Quarterly Newletter | Spring 2008  

   IN THIS ISSUE: 7 Things UVaClub Leaders Need to Know

         * Email Scheduling
         * Registration Forms
         * Congratulatory Calls to Admitted Students

 * City Fair: April 25, 5-7 pm
* Address Updates
* Best Practices Guide
* 5 More Reasons to Attend the 2008 Leadership Conference

Procedure for Email Scheduling

In 2008, over 1,100 different broadcast emails were transmitted to alumni, parents and friends of the University via email—over 6.3 million individual messages. This level of activity requires strong coordination, or we risk losing our ability to effectively contact the very people we are trying to reach.

Going forward, e-newsletters planned for a given month must be on the University?s calendar at the beginning of the prior month, as per the following schedule. 

Email Scheduled for     Must be on Calendar By
May April 1
June May 1
July June 1
August July 1

Adhering to this schedule will give the Office of Engagement and U.Va.?s strategic communications professionals the time needed to review the calendar and resolve any conflicts or scheduling problems.

Please note that this is not a new time frame for supplying actual eBlast copy to your REO. This calendar simply concerns the time frame for scheduling the date on which an eBlast is to be distributed.

When last-minute event opportunities arise, which, in turn, need last-minute promotion, your REO will continue, along with his/her colleagues in strategic communications, to do his/her best to accommodate your club in these cases. But for this to continue to be possible, such cases must be the rare exception, rather than the rule.

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Save Time and Money with Registration Forms

Good news: no more collecting RSVPs one by one.  And no more covering the cost of no-shows.  The Office of Engagement now creates online registration forms for events. Attendees pay online through a PayPal-like system that feeds directly into your U.Va. Fund account.

RSVP lists are generated automatically.  For each registrant, you?ll receive contact information, school and class year, and any notes or special requests. Collect funds in advance of the event, and pay vendors using the same funds, through check or debit card.

Before you can set up a registration form, you must first set up a U.Va. Fund account (it?s free). From there, you?ll work with our staff to develop a registration page specifically for your event. Contact your REO to get started.

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Make Congratulatory Calls to Admitted Students

The Office of Engagement receives the list of accepted students from the Office of Admission this week, and then begins the task of assigning every student on the list to a UVaClub.

Once prepared, a list of accepted students in your area will be forwarded to you, along with an updated script for congratulatory calls.

In the meantime, we encourage you and your volunteer callers to review the "Frequently Asked Questions" section of the Schools Committee Handbook on the UVaClubs site.

You will be provided with additional lists later this spring/summer, including the list of admitted students in early May, and students who have been admitted from the waitlist in June. If you have any questions, please contact your REO.

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Join the City Fair: April 25, Pavilion XIII Garden, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm


Are you or a young U.Va. alum from your area coming back to Charlottesville for Foxfield weekend?  Volunteer for City Fair and share your experiences as a young alum with graduating students.  For more information contact Andy Mullins at amullins@virginia.edu or 434.243.2099 or Darci Spuck at 434.924.4157 or dspuck@virginia.edu.

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Build your Numbers with Address Updates

Attendance is among the top concerns club leaders convey to their REOs. One way we can help you boost those numbers is by increasing the number of people on your invite list.

U.Va. identifies constituents by their physical addresses. So, as long as a recent transplant to Atlanta has his old Philadelphia zip code on file with U.Va., he won?t receive any information about UVaClub of Atlanta events: not emails, newsletters, or even print invitations.

Here?s how you can help: if your club sends out a mailing using labels supplied by the University, please forward any returned mail to:

Bill Maisannes
Attn: Returned Mail
Office of Engagement
400 Ray C. Hunt Dr.
Charlottesville, VA 22904

We will update the addresses in our database—and more of your constituents will end up with you at meetings and events, rather than in the dark.

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Get in on the Best Practices Guide

This year, UVaClubs are beginning a new tradition of sharing their victories with the University, and one another. In time for the 2008 Leadership Conference, the Office of Engagement is compiling a Best Practices Guide, which will be distributed to all Conference attendees and club leaders.  Now is the time to share the details on your club's best moments. But this is about more than just shining.  Brave and generous clubs will include their mistakes and mishaps—and what they learned.

Don't let your club be left out of this important volume. Please fill out and save the Best Practices Form, and email it to Timothy Roscoe at troscoe@virginia.edu by Friday, May 16.

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5 More Reasons to Attend the 2008 Leadership Conference June 20-22

1.  Be a part of a new University of Virginia oral history project, where you'll share with the camera your experiences as a leader in the University community.

2.  See a U.Va. mainstay in a new light with a visit from Coy Barefoot, author of "The Corner: A History of Student Life at the University of Virginia."

3.  Get a behind-the-scenes tour of Pollstar Magazine's "Best New Major Concert Venue" of 2006, the John Paul Jones Arena, with your guide, University of Virginia Athletic Director Craig Littlepage.

4.  Learn from the Queen of Volunteers, Katie Campbell who will share her wisdom from 30 years in the field of volunteer resources management as a practitioner, author, trainer and leader.

5.  Expand your network to include fellow U.Va. leaders across the country, so when you encounter your next challenge, a valuable new contact will only be an e-mail, a phone call, and maybe a time zone away.

http://uvaclubs.virginia.edu/leadershipconference2008

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This newsletter reflects our common goal of not only strengthening reciprocal communication between the Office of Engagement and UVaClubs, but developing a broad circle of communication that includes our office and all UVaClubs.  Your ideas, best practices, and feedback helps our entire community to engage an increasingly diverse pool of U.Va. alumni, parents, and friends.  We therefore encourage you to send us article ideas, submissions, or photographs to uvaclubs@virginia.edu. 

The deadline for the next Quarterly Newsletter is Monday, June 2, 2008.

To learn more about UVaClubs around the world, engaging alumni, families, and friends in the life of the University, visit UVaClubs online at  http://www.uvaclubs.virginia.edu.

This e-mail was sent to you at . To update your HoosOnline profile and e-mail forwarding options, visit  http://www.hoosonline.virginia.edu, or create a profile on the new HoosOnline Network at  http://uva.affinitycircles.com.

 

University of Virginia Office of Engagement | PO Box 400807 Charlottesville VA 22904 | uvaclubs@virginia.edu