[civsa] Ambassador Survey

Thu May 5 17:50:12 CDT 2016

Hey CIVSA Land!

Upon starting at the U, I instantly uncovered a ton of problems within the University Ambassador program – I made a few minor changes right away, but wanted to poll the Ambassadors for the future, and I asked the following questions:

-          Please provide two changes you would like to see that would better help your performance and experience as an Ambassador

-          Please provide two things you would not like to change – that you feel should remain untouched

-          The duties I like to do the most are (choose from: Giving tours, greeting visitors (reception stuff), answering phones, helping in the office (with projects, data entry, etc), and everything is awesome!)

-          Additional Comments

26 out of 27 Ambassadors responded.  Of those, 9 eventually quit the program, 1 was terminated, 1 went on an LDS mission, 2 graduated, and 2 moved to the new team I spun off from the Ambassadors.  Yes, a lot of turnover, but the majority were ones who just didn’t fit the new vision and direction.  This past year, we hired 14 new Ambassadors, and our goal is to select 20 more Ambassadors this year.  We’re trying to inch our way up to 50 ambassadors to be able to respond to the ever growing demand.

From: listserv [mailto:listserv-bounces at civsa.org] On Behalf Of Tracy Garde
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 10:40 AM
To: listserv at civsa.org
Subject: Re: [civsa] Ambassador Survey

Edwin,

When I started working with our program two years ago I wanted to know how the ambassadors felt about the program and the direction it was going. One of my main goals was for the ambassadors to have a strong feeling of ownership and to have input into decision-making. Because we are a small school I was able to take a more unique and personal approach to this process. I sent out email invitations to ambassadors from freshmen to seniors inviting them to meet with me to have a straight-talk conversation about the program. I asked them to come prepared with goals for the program, ideas for improvement and possible solutions to any issues they had identified. I had hoped to have 10 or 12 but of the 41 ambassadors we had at that time 22 of them participated in that conversation.

Going forward from this meeting we established coordinator positions in areas such as staffing events, recruitment, social media and training. Under the umbrella of these main areas, we have a social committee that works with recruitment on the social events we have in the fall and spring and also plans social events for the ambassadors. We have committees for showrooms, overnight hosts, ambassador gear, etc. We invested in polos and jackets (photo attached) to help identify them as ambassadors and one of the best outcomes of this was that when faculty, staff and currents students see them with a family or group they are more likely to stop and say hello or give a wave. Who knew?!

All of this made an amazing difference in the ambassador's attitude, commitment and in recruitment efforts. We held interviews in March and accepted 18 new students into the program. We are now a program of 62 motivated ambassadors to start this fall.

Best of luck and If you have any questions or would like details on anything please don't hesitate to ask me.

Regards,
Tracy

On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 9:18 AM, Edwin Hernandez-Ayala <ehernand at marymount.edu<mailto:ehernand at marymount.edu>> wrote:
Good Morning!

I would appreciate it if anyone could share any surveys to gage how the ambassadors feel about their ambassador program. We are looking into revamping the program this summer but would really love to hear from the students themselves. Any tools or ideas that have been successful at your institutions would be great. =]

Thank you!

--
Edwin Hernandez-Ayala
Assistant Director of Operations, Campus Visits
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
Phone:   703-284-1500<tel:703-284-1500>
Fax:       703.522.0349<tel:703.522.0349>
www.marymount.edu<http://www.marymount.edu>

[Image removed by sender.]

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--
Tracy Garde
Guest Experience Coordinator
Illinois College Admission Office
1101 W. College Avenue
Jacksonville, IL  62650
217-245-3067

[Image removed by sender.]

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service to others - Gandhi
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