TallyCats 2.0: Re-envisioning student engagement initiatives Student Government & Student Affairs @ UKTallyCats #

1. TallyCats 2.0: Re-envisioning student engagement initiatives Student Government & Student Affairs @UKTallyCats #TallyCats

2. The People • Karah Brown • TallyCats Coordinator (SGA) • Todd Cox • Student Government Advisor • Jack King • Student Affairs IT professional • Adam Recktenwald • University of Kentucky IT professional

3. The Path • Program & People Overview • History of TallyCats • How it started • Student Learning Outcomes • How it works now • Statistical Results & Data Analysis • Future Goals • Conclusion & Lessons Learned

4. Program Overview • Tally Cats is a Student Government incentive program designed to reward students who get involved on campus. • We focus on events that promote: • Diversity on campus • Campus traditions (school spirit) • Educational topics • Student Government events • Connection with the surrounding Lexington community

5. How it Started

6. History of TallyCats • Concept has been talked about for years • 2007 Leadership Summit • Student group discussed the idea • No follow-up or funding available • 2008 Leadership Summit • Student group discussed the idea • Little follow-up and no funding support • 2008 Emerging Leadership Institute (Fall semester) • Student small group decided this was their leadership project • Approached Student Government about implementation

7. History of TallyCats • Student Government developed a proposal (Spring 2009) and approached the following campus groups: • President’s Office • Provost • Athletics • Public Relations • Student Activities Board • A collaboration between the groups listed above was born. Each committed financial backing to this initiative ($3,500 each)

8. History of TallyCats • Student Government began to implement the program by focusing on technology • Contact: Chip Carter • Database:CSGold • Scanners: CBORD MC50 (pocket PCs with wifi) • Programming: Custom; created on site by a CBORD Rep • Began to realize the importance of other aspects (marketing, incentives, staffing, etc.)

9. Multi-faceted Approach

10. Roll Out Process (Fall 2009) • Promotions • T-Shirts • Brochures • Cups • Incentives • Donated by UK departments • event tickets, iPod nanos, free semester of books • Some were purchased • TVs, digital cameras, flip cameras and one (1) laptop • Staffing • TallyCats Co-Coordinators • SGA executive leaders • Senators • Website • General information • Incentives listing • Calendar (40 total) • Student Activities Board • Athletics • Student Government Events

11. Student Leader Learning Outcomes

12. Student/Admin. Partnerships • TallyCats coordinator is a student involved with Student Government. This position manages marketing, technology, building/motivating the team, communicating with campus partners & managing the website. • Several brainstorming & training sessions occurred over the summer months. Advisor & IT provide background, history & empowerment to the TallyCats coordinator. • During Orientation week, communication was especially important with IT to learn the system & provide feedback for improvements. • Represents a true collaboration & shared responsibility between various units.

13. Team to Coordinator Transition • As a team member last year, I didn’t realize the amount of work that goes in to the coordinator position because it requires: - organization (excel & googledocs) - planning - cooperation - help (co-coordinator position) - technological skill (can be learned) - communication

14. What I’ve Learned • Making decisions for the betterment of the program isn’t always easy. • You must have someone to help you – you can’t do it on your own. • You never know until you ask. • The SGA administration is so supportive of the program, which in turn makes the students enthusiastic.

15. How it Works Now

16. Easy as 1 – 2 – 3 www.tallycats.com 1) Show up! 2) Swipe ID! 3) Score Swag!

17. Show Up! • Students can check out the TallyCats website or the UK Campus Calendar for the events • Additional avenues of marketing include… • Twitter campaigns • Brochures • TallyCats team shirts • Campus newspaper articles • Fliers & posters • Email listserv • Text Alerts

18. TallyCats Event Profile • Types of Events • Awareness and Diversity events • Career Planning sessions • Sporting events • Guest Lecturers • Art Gallery Openings • Concerts • Philanthropy Events • Who can submit events • Registered Student Organizations • Colleges • Departments • Academic Groups

19. Submission Process • Student Organizations/Departments submit their event via www.tallycats.com • TallyCats Coordinator accepts or denies the submission. • If approved, the Coordinator adds the event to the Campus Calendar and tags it as a TallyCat event • RSS feed pulls in the TallyCat events to www.tallycats.com & www.uksga.org

20. Swipe ID! • TallyCatteam member responsibilities: • Pick up the iPod touch & an iMag reader • Log in with active directory account • Arrive at the event 20 minutes beforehand • Swipe IDs until 15 minutes into the program • Return the iPod touch the following business day • Participant responsibilities: • Provide their student ID to be swiped • If they don’t have their ID, TC team member can hand enter their Student ID number

21. Screenshots • Open App • Log In • Select Events • Swipe ID • Enter ID • Snyc If Needed

22. Technology Back-End • Mag stripe card readers • Ability to use iPhones or iPads for scanning • University built SQL database • Administrative User Interface

23. TallyCats website • IIS 7 Web Server (Win 2K8 SP2) • MySQL Server • PHP5 • Custom CMS

25. Data Path • Student ID Card (track 2 data containing Student ID number) • Swipes into wireless reader • If online, will display points, current rank & picture of the student. Team member can invalidate false swipes. • Reader then stores/transmits data indicating student checked into this particular event • Server then awards points per user once the data is uploaded to the server

26. Score Swag! • Partnerships between TallyCats and Student Organizations • Student Activities Board Concert & Event Tickets • Parking Passes • Free Semester of Books • Athletic Tickets • Autographed Footballs and Basketballs • Other prizes purchased by Student Government • Apple products (iPods, iPads) • Flat Screen TVs • UK Apparel (hats, jerseys, polos, sweatshirts, etc.) • Digital Cameras

27. Incentive Structure • TallyCats awards prizes at the end of each contest period (Orientation week, Fall & Spring semesters) • Students who earn the most overall points at the end of period are awarded prizes • Semesterly prizes are awarded at a reception near the end of the semester • Collaborate with other campus units for attendance contests (i.e. Athletics, Greeks) • Student Government & TallyCats team members are ineligible for prizes

28. General Benefits • TallyCats not only benefits our student users, but is also valuable to Student Organizations & Campus Groups • The TallyCats calendar provides a free avenue to advertise events • Students engaged with the TallyCats program are more likely to attend these events (i.e. increased attendance) • Ability to run statistical analysis to determine if the program is succeeding in increasing retention • Ability to create attendance lists

29. Statistical Results & Data Analysis

30. First Year of the Program • 95% of participants were undergraduates • 46% - Freshmen • 20% - Sophomores • 16% - Juniors • 13% - Seniors • Retention • 4% increase 1st Fall to 1st Spring • 7-10% increase 1st Fall to 2nd Fall

31. Fall 2010 Survey Analysis Participant Statistics • 90% were Freshmen participants • 70% of participants had attended at least 3 TallyCats events Survey Results Highlights • 91% participated during K Week (opening week activities) • 76% plan to participate in the future • 84% are satisfied with the TallyCats program • 75% valued TallyCats as a way to get involved on campus and for being rewarded for that involvement Recommendations or Improvements (based on Survey Results) • Prizes that students would like to see offered: • Tickets to basketball games • Gift cards • T-shirts • Electronics (primarily Apple products) • Plus account money • Make TallyCats workers at events more visible and easy to locate

32. Gender Breakdown (Fall 2012)

33. Ethnic Breakdown White/Caucasian is virtually the same percentage (TC 76%, UK 78%)

34. Engagement by Ethnicity

35. Academic Preparedness

36. Participation by Classification

37. Future Goals

38. Future Expansion • Utilize social media contests for increased student engagement with the program • Revamp the incentive structure to reward more students for their participation • Staff 150-180 TallyCat events throughout the academic year (~1/day) • Incentivize for bringing a friend with door prizes & “double point” events

39. Future Expansion • Event Planners • Event profile report (demographics of who attended) • Ability to download an attendance list from the server • Student Affairs Profession • Tracking of student involvement data (retention) • Utilize trending data to inform programming decisions • Better able to assess programs via electronic surveys to participants (ex. Cats Cruiser)

40. Future Expansion (Tech) • HANA server to collect & analyze big data • Modify programming choices • Create metrics for event profiles • Determine retention variables • Technology upgrades to come include: • QR Codes • Location-based check-ins • Integration with UK mobile application • Deeper reporting on co-curricular trends

41. Conclusions

42. Lessons Learned • Incentive level doesn’t matter to most students; they just want to get something (can even be a t-shirt) • Staffing TallyCats with busy people doesn’t work. We implemented a team approach in spring 2010 and have used it since (20-25 students). Freshmen are the best because they are not over committed • Technology can be our friend or enemy. Having a good calendar and website are paramount to having a successful program.

43. Lessons Learned • Picking a color theme for branding is very helpful (see highlighter yellow shirts for team members) • A hands on approach to training is much more effective than large group trainings. It requires more time on front end, but results in less issues later in the year • Monthly meetings keep the team up-to-date on changes and helps with scheduling • Systemize the internal processes like scheduling& team reminders as much as possible. Utilize technology like Google Docs to share the information easily.

44. Partnerships • Student Affairs • Student Government • UK Information Tech. • Apax Software

45. General Discussion

46. http://bit.ly/UKTC2012