December COMMunity Christmas Event

team:
Amber Clemens, Tyler Hallman, Bekah Umble, Courtney Catlin, Kessa Stydinger,
Kaylor Rosenberry, Madi Moyer, Lindsey Horner, Kristen Musser, Audrey Kuhns, Zoe
Lehman, Nicole Hoppe, and Abby Pepitone

date:
Tuesday, December 4th, 4:30-6:30 p.m.

purpose:
The purpose of this event will be to build community between faculty and students
within the Communication department by holding a fun event where everyone can
interact outside of class.

description:
Our event will include fun Christmas activities and snacks such as Christmas Bingo,
cookie decorating, and a hot chocolate bar.

theme:
● Since the event will be held in early December, we chose a Christmas and
holiday theme.
● We have decided to make the slogan for our event “COMM One COMM All”

target audience:
● Department of Communication students
○ Students: at least 50 throughout the two-hour time period
■ 10 freshmen
■ 15 sophomores
■ 15 juniors
■ 10 seniors
● Communication Department faculty/staff
○ Faculty: at least 5 throughout the two-hour time period
swot analysis:
● Strengths
○ Students and faculty will be able to interact more personally and get to
know one another
○ Communication students will build relationships across different class
years
● Weaknesses
○ If not done well, Christmas activities could be tacky or cliché
● Opportunities
○ Students are drawn to Christmas festivities and activities
○ Hold fun, theme related activities and promote accordingly
● Threats
○ Busy schedules around the beginning of December with upcoming finals,
etc. could restrict attendance
○ A lack of proper promotions and excitement building could lead students
to believe this is not worth the time

goals/objectives:
● Use three high-participation, low-risk activities to create a COMMunity between
students and faculty.
● Use a variety of promotional materials to reach every Communication
Department student, faculty, and staff member, at least a week in advance.
● Have at least 50 students from varying class years come to the event (tracked on
sign-in sheet or physical evaluation)
○ Freshman- 10
○ Sophomore- 15
○ Junior- 15
○ Senior- 10
● 5 faculty members from the Communication department attend
○ Activities for potential faculty family
● Solicit $50 in snack donations from local Giant stores
○ Purchase snacks and activity materials that remain in budget
○ Create and distribute promotional materials that remain within $30
Communication department budget
● Students are engaged with activities and stay at least half an hour.
● Snacks are available for those with dietary restrictions
● Have at least 70% of the attendees respond to an evaluation sheet.
● Have 80% of attendees check that they enjoyed or somewhat enjoyed the event
on their evaluation sheet.
expected outcomes:
● Formulary is followed, and all tasks are completed on time
● The event remains within its overall budget
● Attendance goals are met
● Attendees enjoy themselves and make connections with other Communication
majors
● Promotional materials successfully raise awareness of the event and bring in
attendance
● Everyone present finds food that meets their needs

team roles:
● Promotions
○ Tyler Hallman
○ Bekah Umble
○ Courtney Catlin
○ Kessa Stydiner
○ Kaylor Rosenberry
○ Madi Moyer
○ Lindsey Horner
○ Kristen Musser
● Logistics
○ Everyone
● Evaluation
○ Amber Clemens
○ Audrey Kuhns
○ Zoe Lehman
○ Nicole Hoppe
○ Abby Pepitone
 promotions team:
This team is responsible for creating a promotions timeline, developing and distributing
all promotional materials, and writing a post-event follow-up report assessing
promotional success. Specifically, the following will be required:

purpose:
To make sure that students and faculty in the COMMunity department are aware of the
event and are interested in attending.

goals:
● Draw in students and faculty through engaging promotional materials and spark
interest
○ Design flyers that effectively and concisely communicate information
about the event, so we reach goal of 50 attendees
○ Advertise on social media in a timely manner and provide updates about
the event properly so that students are informed early on

expected outcomes:
● People respond positively to online promotions and flyers around campus
● We create enough interest to reach or exceed our attendance goal of 50
attendees over the event time
● We remain within our budget
● We obtain all needed materials in an organized manner and distribute them on
time
samples:
1. Flyer for Comm Professors and to be included in promo materials:

2. Flyer to be delivered to the mailboxes of Comm Students:

3. Mass Email to Department:

To: [ email list for all Communication students and faculty]

Subject: December COMMunity Event

COMM one COMM all...

