2012 RELAY HOT TOPIC CALL MINUTESTUESDAY –OCTOBER 11 @9AM

Playback #: 888-203-1112 Passcode : 70413776

1. ATTENDANCE: please email Emily Lubold (call facilitator) if you were on the call, defer to the roster to ensure you were accounted for.

a. Each Income Call will record attendance.

b. If you are new and have not received a Lotes Notes invite for 2012- please let Emily know.

c. Relay will award points for…

i. Attendance = 1 ptii. Participation- asking a question sharing an idea = 1 pt for each piece shared

iii. Answering a questioned posted by facilitator = 5 ptsiv. Call Activity or serving as a Spotlight Staff Speaker = 10 pts

2. CALL ACTIVITY- MEMORY MAP- scan your map and send to Emily Lubold or take a picture and text to 570-220-1024 for 10 points!

a. The Memory Map is a tool you can use with your committee or team members to capture main points from a meeting & a way to ensure everyone is paying attention > have participants show their completed map at the end of the meeting and have their name put into a drawing for a Relay prize!

b. 10 points go to & a special thanks to Jef Bauman, Kellie Kunz, Andrea Pearlman, Rebecca Hollon, Molly Smith, Suzie Piskar, Toni Englehart, Terri Kangas, Nicole Jorgensen, Jennifer Kessel, Cara Boehm

3. BLITZ! Jef Bauman- An opportunity to create a strategic plan to recruit teams, committee members, sponsors, survivors, etc. by working through the committee and creating a joint effort between staff and volunteers. 5 points!

a. Be creative! Create competition! Remember our bottom line- saving lives faster!

b. Suzie Piskar gets 5 points- Halloween! Capitalize on the Holidays! Halloween is right around the corner, which means community parades! Great opportunity to get the word out on Relay!

i. Have your committee decorate a float and promote Purple by passing our Recruitment flyers and have messaging around how the ACS supports the fight.

ii. Dress local youth as the Relay Recess characters to promote the new Relay Recess program!

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iii. Pass out candy with the Relay web address attached to it: Smarties for those who know what Relay is about and Dum Dums for those who do not know about Relay.

iv. Host your Trailblazer Mission Activity or Survivor Engagement event by visiting a Hope Lodge, Cancer Center, a classroom, etc. and have a Fall Festival- educating the members on our services, programs, etc.

v. Terrie Kangas- Trunk or Treat, decorate cars at the fair grounds > passing out bags of pretzels with flyers on details

vi. Abbey Sullivan- using Trailblazer & Halloween to move kick-off to an earlier > dress up as super heros

vii. Toni Englehart- Applebee’s does flap-jack breakfast on Saturday- doing it the weekend of Halloween

viii. Jennifer Jones- Saturday before Halloween, bon fire and decorate pumpkin, with Halloween parade

ix. Cara Boehm- an idea from the Defiance College Relay that Cassie Freshour and I staffed. The students got pumpkins donated and we sold them for $15 and did a "pumpkin luminary" alternative as something new and fresh. This was a huge hit! Even though this was AT Relay, this could work for any Relays who may be doing some sort of fall harvest kick-off.

c. Susan Babik and the Relay For Life of Clearfield

i. Objective- wanted to create an awareness on what Relay is to the entire community, to invite everyone to the event its not just for teams

ii. Conduct the event in two weeks:

1. Got the buy-in by attending Chamber & Merchant meetings, as well as county commissions & mayors to challenge on another

2. Judging done by elected officials

3. has a Paint the Town Purple Chair who manages the program

4. had a kit of supplies that business could use > purple bows, flyers, decals (use as a fundraiser) & art classes created posters

5. this year- each business will get a starter kit to purchase the materials > revenue enhancers

iii. Winning town got a town trophy who created the most purple around the town

iv. Results got a huge turn out by the community

d. Stephanie Iachini and the Relay For Life of Greater Johnstown

i. Objective: get out into the community & create a fundraiser

ii. Driven by the committee, who used the community letter to generate interest

iii. Defer to Paint the Town Purple supporting documents her committee used

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1. community letter used to select their involvement

2. used the free Walmart Track signs to use as $50 track sign sponsors; a local business sponsored $500

3. Jef Bauman- how is the track sign differ from sponsorship? Its two different programs to keep separate and doesn’t interfere with the campaign objectives

4. Tom Harper- how are you transitioning the campaign supporters to potential sponsors & teams? Great stepping stone, must be clear in the upfront asks for next ways to be involved.

iv. The end result was 144 businesses requesting the "starter kit", 74 businesses placing a donation can in their business, 34 utilizing donation cards, 19 new "cancer facts track sign" sponsors and 2 misc. donations. AND, a starting point for sponsorship and new team asks for 2012.

e. Supporting Resources: Toni Englehart what resources are available? So glad you asked!

i. Ready, Set, Blitz Challenge: a fun way to turn blitzing into a competition among your committee members & teams, use the outline to structure the recruitment strategy to best support your event’s needs

ii. Selling Relay in your Community: tip sheet to provide to volunteers on how to begin their efforts in recruitment

iii. Team Blitz Week Guidebook: a step by step guide to developing an effective team recruitment strategy including action plans, best practices, supporting resources, etc.

iv. Paint it Purple Guidebook: “selling” from our friends in the MidWest Division, check out their

f. Available Training: loved what you saw in ‘Making the Ask’ if your Region is not using it as a breakout option, invite a RAT Trainer to conduct the training at an upcoming meeting! Request a RAT Trainer today by contacting Bobby Cherry, Training Chair at bobbycherry2@gmail.com to request a trainer for your next committee meeting!

4. TRAILBLAZER: First deadline approaches on Saturday, October 15.

a. Tip! As we head into the first deadline, take time out today to develop your plan for each day, working through your committee & establishing a follow-up plan for the remaining benchmarks your committee needs to achieve.

b. Tech Functions: all leadership functionalities are available in EMT & TES

i. EMT Trailblazer specifics will be updated in December, honor system in moving forward for those parameters not available yet in EMT

ii. Questions on functionalities please defer to your Relay Managers

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c. Success Stories: What “wins” are you proud of?

i. Andrea Pearlman- Johnstown event in its 5th year > had full leadership recruited, but Team D – reached out to Team Captains and had a captain step-up at their next meeting, afterwards she and her chair sat down and created a partnership agreement

d. Lessons Learned: Next year what would you have done differently?

i. Molly Smith- stress the importance of Summit attendance

1. Tip! Write down now notes to yourself for next summer of this timeline of an August RSVP timeline

ii. Tom Harper- start the year off on a good point, always focusing on the growth positions first

e. Supporting Docs:

i. Finding a Volunteer’s Strengths: establishing healthy leadership is fundamental to the Trailblazer program, ensure your committee is recruiting the right person by providing them this tip sheet of questions

1. Available Training: Leading via Strengths- looking to boost committee leadership by finding the right people then this is the training for you!,

ii. Partnership Agreement Templates: this is a conversation had with the chair and supporting committee positions (staff are welcomed to join) on what type of communication works, position requirements, expectations, etc.

5. RELAY RECESS: JO BRINDLEY, PROGRAM MANAGER OF EMERGING MARKETS

a. What is Relay Recess?i. Relay Recess is the newly revamped & repackaged Mini-Relay for Elementary

Schools.ii. Relay Recess is an evolution of the Mini-Relay concept targeted & designed to

engage the Elementary School market. iii. The Relay Recess product provides resources to educate teachers, students and

parents about the prevention messages of the ACS and how they can become involved in supporting their communities RFL event.

b. What materials will be available to support Relay Recess?i. Volunteer Coordinator Kit – a stitched folder that will include everything a school

and coordinator need to know to get started – from motivating the school, starting/recruiting teams, sample schedules, activities and more.

ii. Teacher’s Kit – similar to a team captain’s kit, a stitched folder that a teacher can use to help their class become a team, including info to send home with students and activities that can be incorporated into classroom work.

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1. Note : both the volunteer coordinator & teacher’s kits will only be available by ordering through Ariba on RR Donnelly. The target date for materials to go live for ordering on Ariba: October 17th.

iii. Relay Recess National Landing Page on rfl.org – will be updated January 2012 to provide a one stop shop for promoting the Relay Recess opportunity to the public. Visitors will be able to search for events in their area and request information about starting a Relay Recess event at their local school.

iv. Relay Recess Promo Videos – 3 min youth Relay Recess promo video & 5 min adult Relay Recess promo video designed to help you present the Relay Recess opportunity to any audience.

1. Tip – both of these videos are available on the CDs you received during GS4 at the Relay Leadership Summit in Pittsburgh.

2. Tom Harper- can the CDs be copied or ordered? Either option> there is an order # on the CD to get through Ariba > Shared Services

v. Relay Recess event websites – a fundraising & information website that will supplement Relay Recess events. This website is available to any event-wide Relay Recess, and your Relay Mangers will have details to share with you soon on how you can request Relay Recess websites.

1. Please note that the Relay Recess websites will not be made available to team-based Relay Recess events. Team may still use the Relay Recess products when working with an elementary school.

c. How can I introduce Relay Recess to my events?i. Put Relay Recess on the agenda for your next committee meeting, so that you can

introduce the opportunity to your key volunteers.ii. Schedule time to work with your Team Development or Youth Engagement

volunteers to identify opportunities at elementary schools in their community. 1. Tip: use & update your community assessment during this chat!2. Prioritize your list of area elementary schools – identify your top 5

prospects and build a plan to present the Relay Recess opportunity to these schools.

iii. Brainstorm with your event leadership & Team Development volunteers who might be a great community liaison to approach each school.

iv. Schedule time for you & your Team Development chair to chat with the community liaisons you’ve identified to share the Relay Recess information with them and brainstorm who within their network might be a candidate for the volunteer coordinator at the elementary school you’ve identified.

v. Prepare your community liaison to present the opportunity to the potential volunteer coordinator at the school and gauge their interest. Once they see the new Relay Recess materials & concepts, we know they’ll say yes!

vi. What should you provide them? Promo videos, Volunteer Coordinator kit sample, Relay Recess Sell Sheet, Info sheet/brochure on your community RFL event.

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vii. Once the community liaison has a commitment from the potential volunteer coordinator, schedule a time that you or your Team Development chair can meet with the volunteer coordinator to complete the Relay Recess Partnership Agreement.

d. Relay Recess Success! Staff Spotlight: Tony Collieri. Principal contacted about 4th graders who had interested week prior to Summitii. Spoke with Chair during Summit, went in on Monday and spoke with Principal &

studentsiii. Tony & the Chair gave them an overview of Relay Recess, showed the video-

students were extremely excited after viewing the filmiv. Set-up a follow-up meeting for mid-October to share the new resourcesv. Principal loved that the event could be created as the school saw fit

e. What comes next for Mini-Relay…is it going away?i. Relay Recess will target Elementary Schools & Relay Field Day – available this

spring – will target Middle Schools.ii. Mini-Relay as a concept is not going away though…you will still have high schools,

business or churches who may wish to support Relay For Life and the mission of the American Cancer Society despite being unable to attend their community event.

iii. All of these offerings allow a school or organization to customize the Relay experience to fit their culture and needs, while still adhering to the Relay model.

iv. It is important to remember that all Relay Recess, Relay Field Day or Mini-Relay events should be extended an invitation to attend the community Relay For Life event and be thanked for their efforts.

6. Questions on Relay Recess?

a. Christine Mills- Relay Field Day- when is the release? At this time there is no set time, scheduled end of January, but no confirmed day

b. Rosemarie Murphy- they have a large check presentation to highlight these mini Relays at the actual community Relay

c. Jenny Kessel- Will we get sample kits? All staff will need to order to see the product

d. Toni Englehart- If you have community teams that are schools who to use these groups? Share with the volunteers, other teachers as a means for a fundraising opportunity

e. Jef Bauman- Can the school partner with college events if there are no community events near by? Yes!

f. Joshua Walker- showed the video before Summit to an elementary school and it generated excitement > teacher wants to know if it can be more on awareness- decided to goal students at $20.12 for 2012 year

7. Next call is the day before Staff Conference- please vote on a date change

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a. Next month’s topics are how to have effective committee & team meetings & taking Relay Recess to the masses- have a success story you wish to share- please submit your name! or volunteer a co-worker you know has done outstanding work in these areas!

8. REMINDERS!

a. Friday, October 14: Summit Reimbursement is due, as well as the Summit Survey

b. