The final class project was the Feasibility/Recommendation Report. My group was working with Red Raider Orientation, a university organization. The RRO is newly formed, and needed help getting the word out on what the RRO does, and more importantly, find a large base of qualified candidates for summer counselors.

We knew that our recruitment methods needed to be geared towards students. The report itself was professional, but when I researched and discussed the material I kept the student mindset. As a group, we thought of ideas that ranged anywhere from large-scale advertising at sporting events, to something as simple as an email to students and parents. I spent a good amount of time looking into promotional items. My group agreed that something like a key-chain bottle opener, pen, or a stress ball had a better advertising effect than a flyer. Since students are broke, any pen that they are given gets used until they lose it. Key chains and stress balls are both something students hang on to, even if they don’t use them. Our budget of six-hundred dollars really kept our ideas from becoming reality. Since we had spent quite a bit of time researching our ideas, we decided that the most viable ones could be put into a “Future Options” section.

Finishing the project went smoothly. Since we had been working and editing our project as we went, Holly was able to put it all together, without another group meeting. We managed to do about forty percent of the project during in class time. Since we did have to do a good amount of outside research, doing more in class than we did wasn’t really possible. I’m happy about how our group worked so efficiently during class time.

With the help of tips from Dr. Fricke  provided to us on the rough draft, I think our project turned out great. Our group worked well together in making that happen. I was impressed about how well our group worked together. Established our purpose, creating a template, and a way to exchange files and ideas freely helped our project become a success. I certainly hope my future projects as a professional go as smoothly.

(+) This means you contributed in class, were helpful to colleagues, asked useful questions and met deadlines.

(O) This means that you were not active in class discussions, but were not a distraction, met deadlines and did not interfere with other students.

(-) This means that you were not helpful in class, made work harder for others, and were generally a distraction for the class.

I believe that for my between class my professionalism grade should be a (+). Throughout the course, I have worked hard to be helpful, available and productive in the group work. I have tried to make sure my group members were comfortable asking me for help, contacting me by phone or email, asking me to help pick up slack, and generally depended on my work.

With the Feasibility Report, I feel like I have demonstrated that I can help to manage a group, work well with others, and make my group members feel welcome to ask questions. I have kept open contact with both of my group members at all times, even over the holiday break. I feel like my responses to their questions have been informative and complete.

My in class grade should not be below a (O). I have had a few absences, but they were all due to documented medical reasons. I have participated in class, asking questions when I had them during presentations and in class-work time. I understand if a lose a few points for missing class; one absence was for personal reasons, so it was not documented. However, I have never skipped class, and have tried to participate in class discussions. Also, during in class work time, I would get as much done as possible, especially for the Feasibility Report.

With the combination of a (+) and a (O), my overall grade should be around a 75 of 100. I hope that my group members agree that my work has been helpful. Also, I think paying attention to the PowerPoint presentations and asking questions should help to balance out my overall professionalism grade.

The Feasibility/ Recommendation Report Presentation was intended to inform our classmates about our work with Red Raider Orientation(or RRO). The assignment required that we also provide a handout for the class. The goals we were required to meet for the presentation were:

-          A presentation that was under 15 minutes

-          Explained why we worked with Red Raider Orientation

-          Explained the document challenges

-          Explain our document design and writing choices.

My group decided we also wanted our report to achieve a few additional goals including:

-          Inform our classmates about what Red Raider Orientation does

-          Be interesting and unique while staying professional

I led the design and development of the presentation. I used the official logo for the RRO to create a custom slide background for the PowerPoint. It took a while to find the correct fade and coloring that looked good, but also let the text stand out so it was easy to read. To help the audience see the text better, I used a clear, bold text with deep colors.

To help our group stand out, Elizabeth and Holly put together a short skit. I thought the skit was a great idea to help break the ice, especially since our group was the first to present for the day. The skits also let us introduce ourselves, the project, and RRO. I really think that the skit really helped our group relax before we started into the actual presentation; also, I think the class paid more attention to our presentation because of the skit.

The presentation itself went well. I think using the PowerPoint slides more as an outline to our presentation rather than having long paragraphs worked well. My group really knew the information, so presenting it in front of the class was easy. We tried to make the presentation, yet open to questions at any time so the class would feel more open to participate. Although we did not get the participation we had hoped for, the class was polite and listened intently. Once again, I think opening with the skit and the PowerPoint design helped to keep the attention of the class.

If I could have changed one thing about the presentation, I would have made some speaking notes for our group. We did good helping each other move from one subject to another, but I think we all would have been more comfortable with some notes that included some of the smaller details.

The Group Progress Report was an update to Dr. Fricke on the Feasibility Report. My group decided that each person would review another, then we would put those reports together with a cover letter to create the report. This way we would all have constructive feedback on our work so far.

My memo was over Elizabeth Butcher. I tried to give her some constructive points on ways she could improve her participation in the group project. However, her work was already well beyond what I had expected. Her work was always on time, easy to read and understand, and ready for a final edit before class began. Outside of class, she was easy to reach and work with.

I think our progress report also helped us to focus on the remaining parts of our Feasibility Report. Writing the memos on each other helped to open a useful dialogue on our ideas for improving the project, the presentation, and our grade for the class. I felt like giving each other words of encouragement and acknowledging the work that the group members had done really helped to motivate each other.

I do think we could have made the report more useful in several ways. First, we could have reset the calendar we made in the group plan to reflect what had happened so far on the project. Second, we could have used the letter to delegate work formally to one another. Finally, our group should have been more willing to point out problems to each other. I would have done so, but once again, I did not have anything to complain about. I had anticipated getting some pointers on my work.

Overall, this report helped to get our group back on track after a few road bumps had pushed our schedule off track. From this point on, our project has gone smoothly.

The Group Work Plan for the Recommendation Report was our first step in getting the report done. My group wanted to get each other an outline for what the report would cover, as well as give each other a solid idea of when each thing needed to be finished. We all agreed that we wanted to get the bulk of the research and early development done early, so the assignment due dates would not sneak up on us.

Our plan was a bit ambitious. We wanted to have about three weeks worth of assignments done in about a week and a half. At first, I was doubtful of my group members having time to get things done. I was in a position with my other classes to blaze ahead and get some of the work done. I have to say, Holly and Elizabeth proved me wrong. We did not meet all the deadlines we had set for ourselves. However, our attempt to get weeks ahead managed to get our group about one week ahead. Also, working ahead gave us plenty of time to get information from our contact at Red Raider Orientation, Zach Manning.

The decision to be ambitious and work ahead was the best one we made during this project. Our advertising ideas had time to develop, and we had time to make sure our report would be useful to the RRO. If we had not been ahead, our project would have been in jeopardy of failing. We put in many hours researching advertising techniques that would work well with students. However, when we finally found out our overall budget, most of those ideas were out of our reach. We had the time to go back and make things work, present our other research constructively, and save the report because of our dedication to getting out ahead on the project, and not waiting until the deadlines.

If we had all of the information from the RRO at the start of the project, our group plan would have been more functional. However, I feel like the group adapted to the situations we faced well. I would have liked to had fewer things go wrong with our report. The group plan we created really helped save us from those uncontrollable forces when things did go wrong.

The Mowing Proposal Report was our biggest individual assignment. The assignment was not very specific about the size of the town, or who the audience was. For my own purposes, I used the defining objectives worksheet to help keep me on track. However, some things were defined for us, such as:

-          The proposal was for the town of Augusta, Oregon

-          They needed a crew to mow a total of 38 acres

-          The proposal needed to cover labor hours, cost, staff and equipment, experience and qualifications and the weekly mowing schedule.

There were a few more things I felt the report should cover, including:

-          A company history

-          Legal information

-          References

-          Photos of previous work, as well as diagrams of the work for Augusta

The first thing that I had to do was establish who the audience was, since the assignment was not specific. We simply had the name of a town and the areas we were expected to mow. I decided that Augusta, Oregon should be a smaller town, under 10,000 people. Most large cities maintain their own mowing crews, so it would not make sense for a large town to look for outside help. Additionally, working with a factious smaller town allowed me to present my mowing company, Little Guys Mowing Company, as a company that is based on working with smaller towns. The report would be to the city council.

The report itself presented many challenges. First, I had to balance the sales and design choices. I wanted a simple, easy to understand report that also served as a sales pitch. I decided that keeping the tone casual, yet professional, was the best path to take. The second major challenge was anticipating the fears and worries of the city council. I attempted to make the city council feel like my company was not only the best choice for the work, but the safest choice as well. I made sure the report covered all legal issues, alternative schedules for bad weather, and gave a good impression of my company.

Overall, I felt that the report achieved most of my goals. I think I could have done a better job editing for typos. However, I was satisfied with the design and tone choices that I made. I felt that the diagrams in the report would help a real-world client feel like my company took their job seriously. Covering legal issues would help assure the city council that my company would not become a liability to the city.