Dear COMMunity students,

Drop in anytime on December 4th from 4:30-6:30 p.m. for our COMMunity event!
COMM get in the Christmas spirit with cookies, bingo, hot chocolate bar, and another
holiday fun. The event will be held in Boyer 336.

We hope to see you on December 4th!

Five Second Summary

Who: COMMunity students and faculty

What: a Christmas themed party featuring Christmas cookies, bingo, hot chocolate bar,
and other holiday fun!
When: December 4th from 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Where: Boyer 336
4. Facebook Post (sent out a few days before):
timeline:
When? What? Who?

Thursday, October 25th Begin brainstorming promotional Promo Team

materials

Thursday, November Poster/flyer is created Madi Moyer

1st

Thursday, November Email is written Tyler Hallman and

1st Bekah Umble
Thursday, November Facebook post is created Kristen Musser and
1st Kaylor Rosenberry
Monday, November Send first email to COMM Alyson Patton
26th department students and faculty

Monday, November Posters hung Promo Team

26th

Tuesday, November First Facebook post finalized and Dr. McCown

27th posted

Friday, November 30th Second Facebook post finalized Dr. McCown

and posted

Monday, December 3rd Third Facebook post finalized and Dr. McCown
posted

Monday, December 3rd Send second email to COMM Alyson Patton

department

Tuesday, December Fourth Facebook post finalized Dr. McCown

4th and posted
distribution and analysis plan:
● Flyer: The flyers will be posted a few places in Boyer that Communication majors
are likely to see
● Mass Email: The mass email will be sent out first on November 26th and then a
reminder email will be sent the day before the event. The only change that needs
made for the second email is a line of copy that says “REMINDER: December
COMMunity event tomorrow!” The rest of the copy will be the same.
● Facebook Post: This will be released November 26th on the Messiah College
Communication Department Facebook page. It is meant to be a short and sweet
advertisement / reminder for COMM students and professors to mark their
calendars for the event.
 logistics team:
The Logistics team is responsible for planning and executing the details of the event
relating to scheduling, food, event set-up, and delegating tasks within the larger team.

purpose:
To ensure the details of the event are planned and followed through, especially by
creating an atmosphere in which both students and faculty members of the
Communication department can come together to enjoy the holidays, bond and
fellowship together.

prioritized goals:
● Create a timeline and a formulary that captures all the details of the event and is
organized in a way that is user friendly
○ Formulary should be created in a way that respects our team’s schedules
and should delegate the tasks evenly among team members, so nobody
feels overwhelmed by the tasks
● Stay within our budget of $50
● Get food donations from two Giants
● Create a holiday atmosphere through food, activities, media and games that
makes guests feel comfortable or “at home,” and that foster good conversation
and closer bonding within members of the Communication department
● Effectively advertise and communicate to both students and faculty of the
Communication department about this event

