A "New Century" is progressing!

We have made a great deal of progress on the "New Century of Promise!" 

1. The event invitation is currently being printed with our printing partner, Suttle Straus. Suttle is also producing two eblasts set for September 4 and 18. Mike Elliott, one of our marketing alumni and senior vice president of the company, has been working personally with us on the project. The invitation will also be inserted in the October edition of Madison Magazine, our media partner. Look for the magazine mid-September.

2. Did you see our Save the Date card in this month's issue of Madison Magazine? It looked great!

3. A 60 second video is available for you to email, tweet, post on facebook and otherwise disseminate. I hope you enjoy it:  http://www.youtube.com/madisoncollegevideo

4.  Share our online registration page with your friends!  www.madisoncollege.edu/benefit

5.  Wednesday, September 5 we will convene a centennial celebration leadership reception and info session in the Truax Student Lounge. Invited guests include Foundation and District board members, Executive Team, Imagination Center participants and planning committee members. There will be refreshments along with in depth information to help you better share the centennial celebration vision with your constituents. We hope to see you there!

6.  We have a great team of people working on the Centennial presentation.  Thanks to Emmalee Pearson, a ViComm faculty, and ProVideo for signing on to make this a great success.

7.  All parties interested and/or participating in the Imagination Center should plan to attend a meeting this Friday, Aug 31 at 1:30 in room 122.

8.  Like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/madisoncollegefriends.

9.  We are looking for items for the Silent Auction so please let us know if you are interested in donating!

Thanks and have a great week!

 

 

This week's highlights

Things are moving swiftly with the “New Century of Promise” event.  Here are a few highlights:

-The invite design is complete and we are waiting for the final proof.  It looks great and is really fun.  We are in the process of finalizing the printing sponsor.  We have some great options.

-Madison Magazine has donated the tip-in charge for the invite.  You will see the Save the Date card and the Invite inserted into Madison Magazine. 

-Channel 3 has signed on as a media sponsor.  We are producing a :30 spot on Tuesday that will be a click through link on the email invite.  We will also use it in our social media.

-We have made great progress thanks to Casey Breunig in Marketing with updating the registration page and webpage.

-We are only very small tweaks away from the final floor plan with Alliant thanks to the diligent work of Corey Helser – the magician!

-We are moving forward with contracting a project manager to coordinate the Imagination Center.  We should have that finalized by mid-week next week.

A few thoughts from Bob Dinndorf...

Here is some recent communication provided by Bob Dinndorf:

We are 78% of the way toward our $200,000 sponsorship goal, accounting for 400 seats at the event and have 4-6 solid lead sponsor prospects to wrap up. At the same time, we turn attention to a larger ‘grassroots’ table solicitation of 300 prospects going out over the next three weeks to qualified organizations that should consider a named table at $1,500 or purchase a full table for $1,000 (8 seats x $125 each).

Event invitations are in design and feature dazzling photos of President Bettsey joined by four recognizable community leaders: United Way President Leslie Howard; Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and Thrive President Jennifer Alexander; Madison Police Chief Noble Wray and founder as well as Culvers chief spokesman Craig Culver. Invitations will be issued to a list of 10,000 individuals, including donors as well as other key college constituents.

Communication about the event is being refined. A short visual presentation is being developed to help everyone be more articulate about the event, particularly the Imagination Center.

This Week's Hot List

We identified a short list at our Chair's meeting on Thursday of "Hot" items for the week.  Here they are:

--Project Manager Approval - Bob will work with Bettsey to determine if we can hire an internal resource to assist us with coordination on the Imagination Center along with other event details.  Currently Michelle Downer's position is open so we could possibly use funds available from that open position.
--A Registration/Payment team has just been formed.  The Chair of that team is Peggy Halloran.  The team's main goal it to flowchart the event check-in and check-out from start to finish.  They are meeting on Weds at 1 pm if you are interested in joining the team.
--I checked in with Tim Casper and he will follow-up on the final Emcee choices on Monday.  His contact was out of the office last week.
--Bob will follow-up with both Madison Magazine and Brava on Monday to determine if we can get them to agree to a sponsorship.  We can then make a decision about an insert.
--We had a conference call with Paul Short on Thursday to discuss the menu.  All food will be served in the buffet lines located throughout the Imagination Center.  We will served a dessert at the table to draw people to the tables.  This will either be a Signature Centennial dessert or a plated sampling.  Culinary is excited to design the menu and you can expect a one-of-the-kind menu.
-The marketing materials are coming along great!  There is a meeting Tuesday at 9:30 for anyone interested in providing feedback.

