Student Organizations Find Co-Sponsorship Opportunities by Networking with Other Organizations Using OrgSync

This past semester, I, Jessica Reyes, attended a meeting at the McComb’s School of Business as a representative of Alpha Kappa Psi. The meeting was held to discuss the recent student org budget cut for the 2009-2010 school year due to the business schools exclusion from receiving any monetary sponsorship from the University Coop.

As students, we knew the University Coop’s budget cut would lead to the end of many of our organizations’ events due to inadequate funding.   At this meeting we broke up into several groups to brainstorm different ways we could work this problem out effectively.    We found that each organization created and funded its events without collaboration of other organizations.  We came to the conclusion that greater communication amongst all business organizations was needed and that it would be best if the organizations could co-sponsor events so that the funds could benefit more than one organization.  This not only would spread the student org funding evenly, it would also inspire greater event attendance among business organizations with the benefit of networking with others.

The next question to ask is how this communication could be implemented with such a large amount of students involved.  With the advent of OrgSync on campus, organization leaders could create a group to facilitate the planning of their events. Other organizations can view this information and respond if they are interested in co-sponsoring an event.  This new means of communication will reduce spending, and create more opportunities for great events to take place even with the absence of the external monetary sponsorships.

OrgSync would like to announce our Implementation Webinar Series in June. We will focus on two campuses, one large and one small, who have already established the implementation process on their campus. They will share their best practices, successes, challenges, and suggestions for making the transition to OrgSync.

Our large campus implementation model will be on Thursday, June 11 at 1:00 EST and will feature Deborah Felder of the Student Organization Resource Center at North Carolina State University. NCSU began working with OrgSync last summer and developed a marketing plan to increase awareness of OrgSync to their 500+ student organizations and 31,000 students. Deborah has been an instrumental partner in helping define best practices for implementation and providing helpful feedback and suggestions for our new developments. Sign up for the large campus webinar.

We will feature our small campus implementation webinar on Wednesday, June 24 at 1:00 EST. Our feature presenter will be Rebecca Delo, Assistant Dean of Students for Student Life and Leadership Development at Muskingum College. Muskingum also joined the OrgSync family last summer, and Rebecca was very proactive in establishing the student organization registration process through OrgSync, as well as successfully attaining a high level of student adoption on her campus across their 100 organizations and 1500 students. Sign up for the small campus webinar.

We hope that our new clients and anyone who could benefit from these free webinars will attend! Please contact us with any questions.

I just wanted to post  a quick THANK YOU to my friends Jason Mellen, Denny Bubrig, and Kelly Jo Larsen, at Bowling Green State University in Ohio for hosting me for on-site training a couple of weeks ago! It is always a pleasure to visit their campus (especially when it isn’t negative seven degrees outside!).  Not only was I able to speak to nearly 200 student leaders about how they can use OrgSync to manage their student organizations, I also met the entire staff from the Office of Campus Activities and, with the help of Denny, demonstrated how OrgSync can streamline office processes and eliminate paper forms.

In addition to all of that training, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit with Michael Dunk, a recent graduate of the M.A. in College Student Personnel  program at BGSU, who will be joining OrgSync this week!  I am pleased to welcome him to the OrgSync team and to Texas!

After the quick trip it was off to Las Vegas and Utah for yet more OrgSync training fun….tune in tomorrow for more on that!

Eric Fortenberry and I (Nicole Andreas) recently returned from a campus visit at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa!  We were warmly welcomed by Dr. Stacy Jones and her team in the Student Involvement and Leadership office.

Nicole and Eric with the Leadership and Involvement Staff

The Division of Student Affairs at the University of Alabama is actively pursuing opportunities to maximize each UA student’s learning experience.  “After searching for a solution to manage students’ co-curricular involvement on the student side, campus side and staff side for about three years, we brought OrgSync to our campus as the “Source” to manage our student involvement.  After conducting focus groups composed of faculty and students, we quickly learned OrgSync was the only choice that fully met our management needs and excited students,” said Dr. Stacy Jones.

UA is creating an entire program and team dedicated to providing their students with the services and tools they need to manage their student organizations and involvement needs.  They are branding the program as the “Source”, as in: the source to go to for all student involvement and student organization management.