The Shipping Increase Letter was the first group assignment for the class. I worked with Brooke Dugan and Jennifer Hoffman. We were lucky enough to have time to do the entire assignment in class together. We wanted to meet the basic assignment goals of a clear, professional document that made customers feel good about our shipping cost increases. We also wanted the document to be perfectly clear on what the new shipping rates were.

We achieved our goals in two ways:

-          Clear, professional language

-          Spending time editing, with advice from Professor Fricke.

Our group worked together well. Jennifer had an idea to include free gifts with purchases as an incentive for customers to stay with the company. I felt that offering free gifts would give the impression that the company did not need to raise the shipping costs. Also, I thought that the free gifts would offset the advantages of raise the costs in the first place.

I learned a few things for future group work. First, I need to make my opinions heard. I felt like if I had been a bit more assertive, I could have helped more with the project. Second, group work needs a concrete way to edit the document. Having several people edit a document seemed to only cause conflict in style. I think if we had elected one person to be the authority on the editing and design choices, the document could have been completed much quicker. For the future documents written by a group, a good way of communication would be needed as well. The blogsite could serve as a good method. However, I think that something everyone in the group is familiar with, such as Facebook, would work better for a student group.

This project was a good warm up assignment for the Feasibility Report. I think the editing tips and design choices we got really helped when writing and editing the Feasibility Report. Also, it gave me a better idea on what exactly Dr. Fricke would be looking for when I wrote my future work.

The Trucking Incident Report was one of the most frustrating assignments in the course. We were to send a memo that used simple, clear language to explain accidents caused by tire failure for a factious trucking company. The boss was not college educated, so using simple language and design was important.

I felt like my language and wording choices were appropriate. However, Dr. Fricke felt that I did not clearly state the goal of the document. Looking back at the assignment, I should have made the overall point of the document more clear.

My biggest question came with losing points over informing the audience that the truck drivers needed to take a drug test. Even though the accidents were caused by tire failure, standard operating procedures for insurance on big rigs has drivers take a drug test when involved in most accidents. I was trying to address this legal issue as a way of including some of my future work in the assignment, to help make the class more relevant to me.

Overall, this assignment gave me some things to work on in the future. First, I need to explain step by step each thing I put into a report like this. Assuming that the reader understood what was happening was a major mistake. I need to work harder on my editing for grammar mistakes and “typos”. One typo that was pointed out was caused by Microsoft Word. I had tried to fix it, but the program refused to change the mistake. I assumed that the reader would understand that it was a programming error, but I should have made it perfectly clear that it was not my mistake.

I learned  that in a professional memo such as this, I should do three things

-          Keep the memo short and clear, excluding any information that is not ABSOLUTELY necessary.

-          Make sure that the word processor does exactly what I want it to.

-          Spend more time editing

-          Make sub-headings more clear

-          Get editing help before the project is done

Overall, this assignment was a good learning experience. However, some of the things I did wrong were frustrating points that I thought should have been caught early on in editing.

The Committee Progress Report assignment had to follow the assignment guidelines in the book, which gave us all the information that the report had to contain. We had to use the “defining objectives” worksheet with the assignment to narrow down the audience we were trying to reach.

My report was to the hospital director. I wanted to design a document that would be short and clear, but contain all the information that the director would need to feel comfortable with the reappointment of committees. I used bulleted points and simple heading to allow the director to skim the information easily. I split up the document into four sub-headings to make it easy for the director to refer back to the email as a guide to finishing the appointments. I did not use any sort of design choices that could be confusing or that might not convert into an email program. Instead of using Italics or Bullet Points, I simply used all caps for headings and sub-headings, and dashes for bullet points.

This assignment was the first assignment I had written for the class. I tried to use clear and simple language; however, I could have been more effective in doing so. I managed to keep the paragraphs short, but some of the language was too complicated. I should have used more bullet points for each section to make them easier to skim. Also, I needed follow the information in the assignment more clearly.

A side note to the project that I feel effected the overall work was my health at the time. I was suffering from a severe flu that almost ended in me being hospitalized, which created a time crunch for the assignment. I had planned on bring the assignment to Professor Fricke for some editing and advise. However, by the time I had recovered enough to get work done, the opportunity had passed.

Examining the grade I received gave me three concrete ideas of the rest of the assignments in class including:

-          Finishing future assignments in time for early grading

-          Editing my work not only for overall design, but trying to take out complicated language in favor for simple, clear language

-          Using the book’s suggestions on design choices better

Fortunately, this assignment was not weighted heavily in the grading scale. It was a good learning experience that I can apply in the real world.