| June 2006 | Vol. 11 Issue 2 |
Did you ever play the telephone game in grade school?
Jessica heard from Christine who heard from Kathy who heard from Cindy who heard from Bonnie that there is a “great riding workshop” next weekend. But this information had passed through many people in this telephone game. In reality, what Bonnie meant to tell everybody was that there was a “grant writing workshop” that will be taking place in a few weeks.
If Bonnie told Jessica the information directly, Jessica would have all the information she needed to help people who have questions about the event.
Do you use Purdue Extension’s 888-EXT-INFO number to help promote your events? If you do, have you ever thought about who receives those calls?
A team of operators from the Department of Agricultural Communication receives and directs all calls from the statewide toll-free number. Team members include Bonnie Sprague, Cindy Verhey, Kathy Lester, Christine Strawsma, Kim Eads, Christine Roper, and Jessica Mellady. Whenever you promote an event and include the Knowledge to Go logo with the 888-EXT-INFO number, members of that team have the potential to receive calls about your event.
When people call the 888 line, the team makes sure that those calls get back to you. The team’s role is not to promote your event for you, but to connect you and your audience so you can promote your event and make it successful.
To do that effectively, we request that you send information about your event before you send out or post fliers, invitations, or advertisements. Advance notice gives us time to review the information, ask you any questions we may have, and prepare to receive calls.
It’s important to send as much information about your event as
possible. For example, it’s very likely that Bonnie will have a
caller who wants to take part in a workshop he saw that is “for
fruit and vegetable farmers.” The caller doesn’t remember
the title of the event or where it is located, but remembers it is being
held on June 17.
Providing us with as much information as possible allows us to put the
pieces together to figure out exactly what this caller is looking for.
It’s all about communication. The 888 operator team has established an e-mail address where you can send information about any workshop or event that directs people to call the 888-EXT-INFO number. Sending us the information ensures that you and your audience will benefit from using the toll-free number.
To notify the 888 operator team, send an e-mail to extinfo@purdue.edu with all the relevant information about your event, including:
- Event title, topic, and date
- Event location(s)
- Contact person(s) and/or registration person(s) name and phone number(s). The contact person should be the one who can answer any questions about location, time, subject matter, payment, and registration information for your event.
- Where we can find additional information (such as a Web site, PDF brochure, etc.)
- A brochure or flier for your event (if you have one). You can send us a PDF via e-mail, or you can send fliers via campus mail to Bonnie Sprague, Ag Comm, AGAD Bldg; via fax at (765) 496-1548; or through regular mail to Bonnie Sprague at 615 W. State St. West Lafayette, IN 47907.
- Any Web site URLs where additional information can be found.
Receiving the same information your audience receives allows us to be one-step ahead of them. That helps us provide the best customer service possible to them, and you.
Christine Strawsma, cstrawsm@purdue.edu; Christine Roper, croper@purdue.edu; Bonnie Sprague, spragueb@purdue.edu; Cindy Verhey, clverhey@purdue.edu; Kathy Lester, lesterk@purdue.edu; Jessica Mellady, jmellady@purdue.edu.
Do you want On Target to cover a topic that interests you? E-mail your ideas to Kevin Leigh Smith.