expected outcomes:
● Event occurs without any problems, incidents, or emergencies
● Timeline runs smoothly, and formulary is followed
● The movie is obtained and played without any issues
● The event is communicated/advertised effectively
● All of the materials are acquired
● Attendance goals are met
● Attendees enjoy themselves and make connections with other Comm
majors/faculty
● We receive the donations we need from the stores we ask
● The food is obtained and served, and everyone present finds food that meets
their needs
decisions and needs:
● Where to host the event
○ Unity house provides a homey-feeling space that matches the event
theme
○ Unity house is available for rent during the time of the event
● What movie to watch and where to get it
○ Given the time restrictions, can only have one movie playing over the
course of the event
■ Elf is a classic and well-known movie
● Can play it in the background - people can come and go
without feeling as if they’re committing to a full feature film
■ Have access to the film
○ TV in Unity House basement
● What game/activity to provide
○ Cookie decorating offers an alternative way to provide snacks
■ Plain cookies, icing, sprinkles/chocolate chips/other toppings, etc.
can be obtained and donated
■ Can be Christmas colors/flavors to fit the event theme
○ Bingo is easy, low maintenance, and inclusive
■ Print out Christmas-themed bingo sheets from online
■ Create bingo chips with paper for low-cost and easy clean up
● Food donations from local grocery stores
○ Four locations of Giant
○ Goal: Receive two $25 gift cards to Giant Food Stores
● Homemade hot chocolate or hot chocolate mix
○ Hot chocolate mix is cheaper, so this option will allow for more money in
the budget for other snacks and materials
○ Hot chocolate mix is easier to make
○ Hot chocolate mix will be made with water instead of milk allowing lactose
intolerant people to drink it
● What ingredients/toppings to include on the hot chocolate bar
○ Marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, caramel sauce, whipped cream
● What additional snacks to have
○ Salty snacks because we have sweets covered by cookies
■ Popcorn
■ Pretzels
■ Water as an alternative to hot chocolate
timeline:
When? What? Who?
October 4, 2018 Decide the venue, EP team
activities, theme, and food

October 5, 2018 Book venue Tyler

October 22-26, 2018 Create formulary, timeline, EP team

and decision needs

November 1, 2018 Create donation letters Courtney

November 3-7, 2018 Solicit donations Courtney, Kessa

November 26-30, 2018 Purchase food and Courtney, Kessa, Amber

materials for event

November 26-30, 2018 Create Bingo cards Abby, Kaylor, Kristen

November 26-30, 2018 Create Bingo chips Audrey, Zoe

November 26-30, 2018 Obtain materials for event Bekah, Lindsey, Tyler,
including movie, crockpot, Nicole, Madi
ladle, bowls/spoons

December 4, 2018 COMMunity Christmas EP team

event
event formulary:
“COMM One COMM All” - COMMunity Event
Event Time: Tuesday, December 4th, 2018 4:00pm-6:00pm
Event Location: Messiah College, Unity House
Sponsor: The Communication Department
Purpose: To build community between faculty and students within the Communication department by
holding a fun holiday event where everyone can interact outside of class.

[Tuesday, December 4th, 2018]

2:45 Gather materials for Bingo (Tyler and Bekah)
● Print 65 Christmas Bingo sheets from online
3:00 Event Planning group arrives at Unity House to set-up (all)
● Bring all food and materials purchased from Giant (Kessa, Amber, & Courtney)
● Set-up crockpot and make hot chocolate (Kaylor & Kristen)
● Set-up Bingo sheets and Bingo chips (Tyler & Bekah)
● Set-up cookie making materials (Kessa, Amber, & Courtney)
● Set-up movie in the basement (Amber)
4:00 Guests begin arriving
● Open stations of cookie decorating, holiday BINGO, food & hot chocolate
○ Cookie Decorating - the kitchen and dining room
○ Bingo - the living room
○ Food and hot chocolate - the kitchen and dining room
● Movie showing - the basement
4:15 Elf showing (runtime 1h37m, ends approximately 6pm)
6:00 Guests leave, event ends, clean-up/tear-down starts (all)
● Clean kitchen (Audrey)
○ Wipe counters and tables
○ Throw out all trash and take out if necessary
○ Gather all leftover materials
● Clean basement (Amber)
○ Take out movie
○ Ensure furniture is neat and cleaned
7:00 End of reservation of the Unity House
event budget:

