available (“What will I have to work with?”) • Capabilities (“What kinds of things should this person be good at doing?”)

25. Last-minute syndrome 70% Procrastinator 50% Effort 20% Average Optimal 10% Accept Deadline Time Providing Appropriate Support • General principle: Control as little as the situation will allow. • Milestones provide a subtle but effective form of monitoring (the greater the risks, the more frequent the reporting). • People have different styles.

26. American Chemical Society Planning the Activity: Scenario Small group activity

27. American Chemical Society Planning the Activity: My Activity Individual application activity

28. Planning Successful Activities: Agenda • Setting the Targets • Planning the Activity • Measuring and Consolidating the Gains • Measuring success • Consolidating the gains American Chemical Society

29. Measuring Success: The Four Levels of Evaluation • Level 1, Reaction: How well did the learners like the learning process? • Level 2, Learning: What did they learn? Can they translate learning to performance in learning setting? • Level 3, Behavior: Are they applying the new learning on the job? • Level 4, Results: What are the tangible results of the learning process in terms of reduced cost, improved quality, increased production, efficiency, etc.? Adapted from Donald Kirkpatrick (1975) American Chemical Society

30. Strategies for Evaluation • Post-event survey (Levels 1 and 3) • Building activities into the event to demonstrate Level 2 mastery • Benchmarking key variable before the event • Return on investment analysis (can be as expensive as the investment itself, however) Remember to use FORMS (Evaluation tab) to record the results of your evaluation. American Chemical Society

31. American Chemical Society Measuring Success Large group activity

32. Consolidating the Gains: Strategies for Reinforcement and Followup • Expand the scope • Build momentum by publishing the results and acknowledging contributors • Conceptualize as part of a larger whole (“elephants on parade”) • Use evaluation to identify advocates and future volunteers • What else? American Chemical Society

33. American Chemical Society Measuring and Consolidating the Gains: Scenario Small group activity

34. American Chemical Society Measuring and Consolidating the Gains: My Activity Individual application activity

35. Planning Successful Activities: Review • Setting the Targets • Planning the Activity • Measuring and Consolidating the Gains American Chemical Society

36. ACS Leadership Development System American Chemical Society American Chemical Society