We set our deadline for floor design and Imagination Center station display details for Aug. 15th. 

Just a reminder to clear out old documents on the Dropbox when posting new documents.

Have a great week!

The latest evening outline....

Here is the latest evening outline from our Chairs meeting on Thursday:

A New Century of Promise

Eat, Drink and Be Dazzled

DRAFT 8

August 4, 2012

5:00 – 6:00 pm                        Centennial Hall Walk (Bar and Plated Appetizers)

·         Guest Registration and Check-in

o   Pre-payment

o   Table assignments

o   Name badges

o   Program/May

6:00 pm                       Opening Remarks to Open Imagination Center – Emcee in Centennial Hall

·         Greeting by Foundation Board, College Board, Administration and Faculty

·         Musical background

6:00 – 7:30 pm            Imagination Stations Open

·         Student ambassadors guide guests to Imagination Stations/Tables

·         Imagination Stations are staffed by faculty and staff

·         Break-in announcements for Science Fusion, Live Auction Reminders, etc

·         Light appetizers are served --- 4 bars located throughout venue

7:30 pm                       Announcement or video segment to draw guests to seating

·         Desserts served to tables

7:45 pm                       Presentation Begins – Emcee launches presentation (House lights dim, music   comes down, stage lighting delivers a dramatic opening…”Why Madison College”

·         Highlight supporters from marketing campaign

·         Video Inspiration Segment

o   Vignette #1:  Imagine

o   Vignette #2:  Inspire

o   Vignette #3:  Innovate

o   Demonstrate Transformations; Sell audience a piece of the Promise of the Future

8:15 pm                       President Barhorst addresses guests

·         Invites audience to join in the promise of the future

·         Focuses audience on the goal of the evening:  raise money for scholarships to transform students lives

8:25 pm                       Paddle Raise – Emcee

8:40 pm                       Closing Remarks and Wrap –up by Bob Dinndorf

8:45 pm                       Presentation Finale --- a BIG Wow Factor!

·         Closing Chorale Arrangement

·         Alumni Walk – Transformed Lives – I am Madison College

9:00 pm                       Guests depart

9:00 pm to 9:30 pm    Auction close-out tables open in foyer

Today's THE Day!

Yes, that's right!  Today's THE day we all become one and work toward the common goal of transforming the lives of our students.  We are again making history!  We have done it many times before --- it's time again to share the power of Madison College with the community.

On October 26, 2012, we will host the "New Century of Promise" Centennial Event at the Alliant Energy Center.  The goals of are event are simple:
-To raise money for the Madison College Foundation to continue to improve and transform the lives of our students.
-To reach out and foster new community and business relationships with future partners that can help us exceed our college-wide goals.
-To crush the perception that we are just a technical college --- we ARE a college that is a destination!  We are forward thinking, cutting-edge and not your father's vocational school.
-To increase awareness of our amazing program and academic offerings and demonstrate how teaching and learning are changing. 
-To continue to build our brand and foster relationships with current donors, alumni and partners as a place that can help dreams come true.

This event isn't about one night - one gift - one experience.  This is an event about developing and leading our destiny.  Our teams have made a great deal of progress --- had a few bumps in the road --- but are on track to meet the goals we have set out for them.  I will be updating this blog regularly so you have the latest information on what is on our team hot list.  You can direct any questions to myself (kuttech@madisoncollege.edu) or Bob Dinndorf (rdinndorf@madisoncollege.edu).

Stay tuned...stay positive...and stay focused!