Item: Cost:
Grocery Donations $100.00

Bingo Cards $2.75

Sugar Cookies $12.00

Icing $15.00

Sprinkles $2.00

Plates $5.00

Marshmallows $2.00

Mini Chocolate Chips $3.00

Caramel Sauce $3.00

Whipped Cream $4.00

Styrofoam Cups $2.00

Hot Chocolate Mix $12.00

Pretzels $10.00

Popcorn $9.00

Napkins $1.00

Christmas Socks $5.00

Survey Printing $1.90

Total Expenses $89.65

 Evaluation Team:
The evaluation team’s job is to determine the success of the event through surveying
attendees and gathering internal information from event planning team members and
analyzing the results.

purpose:
To develop an evaluation method that assesses individual experience of the event and
potential future interest in similar events.

goals/objectives:
● Every attendee (students, faculty, outside publics) has access to and the ability
to complete our evaluation
● Create a short evaluation of the event that provides all of the necessary feedback
for future COMMunity Christmas events (paper survey)
○ 4 questions will be asked regarding main aspects of the event (enjoyment,
time spent, location, promotion/referral)
○ Easy to complete, shouldn’t take more than two minutes to complete, as
little writing as possible (multiple choice)
○ Questions make sense to the reader
● Obtain a 70% response rate to the evaluation
○ Incentivize survey responses by randomly choosing an individual (who
completed the survey) to win a pair of Christmas Socks.
● Every attendee knows where to put the evaluation when completed

expected outcomes:
● People will not be confused by the survey questions
● Every attendee (students and faculty) had access to and the ability to complete
our evaluation
○ There is no shortage of pens or papers
● We receive a 70% response rate to the evaluation
○ Compute the response rate by counting the number of attendees and
dividing by the number of completed surveys
● Gain valuable feedback on how we executed the event
● Determine the most effective promotion strategy
● Determine how long the average guest stayed
strategies:
● In order to make sure all attendees have access to and the ability to complete
our evaluation, we will print 75 evaluations and provide ample writing utensils
○ At the entrance, we will position two team members at a small table who
will hand out the evaluations and pens/pencils. The team members will
explain that the attendees can fill out the evaluation and then bring it back
for a chance to win a pair of Christmas Socks.
● To keep the evaluation short while still providing important information, 4
questions
○ Enjoyment
○ Time spent at event
○ Location
○ Promotion/referral
● To obtain a 70% response rate, we will incentivize turning in a completed
evaluation
○ A pair of Christmas Socks
● To make sure attendees know where to put the completed evaluation, the table
the two team members are at will have a collection basket
○ A team member will choose at random a completed evaluation for winner
of the Christmas socks
● Form the questions for the survey and print them prior to event date
timeline:
Tuesday, October 30th Research evaluation Amber, Nicole, Audrey,
strategies and Abby, Zoe
brainstorming subteam
purpose, prioritized goals,
expected outcomes,
strategies

Thursday, November 1st Create timeline Nicole

Thursday, November 1st Form the survey questions Abby and Zoe

Friday, November 2nd Design survey Amber

Thursday, November 8th Finish final edits on survey Amber

Thursday, November 15th Print surveys Abby

Monday, November 19th Meet with other sub-groups Everyone

to discuss the plan for the
survey and logistics of it

Tuesday, December 4th Execute survey plan (see Amber, Nicole, Audrey,
formulary for material set Abby, Zoe
up, distribution, collection,
etc.)

Tuesday, December 4th Meet/work on Final Amber, Nicole, Audrey,

Evaluation Report Zoe, Abby

Wednesday, December 5th Meet with group to debrief Everyone

on information discovered
in the survey

Thursday, December 7th Final Evaluation Report Amber, Nicole, Audrey,

Due Zoe, Abby
evaluation survey:
● Printed; 2 surveys per sheet

lessons learned questions:

Promotions Sub-Team:
● If we could do the event again, what would you keep the same?
● Which promotions were most effective?
● Did the other subteams support you well? How so? How could they have done
better?
● If we could do the event again, what would you do differently?

