Penn State Ag Sciences - ACE/NETC 2009 Presentation

College Relations and CommunicationsCollege Relations and Communications

College Relations & CommunicationsACE Presentation, June 7, 2009

College Relations and Communications

Presenters:

Mary Wirth Director of College Relations and Communications

Jillian StevensonAssociate Director of Communications & Alumni Relations

Chris MoreAssociate Director of Web Communications


Today’s discussion focus:1. Strategies for change2. Structure matters3. Effective/creative decision making4. Prioritizing for maximum impact with limited resources5. Strategic implementation of technology opportunities


College Overview as a Point of Reference:

1. Current enrollment of approximately 2,500 students with 12 academic units, twenty majors, three two-year programs, three certificate programs, and twenty-four minors, with students at twenty-four campuses state-wide

2. Invest more than $89 million in research and graduate study with 500 graduate students in 16 program areas and more than 240 active student and faculty research projects

3. Cooperative extension offices in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties


2005 – 2008 College Strategic Plan

Charge:Strengthen meaningful communication and mutual education with stakeholders

• Enhance Web-based materials• Expand college’s role in Ag literacy• Enhance recognition, reporting, and distribution of the impact of our programming

Charge:Increase enrollment …

• Intensify college marketing efforts to increase awareness of program relevancy

Impetus for change:• Enrollment Decreases• Federal/State Funding Decreases• Remaining Relevant


Implementation of College Strategic plan:

Creation of Communications and Marketing Study Group…

“Update and improve college marketing materials, specifically recruitment publications and Web site, to enhance the image of the college to target audiences.”

Final report was submitted January 2006 and approved by Deans.

The foundation was laid for change!



Mary WirthDirector

College Relations and CommunicationsFocus area

Industry and Government Relations

Mary SeatonAssistant Director of

College RelationsManager Office of

Conferences & Short Courses

Jillian StevensonAssociate Director

Ag Communications/Alumni Relations

Chris MoreAssociate Director

Web Communications

Area LeaderChuck Gill

Public Info Team

Area LeaderPete Kauffman

Design/Print/Exhibits

Jonathan ZieglerMarketing/Creative

Specialist

Steve WilliamsPhotographer

Rhonda Demchak Staff Assistant

Naomi KnaubAssistant DirectorAlumni Relations

DeanRESTRUCTURING:Integrating those charged to build strategic stakeholder relationships with those charged to deliver strategic information to stakeholders.

Communications and Marketing Advisory

Committee(CMAC)

College Relations/CommunicationsMission: Connect, Collaborate, Communicate…


With significant change comes significant opportunities…

Integration of Ag Comm into the College Relations Office:

1. Define expectations (College Strategic Plan, CMAC)2. Assess current structure (Service)3. Vision (Service to strategic/integration of all CR units)4. Strategic Plan (Set direction/inform new dean)5. Assessment6. Continued quality improvement






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Jillian StevensonAssociate Director of Communications and Alumni Relations


Today’s discussion focus:1. Strategies for change2. Structure matters3. Effective/creative decision making4. Prioritizing for maximum impact with limited resources5. Strategic implementation of technology opportunities


• Define expectations and focus resources

• Establish vision (from service to strategic)

• Review current structure

• Continually assess and improve

Ag Communications and Marketing…moving forward


College Strategic Plan and areas of focus—Research, Teaching and Extension

• Energy• Environment• Entrepreneurship• Food, Diet, and Health• Pest Prediction and Response

Define Expectations


Extension Reframing Process:

• Increase translation of new knowledge into innovative solutions that address societal challenges

• Consolidate and improve programs (quality and consistency) statewide

• Improve flexibility and agility

• Create self-empowered teams (21 working groups)

Define Expectations


• Focusing resources (financial and human) on the priorities of the college and positioning the college

• Making efficient, creative, and strategic decisions

• Managing expectations—cannot be all things to all people

Establish a Vision—shifting from a service unit to a strategic unit by:


• Staff reorganization for most efficient match of skills to needs of the unit

• Leadership/Creative Team established to address various communications request and to approach each request as a team—focusing our efforts for the greatest impact

Review Structure and Staffing


Web Chris More—Assoc. Dir., Web Communications

Marketing Jonathan Ziegler—Marketing Specialist

Design, Publications and Exhibits Peter Kauffman—Communications Specialist

News and Information Chuck Gill—News Coordinator

Photography Steve Williams—Sr. Photographer

Leadership/Creative Team









• Undergraduate Recruitment Committee

• Trade Show Committees

• Dean’s Web site, emerging issues, etc.

Project Focused Committees/Teams


Membership:Associate deans for research, UG education, and Extension, and directors representing college stakeholders (industry, government, alumni and donors, international programs)

Purpose:• Develop protocol and make policy recommendations as it

pertains to Extension communications and marketing

• Coordinate and assess Extension communications and marketing efforts

College Communications & Marketing Advisory Committee


• Membership: State Program Leaders and Associate Dean of Extension

• Purpose:• Develop protocol and make policy recommendations as it

pertains to Extension communications and marketing

• Coordinate and assess Extension communications and marketing efforts

Extension Communications & Marketing Advisory Committee


• Ag Comm serves the College (Dean’s Office), Undergraduate Education, and Research, in addition to Extension—need to manage the workload

• Working with Extension’s self-empowered teams (21 working groups)

Working with Extension


Marketing Think Sheets(Information to direct marketing efforts gleaned from

Extension Program Proposals)

• Positioning Strategy• Key Message• Proposed Strategies and Tactics• Budget• Timeline

• SWOT Analysis• Target Audience Data• Competition• Marketing Objectives• Motivators/Barriers• Marketing Mix (4Ps)


Assess and Improve

How will we know when we have “arrived?”



Contact Information:

College Relations/Communications229 Ag Administration Bldg.University Park, PA 16802814-863-2822

Mary Wirth – [email protected] Stevenson – [email protected] More – [email protected]


Chris MoreAssociate Director of Web Communications


Today’s discussion focus:

1. State of the Web – pre-20082. Changes implemented in 20083. Our Web site policies and philosophies4. Recent accomplishments


State of the Web – Pre-2008

1. 300+ Web sites

2. Separate URLs created for every site

3. 20,000 broken links

4. Technologies: Dreamweaver, RedDot and static HTML

5. Static College homepage

6. Many RedDot projects stalled during creation

7. No formal intake process or project management





Changes Implemented in 2008

1. Developed procedures and practices

2. Implemented Microsoft SharePoint

3. Developed custom Web tools

4. Implemented Google Analytics

5. Reviewed RedDot CMS

6. Implemented Plone CMS

7. Redesigned College homepage


Developed Procedures and Practices

1. Defined team member roles

2. Request Type: Problem / Enhancement / Project

3. Priority and Criticality

4. Request Workflow

5. Projects1. Phases: Inception, Elaboration, Construction, Transition2. Artifacts: Charter, owner, stakeholders, purpose, scope, etc.3. Lifecycle4. Deliverables


Implemented Microsoft SharePoint

1. Funnel for all requests

2. Management of all projects and tasks

3. Document library

4. Internal meeting notes and accomplishments

5. Discussion forums and team collaboration

6. Versioning enabled on all objects (projects, tasks, files)

7. All projects and tasks viewable by College faculty / staff


SharePoint: Requests


SharePoint: Tasks (non-project)


SharePoint: View Task (non-project)


SharePoint: Projects


Developed Custom Web Tools

1. College-wide broken link checker: Spiders the entire College on a daily basis looking for broken links and creates reports and charts.

2. Google page rank tracker: Performs Google searches on a daily basis for words/phrases related to Agriculture. Records position in Google results.


Broken Link Checker


Broken Link Checker


Google Page Rank


Google Page Rank


Implemented Google Analytics1. Free, comprehensive, and easy-to-use

2. Single account for entire College

3. Anyone in College can request read-only access

4. Multiple custom filters to separate traffic and allow for sub-domain reporting

5. Two main reports:1. External-only traffic2. Internal and External traffic

6. 175+ Web sites have the same code in their HTML footer

7. Does not track file downloads by default


Reviewed RedDot CMS1. Closed-source / commercial product / expensive

2. Windows / ASP / Microsoft SQL based

3. Lack of any built-in Web 2.0 or dynamic features

4. Not easily extensible

5. Difficult and time consuming for end users to update content

6. Difficult for Web developers to create simple Web sites

7. Poor customer and technical support from parent company

8. Future versions not addressing any of these issues


Implemented Plone CMS1. Open-source / GPL license – free to use

2. Widely used at Penn State and fastest growing CMS on campus

3. WebLion partnership

4. Linux / Zope / Python / Apache / Squid based

5. Many Web 2.0 features built-in

6. Free add-ons for almost any type of functionality

7. Very simple for end users to created and maintain content

8. Steep learning curve for non-technical Web developers

9. Programming and UNIX expertise on Web team required to be successful


Plone – Edit Page


Plone – Edit Event


Plone – Edit Person


Plone – Edit Person


Redesigned College Homepage

Before

After





Our Web site policies and philosophies

1. Form vs. Function

2. Information Architecture

3. Technical

4. Content


Form vs. Function

1. “First Impressions” exists in the digital realm

2. Web sites need to function / work properly

3. Negative form can damage impressions of an organization

4. Negative function can damage reputation of organization

5. People often make decisions based on emotion instead of logic

6. You don't have to like a design for it to be effective on the target market


Form vs. Function – Examples:Function Biased Web sites (Give me the content!):• Google • Wikipedia

Form Biased Web sites (Wow me!): • Any flash-based major motion picture• Many photography / graphic design companies• Art schools

Which extreme has it right?• They both do• Purpose, target audience, and goals dictate the correct balance


Form vs. Function – Bottom Line• Know your audience

• Perform or gather market research

• Design Web sites around the needs / desires of your target audience

• Balance of form and function can only happen if you know your audience

• Try to remove personal preferences (client and internal)


Information Architecture – 1st level

1. Can only be done after you know all of your audiences and their priority

2. Separate audience information from content types1. Audiences (information for …): Future students, current

students, industry, alumni, public, etc.

2. Content types (information about …): news, events, directory, research, etc.

3. Keep navigations separate or their purpose clearly defined

4. Short general words in navigation – keep it simple


Technical

1. Minimize broken links (404 errors): affects users and search engines

2. Minimize the use of URLs: use directories for sub-sites

3. Don’t have multiple URLs point to the same content

4. Use 301 redirectors when a URL changes or goes away: users can find new content and search engines will be happy

5. Adhere to W3C Web and accessibility standards: benefits everyone


Content

1. Core content should be in HTML and not a PDF

2. Minimize the use of “link farms”

3. Investigate the use of content expiration and notification

4. Define owners of content and method to keep it “fresh”

5. Define an “overseer” of all content (text and photos) for consistency





Recent Accomplishments1. Converted five RedDot sites into folders of an existing Plone site

2. Launched three Plone sites1. Food Science – foodscience.psu.edu2. College homepage – agsci.psu.edu3. Entomology – ento.psu.edu4. Collapsed 25 URLs into three5. Increased traffic, page rank and return visitors6. Decreased bounce rate

3. Six of twelve academic units/departments in project queue1. Four to five months per academic unit/department


Contact Information:

College Relations/Communications229 Ag Administration Bldg.University Park, PA 16802814-863-2822

Mary Wirth – [email protected] Stevenson – [email protected] More – [email protected]