To kick off the launch of the Source powered by OrgSync, Stacy Jones and Kristen DuBose planned an exciting Launch Party on the Plaza with games, prizes, food and fun to intrigue students about the new Source program.  Everyone signed up on OrgSync through their “My Bama” accounts(a single-sign-on solution that UA chose to implement to simplify user registration through their current campus sign-on information), and the Launch Party was a brilliant success.

Our visit also included meetings with several campus departments including Bama faculty, advisors and administrators.  Each department was excited about bringing OrgSync to campus for different reasons.  Vice-President of Student Affairs, Dr. Mark Nelson, immediately saw value in getting every campus department at UA on board.  He even asked, “Does OrgSync print money too?  What can’t this [OrgSync] platform do!?”

Signatures for the Children's Miracle Network

In between scheduled meetings, Eric and I were shown around Alabama’s extraordinary campus by Daniel Ware, a student leader from UA’s Residence Hall Association.  It was fascinating to learn the history behind the Tuscaloosa campus, and it was great to meet so many friendly students during our tour.  While traveling through campus, Zeta Beta Theta and Phi Mu were campaigning on the Quad to gain signatures on a giant blow-up ball.  For each signature, a donation would be made to the Children’s Miracle Network.  Of course, Eric and I had to sign the ball.  We are all about giving back to those in need.

Daniel was a great tour guide!  He brought us to see the football stadium and to see the famous “Walk of Champions.”  The Walk of Champions honors Bama football coaches who have lead the school to victory, and it displays the SEC titles and awards the football team has been recognized for.

After our tour, we met in the Student Recreational Center on campus to get all of the club sports team signed up.  We had a great turnout and we met with many different teams who were excited to start using OrgSync in the Fall.  The women’s soccer team was especially excited to be able to manage different user groups and target their specific information to manage and engage their team more efficiently.  Primarily, the players were particularly excited to learn that they could juggle their hectic sports schedules AND their involvement with other campus activities from just one place.

Before we left, Eric and I were asked to share our story with two entrepreneurial classes in the business school.  We really enjoyed talking to the students, and we felt inspired as these future entrepreneurs sat in the same seat I was in not too long ago.  I think a lot of them were inspired too, just to know it really was the same seat, and many of them told us about their dreams of starting their own company some day.  Several students even came up to us after the class to learn how they could get involved, and help spread the word about OrgSync.

Overall, our visit was extremely successful, and I can’t wait to go back to the University of Alabama.  Roll Tide!

The landscape at the University of Alabama is a testament to the concept of “integrative learning,” and the University’s Quad exhibits this quality.  Whereas one half of the area is open, the other half is tree-filled and covered with shade and benches. This is the formula for the perfect student experience, in which, the tree-covered area can be seen as the student’s academic life, and the open side as their extra-curricular endeavors.

Integrative learning is an interdisciplinary process involving student activity both in and outside the classroom. In an academic setting, students are required to attend classes ranging from forty people to over four hundred people; all of whom are watching a powerpoint presentation or listening to an impersonal lecture. However, there must be a manner in which to convey knowledge that is captivating and stimulating to a student that compels them to engage their studies in a fun and informative manner- enter OrgSync.

OrgSync is a new and revolutionary online tool for the total management of student organizations and their members.  OrgSync incorporates integrative learning techniques to continue what academia begins, but further helps student organizations effectively communicate, and especially in the campus residence halls.

As an example, take the Blount Undergraduate Initiative at the University of Alabama,which is a living-learning community that houses its scholars.  Blount is not just a residence hall, it is also an academic building with classrooms on the first floor where Blount scholars go for their foundational courses.  One professor, and all of the Teaching Assistants/Graduate students involved in those classes live in Blount, so at any point in the day, students can go to their instructors and ask questions. Not only are students afforded the ability to have open and personal dialogue with their professors, but the students are also encouraged to socialize and foster discussion among themselves for a fully integrated approach.  Academic or recreational topics are welcome in a large open forum known as the “Lobby,” and this peer-to-peer learning can be observed on a daily basis.

Having an area where everyone in the community can come together and collaborate allows for the furthering of knowledge in an otherwise social setting. Alex Wilson, a resident of Blount, said, “Living in Blount—a living-learning community—has deepened my understanding and furthered my studies of all things academic; in turn, I am made aware of world events, politics, and other activities that exist outside the classroom. This knowledge makes me a better-rounded student.”

Implementing the organizational measures of OrgSync for student interest groups on the campus of UA furthers the communication between these groups and the faculty.   Open communication increases the effectiveness of organizations such as the Blount program, and facilitates an integrative learning experience.

During the month of February, OrgSync started working with many new campuses from coast to coast.  We are extremely excited to welcome the University of Alabama – Birmingham, Arizona State University, Florida International University, Pace University @ Pleasantville-Briarcliff, University of the Incarnate Word, Adelphi University, Denison University, California State University @ Dominguez Hills, The City College of New York, Saint John’s University, and the University of Colorado @ Denver.  Together these schools account for approximately 150,000 students in over 1,900 organizations.

At Arizona State University, OrgSync will become the primary management tool for over 700 student organizations. “As one of the largest universities in the country, we have an extensive network of clubs and organizations that will benefit greatly from the organizational tools OrgSync offers” states ASU Assistant Director for Student Development, Jennifer Stultz; “OrgSync will not only help our individual clubs and organizations grow, but will also help them better integrate with one another and into the larger ASU community.”

To emphasize the importance of getting members involved on campus, OrgSync offers an unlimited number of online training webinars to students and faculty members.  OrgSync also includes an onsite training session with every initial purchase of the OrgSync platform.  The onsite trainings are very effective at helping organizations transition to a newer, more efficient method of communication. So far this spring, we’ve conducted onsite trainings with hundreds of leaders from The University of Alabama, St. John’s University, Bowling Green University, and Sacramento State University in conjunction with their respective spring leadership conferences.

As members of the OrgSync community, users from these schools will have the opportunity to provide feedback about the platform and drive future developments.  We look forward to working closely with each of these schools to provide them with a cost-saving, state-of-the-art management platform they can be proud of.

This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting our neighbor to the northwest, Lubbock, TX and one of our largest campuses, Texas Tech University. Tech, a client since May of 2008 boasts nearly 400 student organizations and has been a joy to work with over the past year. Mike Gunn, Assistant Director of Student Organizations, oversees all of the student organizations on campus and did a wonderful job of organizing their annual “Student Organization Academy”. The program held on Saturday, April 4th, offered 12 sessions covering various topics including leadership development, risk management, practical solutions to student organization issues, school spirit, transferring experiences as student leaders into the “real world”, community service, re-energizing your organization, and, of course, ORGSYNC!!

I was pleased to share OrgSync with a captive audience of over 200 student leaders. Students and Staff Advisors were excited to learn about how OrgSync will help them accomplish their missions and goals as organizations, and as always, I was asked many questions that will likely guide future development of our software.

After realizing that our founders and many of OrgSync’s staff are alumni of the University of Texas (which Texas Tech football stole a win from last season), the students there could not resist taking the picture above. Thanks Tech Students and Staff for being such great hosts and for your interest in serving the Tech community through your involvement in student organizations there!! I will look forward to visiting Lubbock again soon.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos at SXSW

This past March, the SXSWi opening keynote speech, presented by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, highlighted the importance of developing a strong company culture and explained his company’s revolutionary vision of customer service.

As I listened to Tony’s presentation, I found myself inspired by the fact that Zappos’ adherence to company culture and core values helped land them on Forbes list of Top 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2009.

Zappos’ philosophy of success is similar to that of OrgSync’s in many ways. Above all, we believe strongly in adhering to company culture and core values. At OrgSync, our success is driven by three core values: 1) Giving the customer the largest stake in the future of the OrgSync platform, 2) Empowering organizational leaders through technology, and 3) Making positive contributions to our communities.

First, as a hosted solution, we believe that development of a premiere product is best accomplished by giving our clients the largest stake. Every month, we encourage our clients to meet with our in-house development team to discuss new product ideas and trends. Through this method of communication, our development team is able to quickly design and implement new features for the entire client base to use. Moreover, OrgSync recently released an Application Programming Interface (API) that will provide campus IT departments the flexibility to create automated processes based on the needs and requirements determined by the school or organization. OrgSync also has a 24/7 customer support line that clients are encouraged to call whenever they need a question answered.

Eric and Jeff at NCLC

Second, OrgSync seeks to empower organizational leaders through technology. The OrgSync team has a strong background in higher education, and involvement in campus organizations. In fact, the very idea to create the OrgSync solution was generated from our co-founders’ experiences in running multiple student organizations at The University of Texas at Austin. Members of the OrgSync team are also regular attendees of the International Leadership Association Global Conference, the National Collegiate Leadership Conference, which is hosted on OrgSync, and the Lone Star Ruby Conference. OrgSync’s involvement in these conferences expresses commitment to innovation and leadership that will best serve OrgSync’s client base.

