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Executive Summary:
The Greeley Museums come together under one umbrella to pump fun back into learning.
The organization breaks the negative stigma that history is boring by hosting events that both
teach and entertain the residents in the Weld County community. One of the big annual events
that it puts on is Baby Animal Days at the Plumb Farm Learning Center. This event enlists the
help of many volunteers who are all trained extensively in how the event is run. The training
material that the organization has been using is dated and in need of modernization. The goal of
this plan to do just that and have it put together in an updated form in time for training sessions
for the Spring 2010 event.
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III. Situation Analysis:
The problem facing many museums today is the stigma that history is boring and
museums are stuffy; the Greeley Museums are not immune to this issue. Along with issues of
awareness in general of its four successful locations, this organization is trying to find ways to
overcome the negative perception that museums deal with everyday. In an attempt to reverse
negative attitudes, the Greeley Museums host many festivals and events annually that involve
bringing in actors and live animals; these events allow community members to interact with
history. One such event is Baby Animal Days, which is hosted every spring at the Plumb Farm
location and brings in many breeds of live animals.
Making the Plumb Farm’s event successful demands the coordination and work of
hundreds of volunteers who range from animal providers to animal fact presenters to those taking
tickets at the front gate. All of these volunteers must be properly trained on the ins and outs of
the event: where the animals go, what kinds of animals are present, how to work with the
animals and even how to work with the incoming crowds. This training has been done through
lectures paired with videos and paper fact sheets; the issue with this kind of training is that it is
old fashioned and can be hard, as well as expensive, to change and edit in order to accommodate
new information about the event and all of its inner-workings.
When working with such a wide variety of volunteers, especially teen volunteers, it is
important to find a medium that can be used for training that is beneficial for all involved.
Another issue with the previous way of training is that lecture training sessions, out-dated
videos and training packets have become a thing of the past; training videos are static and can
only be updated as the budget allows, which means that it may not always be up-to-date on
changing procedures.
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IV. Organization Analysis:
The Greeley Museums are a collection of four museums and include the Greeley
Historical Museum, which is housed in the old Greeley Tribune building and opened in July
2005; the Plumb Farm Learning Center, donated by C.O. Plumb in 1997; the Meeker Home,
which was the home of Greeley founder Nathan Meeker and his family; and the Centennial
Village Museum, the first of Greeley’s museums, which opened July 4, 1976, and features
structures from the 1860s up until the 1920s. These museums are overseen by several
coordinators, an office manager and the museum manager. The organization also works with
hundreds of community volunteers annually who assist in the running of festivals, single-day
events as well as everyday tasks, such as working in the various museum stores. It also has a
short chain of command, including various elected community office members:
Museum Manager→Department Director Culture→Department Director Leisure
Services→City Manger→Greeley City Council
Apart from this chain of command, the organization also has an advisory museum board that
provides advice, ideas and support.
The organization knows how important its reputation in the Greeley community is, but is
also aware that it is not as well known in the community as it would like to be.
The Greeley Museums are not really in a competitive market because all four locations
work together under the same umbrella with the same goals. The annual budget is awarded by
the Greeley City Council and is approximately $400,000 - $500,000. Along with applying for
grants, the organization often pairs up with Friends of the Greeley Museums to put on events and
fundraisers, such as the annual Potato Day event held each fall. The organization also works with
local schools to arrange field trips for students of all ages.
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V. Publics Analysis:
The Greeley Museums deal with many publics, both internally and externally.
Along with the small staff discussed above that consists of a team of coordinators, office
manager and museum manager, the organization works alongside other important decision
making community officials which ultimately lead up to the Greeley City Council, which is in
charge of awarding the organization its annual budget that makes events such as Baby Animal
Days possible.
The organization also would not be able to put on their many annual events without the
assistance of their many loyal volunteers, some of which have returned for many seasons to work
in the museum stores and assist in events.
Although there are not really any major competitors or opponents outside the museums
that limit the organization, there are many external publics that help the organization.
The Greeley Museums deal heavily with customers of their four locations, both regular
visitors and new faces; it works very closely with local schools to arrange field trips for students.
The museums also work with the media in attempts to attract new customers and visitors to their
special events as well as tours that offered daily at each location during scheduled open seasons.
Friends of the Greeley Museums is another group that partners with the organization to
put on events and fundraisers.
With special events, the Greeley Museums work with many vendors and other service
providers. For example, Baby Animal Days would not be possible without the people who kindly
share their animals for the education of community members.
The Greeley museums work with many publics throughout the various arenas of the
community and many of the relationships are beneficial for both parties.
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VI. Goal:
To create a favorable and beneficial training program for the organization’s volunteers.
VII. Objective(s):
To incorporate all the elements used for training in a modern medium for organization’s
volunteers to be ready for use in April 2010.
To create a training program that is beneficial to the organization and its volunteers that
will be measured by post-presentation questionnaires at time of presentation.
VIII. Target Audience(s):
The target audience for this PR plan is the large group of volunteers who will be trained
to participate in any of the Greeley Museums’ animal events.
IX. Key Message(s):
The Museums appreciate the many people who graciously give their time to volunteer for
this event and express their devotion to the education of our community.
X. Strategy:
To update the current training program with the appropriate communication tool.
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XI. Components:
1. PowerPoint:
The PowerPoint presentation because the client was looking for a more updated
medium in which to conduct her training program. PowerPoint is the best medium for
this because it allows the organization to have a universal presentation that it can
copy, distribute and update as needed. This is a format that is flexible allowing it to
withstand years of use. This format is also free, which saves the non-profit money
that can be better spent elsewhere.
2. Activity Sheet:
The activity sheet is a component that is distributed prior to the PowerPoint
presentation. This component is a sheet of questions that coincide with topics
presented to volunteers. The activity is useful because it requires that the volunteers
pay attention to the presentation in order to get the answers that will later be asked on
the post-presentation questionnaire.
3. Post-presentation Questionnaire:
The post-presentation is a simple way of evaluating that the volunteers have retained
the important information that was given during the PowerPoint presentation. This
component not only tests the volunteers but also the effectiveness of the new training
program.
4. Post-presentation Surveys:
There will be two surveys, one for volunteers and one for organization employees.
The surveys will measure the success of the PowerPoint by asking opinions of the
new training program in regards to quality and ease of which it can be updated.
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XII. Budget:
Section 1 – Activities & Person Hours:
Activity Responsibility Rate Hours Total
Animal Day Events Volunteer $0.00/hr. 120 $0.00
Total projected cost person hours $0.00
Section 2 – Outside Services:
Description Cost
Animals, donated $0.00
Total projected cost outside services $0.00
Section 3 – Materials:
Item Quantity Cost Total Venue
Discs for PowerPoint 25
$14.88/20-
Pack + $0.97
Shipping $15.85 Wal-Mart.com
Activity Sheets 150 $0.07/sheet $10.50 Fed-Ex Kinko’s
Post-presentation Questionnaires
(Volunteers) 150 $0.07/sheet $10.50 Fed-Ex Kinko’s
Post-presentation Questionnaires
(Staff) 20 $0.08/sheet $1.60 Fed-Ex Kinko’s
Post-PowerPoint Training Quiz 150 $0.14/sheet $21.00 Fed-Ex Kinko’s
Total projected cost materials $59.45
GRAND TOTAL $59.45
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XIII. Timeline:
Date Task Person Responsible
Sept.:
11 First meeting with client Jocelyn Martinez
Nov.:
13 First draft of PR plan due to Dr. Peck Jocelyn Martinez
22 Present components to client for approval Jocelyn Martinez
Dec.:
1 Final draft of PR plan due to Dr. Peck Jocelyn Martinez
8 Present final PR plan to client Jocelyn Martinez
April: *EVALUATE OBJECTIVE 1* Sheryl Kippen
5 Get activity sheets/questionnaires printed Sheryl Kippen
Week of 18-24 Train volunteers for Baby Animal Days Sheryl Kippen
*EVALUATE OBJECTIVE 2* Sheryl Kippen
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XIV. Evaluation:
The organization will be in charge of measuring the success of the PR plan. The success
of the plan must be measured by the plan’s success or failure of meeting its objectives.
The first objective is simple to measure. In order for the plan to meet this object the
PowerPoint presentation must be done and submitted to the organization by April 2010.
The second objective is a measure of the quality of the new training program. This
objective will best be measured by the questionnaires that are completed shortly following the
PowerPoint presentation session. It could also be accurately measured by a survey that would be
completed by both volunteers present for the presentation as well as other employees of the
organization. The volunteers will evaluate the quality of the presentation in regards to was it
better and more informative than lectures, videos and/or handouts. The employees will evaluate
the simplicity of the new medium in regards to the ability to keep it updated and universal.
Measuring these two objectives may be slightly time-consuming, but can still simply be
implemented by the organization. If both of these objectives are achieved then the plan is a
success.
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XV. Appendix:
Components:
1. PowerPoint slides in handout form
2. Activity sheet
3. Post-presentation quiz
4. Post-training surveys (2)