Logistics Sub-Team:
● If we could do the event again, what would you keep the same?
● If we could do the event again, what would you do differently?
● Did everything go according to plan? What didn’t go smoothly?
● Which parts of the formulary were unclear? Were any details of the event not
accounted for by the formulary? Did you have to figure anything out on the spot?
● Did the other subteams support you well? How so? How could they have done
better?
Evaluation Sub-Team:
● If we could do the event again, what would you keep the same?
● If we could do the event again, what would you do differently?.
● Was the evaluation metric effective? How many people did the evaluation?
● Did the other subteams support you well? How so? How could they have done
better?

evaluation follow-up report:

GOAL EVALUATION
Attendance Goals:
● Have at least 50 students from varying class years attend the event
○ Freshman-10
○ Sophomore-15
○ Junior-15
○ Senior-10
● 5 faculty members from the Communication department attend

Attendance Goals Evaluation:

● 27 students attended throughout the event by headcount
○ Freshman-0
○ Sophomores-13
○ Juniors-8
○ Seniors-6
We unfortunately did not achieve our goal of having 50 students attend throughout the
event. We were not surprised by the attendance by grades, however, as we anticipated
mostly sophomores and juniors would attend. We were hoping to be able to reach out to
freshman and seniors, but recognize it is difficult to get freshman involved, and seniors
are always quite busy. A goal for future COMMunity events should be to continue trying
to get new students involved, as well as reach out to seniors.
● 6 Faculty attended throughout the event
○ We achieved our goal of having at least 5 faculty members attend
Breakdown of attendees by major:

Major Amount

Communication 4

Public Relations 5

English 1

Education 3

Broadcasting 2

Digital Media 1

Film 1

History 1

Marketing 1

Accounting 1

Activity Goals:
● Use three high-participation, low-risk activities to create a COMMunity between
students and faculty
○ Hot-chocolate bar
■ 5 students indicated this activity was their favorite on the survey
○ Christmas bingo
■ 5 students indicated this activity was their favorite on the survey
○ Cookie decorating
■ 10 students indicated this activity was their favorite on the survey
Analysis: Several students also listed that fellowship with other students while
completing this activity was a highlight of the event for them. As a result, our team
concluded that these three activities were fun, and successfully cultivated COMMunity
among students and faculty.
Attendee Engagement Goal:
● Students are engaged with activities and stay at least half an hour.
○ Analysis: All students who completed the survey (except for 2) indicated
they stayed at the event for at least a half an hour. The other 2 students
said they stayed for an hour. Our activities were successfully fun, and yet
quick to complete for those who only have a half hour to spare during this
time of year. Our goal with the December event was to create a fun “study
break” event that students could stop by at and take a breather out of their
stressful schedules. The survey indicates that we took the best approach
with our event and were successful as the majority of students indicating
attending for only a half hour.

Survey Completion Goal:

● Have at least 70% of the attendees respond to an evaluation sheet.
○ Analysis: We achieved our goal of having at least 70% of attendees fill out
the survey. 20 students out of the 27 (74%) completed the evaluation
sheet. The fuzzy Christmas sock giveaway successfully incentivized the
survey and encouraged students to complete the survey.
● Have 80% of attendees check that they enjoyed or somewhat enjoyed the event
on their evaluation sheet.
○ Analysis: Every student checked off that they enjoyed or somewhat
enjoyed the event. 14 students out of 27 said they “enjoyed” the event,
while 6 students checked off that they “somewhat enjoyed” the event on
their survey. As we only had 74% of attendees complete our survey, we
are not able to know what the other attendees thought and determine if
80% of all attendees enjoyed themselves. However, 100% of students that
answered the survey indicated that they enjoyed or somewhat enjoyed
themselves. Therefore, we are able to conclude that the event was
enjoyable for students.