Lastly, OrgSync aspires to make positive contributions to the Austin tech community, and the communities of its clients. In February, OrgSync sponsored the Austin Twestival hosted by media maven Michelle Greer. Also, earlier this year, our company organized a daylong social media campaign on Twitter to raise over $1500 for Clean Water, whose objective is to provide sanitary water to natives of Africa.

OrgSync’s Cayce Stone uses the phrase “Everybody wins!” to summarize the OrgSync philosophy. By adhering strongly to these core values, OrgSync to provides a solution that makes management of your organization more efficient.

That following Monday morning, I received an email from Tony detailing where I could find more information about Zappos culture. He informed me that a copy of the Zappos Culture book I had requested would be arriving at my doorstep soon, and also extended an offer to visit the Zappos headquarters next time I am in Las Vegas. Thanks again Tony for being an excellent role model!

As an educator, the following video clip really resonated with me. Technology has advanced greatly since I was in school, but uses of technology in the classroom have not advanced that quickly. We may have transitioned from overheads to PowerPoints and from VHS to DVD, but the essence of the classroom is still the same; rows of students listening to an expert lecture creating isolation between student and teacher and student to student. Not a conducive learning environment for collaboration!

Kaplan University has run a series of commercials, and is basing their teaching model on the principal of “attend our online classes anytime, anywhere, 24/7.” Take a class at home, on your lunch break, or on the train during your morning commute. Thinking about what all my iPhone can do, it’s not a huge leap to image Kaplan creating an online class application.

Don’t get me wrong I do not want to do away with the “traditional” university model, but where is the classroom innovation? If we truly want students to learn, then why do we not teach them in a manner or style that is conducive to learning? Well I think Uncle Phil says it best in the new Kaplan commercial. “I think it is time for the University to start adapting to you rather than you adapting to it” and my favorite line “[It is time] To learn how you learn so we can teach you better.”

What are your thoughts? How could your University adapt better? What would an ideal learning classroom look like for your campus?

As a past officer of a UT business student organization, I know the challenges of communicating with 120+ members on a moments notice. Any student organization officer can tell you, it takes time, effort and skill to know each member, obtain member preference information, and inform them of last minute event details and changes.

What is the solution to these timeless organizational communication challenges? Simply put, OrgSync. On one hand, this Austin based company, OrgSync, Inc., hosts a platform to equip universities with the tools to oversee and manage their students and student organizations. On the other hand, OrgSync’s platform can also be used by student leaders, like me, to manage our organizations, committees, members and events.

My executive council initially wanted to use our website and our forum to inform and interact with our members. One entire year was devoted to creating a new “user friendly” website, and in the end that idea was scrapped because of time consuming inefficiencies with updating web content on a continual basis. After all, we were not a computer science organization teaching our members how to write code to build and manage a website. Our main purpose is to mold our members into young professionals with leadership experience.

After realizing that our website would not be an efficient method of communicating with our members, we focused on communicating through email and sending our entire member list serve [very lengthy] weekly emails, which listed out all events’ detailed information. Needless to say weekly e-mails were very tedious and time consuming and were merely a band-aid to our communication problem.

As a student and an officer, I know the importance of being time efficient and cutting out unnecessary tasks. Our time consuming communication efforts could have been cut in half simply by using OrgSync’s platform.

OrgSync’s SMS/Texting tool could have been the quick and simple solution to informing our members of event updates and details. We would have never needed to dabble in finding, creating, and managing a forum that never held up to our standards. Instead, we could have used OrgSync’s poll feature to interact with our members and to obtain unbiased and anonymous opinions and feedback on events. We would have even had an alternative to the pesky weekly emails. With OrgSync’s event and meeting tools, any officer could have uploaded event information and segment event invitations by specifying which committees and members to invite to specific events and meetings.

Kennie Blanco a graduate from the McCombs School of Business and a past President of a student organization said, “Finding a centralized and user friendly medium of communication was difficult. Our website was never advanced enough to facilitate communication effectively… it was not very easy for a member to go online to find information or to even ask questions about an upcoming event.”

In fact, OrgSync offers everything suggested by this experienced officer. With the tools that its platform provides OrgSync efficiently facilitates communication within organizations. I would recommend it to any school and organization looking to have a higher level of efficiency and effectiveness when communicating and interacting with their constituency online.