Outreach Committee Planning Activities

Summary of Event planning

• How many events per year does the Outreach committee have?  Two to four is probably best.  For the past three years we’ve typically had two events.
• For someone planning an event, what questions need to be answered?
  • Date and time?
  • Likely duration? (One to two hours, is a good target.)
  • How many people can attend?  (It can vary, but roughly 20 to 30 people have typically attended past events.)
  • Any cost to the EPSE/LAMP Alumni and family?
  • Is the event appropriate for children?  If so, is there a minimum recommended age, and are strollers allowed?
  • How much walking is involved, and does it require going up and down stairs?
• What is a typical agenda, or focus, of an event?
  • The agenda for an event is flexible, and depends mostly on the specific event, and whether the attendees will be adults, EPSE/LAMP Alumni plus spouse or significant others, or will include children.
  • The EPSE/LAMP Alumni mostly have engineering or science backgrounds, and thus would like more technical content.
  • Spouses, significant others, and children, may be less interested in technical details.
  • The EPSE/LAMP Alumni tend to be most interested in seeing things, or hearing information, that the public wouldn’t normally have access to.
• What is the typical time frame, or schedule, for planning an event?
  • Pre-planning – ~ 4 to 8 weeks, depending on event.
  • Decide as Outreach committee to move ahead with event, via telecon or email exchanges – 1 to 2 weeks before EPSE/LAMP board meeting.
  • Present Outreach event idea to the full EPSE/LAMP board – ~ 5 to 8 weeks before event.
  • Advertising via email blast, and Newsletter (if timing allows) – ~ 4 to 5 weeks before event.
  • All together this yields about three to four months from the start of planning until the event.
• What are some recent Outreach events?
  • Restaurant week in January 2009 and 2010.
  • Bernardo Winery tour and lunch in March 2010.
  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography tour in May and June 2009.

Summary of Newsletter content and planning

• How many Newsletters are published in a typical academic year?  Typically three, depending on EPSE/LAMP program and alumni activities.
• What kind of content is included in Newsletters?
  • EPSE and LAMP program updates and annoucements.
  • Comments from the EPSE/LAMP Alumni board chair.
  • Announcements for upcoming Edge Trends or Outreach events.
  • Descriptions of previous Edge Trends or Outreach events.
  • Sponsor highlights – A description of one of the companies that sends students to EPSE or LAMP.

Academic year 2011/2012 Outreach meeting summaries

• October 26, 2011:
  • Attendees: Blake, Gabino, Larry, Scott, Suzanne, and Natasha.
  • Discussion topics:
    • Scott is working on a possible Aerospace Museum tour.  He plans to send a summary of this.
    • Since we’re close to the holidays, we’ll plan on Restaurant week (January 23 to 29) as the first Outreach event for this academic year.
    • Possibly March for a Musuem outing.
    • Possibly May for a Scripps Institution of Oceanography, or Zoo Biomimicry, event.
    • Suzanne suggested that in April or May 2012, we start planning for a Fall Outreach event in 2012, in the 2012/2013 academic year.
  • Actions
    • Larry – Planning for Restaurant week outing January 2012.
    • Scott and/or Ian – Planning for possible Museum outing March 2012.
    • Larry or TBD – Planning for Scripps Institution of Oceanography or Zoo Biomimicry tour.

Proposed timeline on major milestones for the 2011/2012 academic year Outreach events:

• November 2011
  • November 9 EPSE/LAMP board meeting – Report that our first event will be Restaurant week (1-23 through 1-29).
  • By November 30, choose a date, time, and restaurant.
• December 2011
  • December 14 EPSE/LAMP board meeting – Report date, time, and restaurant.
  • ~ December 19, first email blast on event.
• January 2012
  • January 11 EPSE/LAMP board meeting.
  • January TBD (23 – 29), Restaurant week event
• February 2012
  • ~ February 1, Outreach committee decision on Museum event, including date, time, and location.
  • February 8 EPSE/LAMP board meeting – Report on Museum event.
  • February TBD, email blast on museum event.
• March 2012
  • ~ March 7, Outreach committee decision on Scripps Institution of Oceanography, or San Diego Zoo Biomimicry tour, including date and time.
  • March 14 EPSE/LAMP board meeting – Report on Scripps Institution of Oceanography, or San Diego Zoo Biomimicry tour.
  • March TBD, museum event.
• April 2012
  • Early April, email blast on Scripps Oceanography, or San Diego Zoo Biomimicry event.
  • April 11 EPSE/LAMP board meeting.
• May 2012
  • Early May, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, or San Diego Zoo Biomimicry tour.
  • May 23 EPSE/LAMP board meeting – Report on preliminary idea(s) for Fall 2012 event.

Current actions:

• Larry – Research on Restaurant week outing.
• Scott and Ian – Research on Museum outing.
• Larry or TBD – Research on Scripps Institution of Oceanography, or San Diego Zoo Biomimicry tour.

Backlog of possible events:

• NASSCO tour.
• San Diego Super Computer Center tour.
• Petco Park tour.