LESSONS LEARNED
Promotions Sub-Team:
● If we could do the event again, what would you keep the same?
○ The content that we created was well thought out and organized. Our
poster was festive and followed the theme of the event well. In addition,
the social media posts showcased what we were planning on doing to
raise excitement for the event. If we were to do the event again we would
keep the content that we created.
 ● Which promotions were most effective?
○ Word of mouth ended up being the most effective form of promotions for
our event. Every person who filled out the survey answered that they had
heard from a professor or friend. 7 of those people also checked that they
heard from the mass email that was sent out and 1 said social media.
Overall, personal promotion was the most successful for the event.
● Did the other subteams support you well? How so? How could they have
done better?
○ Our subteam was fairly self-sufficient. We created the email, social media,
and posters and distributed them as well. Other subteams helped to give
input on the look of promotional materials as well as content. This was all
we needed so there wasn’t anything that could have been done differently
by them.
● If we could do the event again, what would you do differently?
○ If we could do this event again it would help to work ahead a little bit more.
Unfortunately, we were not able to distribute our mailers because we did
not realize the rules had changed. Our Instagram and Facebook posts
were also created a little later than we would have liked.

Logistics Sub-Team:
● If we could do the event again, what would you keep the same?
○ If we were to do this event again, we would do the same activities
because they were easy to prepare for, easy to clean up, and they
engaged the guests. We may want to consider making a more structured
cookie decorating contest, but overall the activities went very well and we
would do them again at a future event.
● If we could do the event again, what would you do differently?
○ When planning this event, many of the tasks fell to a small group of
students which made it stressful and overwhelming for them. If we did this
event again, we would more evenly distribute tasks among group
members to ensure the event was low-stress for all group members.
● Did everything go according to plan? What didn’t go smoothly?
○ Everything ran smoothly during the actual event, but we purchased too
much food and materials. We were planning on an attendance of 50
people, so we bought food for 50 people. However, we only had 27 people
show up so we overcalculated and had a lot left over. Buying less food
and materials would have helped the event run more efficiently.
 ● Which parts of the formulary were unclear? Were any details of the event
not accounted for by the formulary? Did you have to figure anything out on
the spot?
○ The formulary was well planned and included everything we needed to do
the day of the event. It was easy to follow and evenly distributed tasks
among group members so everyone could enjoy the event.
● Did the other subteams support you well? How so? How could they have
done better?
○ Because we were all part of the logistics team, our sub-team was well
supported by all group members. However, some of the major tasks fell to
a few people, so in the future, there could be more collaboration among
the sub-teams in completing the tasks needed by the logistics section of
the event.

Evaluation Sub-Team:
● If we could do the event again, what would you keep the same?
○ Event surveys worked well
■ We had almost a 75% survey completion rate. This is high
considering the amount of attendees.
■ Using something, like the Christmas socks, to incentivize the
survey also worked well
○ Keeping the survey short with minimal writing
■ This made the survey quick and easy for students to fill out.
● If we could do the event again, what would you do differently?
○ Electronic surveys
■ Although the paper surveys worked fairly well, as an evaluation
team, we did not really consider how we would go about having
attendees know to fill out the survey. We made an announcement
during the event, but since it was come and go as you please, it
was difficult to get people to fill them out. We put little plugs in as
we felt people getting ready to leave, but this does not mean
everyone filled one out. Perhaps a simple sign-in sheet with
individual's contact information would be a better approach in the
future so we can email an electronic survey.
○ Give the sub-teams their lessons learned questions prior to the event
■ This would allow the other groups to make a metal note about what
they learned as they were going along. In other words, it would
allow the other groups to pay more attention to how they can
improve or change things in the future when they come across a
problem.
● Was the evaluation metric effective? How many people did the evaluation?
○ We would say the evaluation metric was still effective.
■ We received evaluations from over 70% of the attendees
■ Students were easily able to understand the list of questions and
answer them.
● Did the other subteams support you well? How so? How could they have
done better?
○ After the event:
■ The other subteams did everything we asked them to:
● They completed their lessons learned questions immediately
● They offered their assistance in the overall event evaluation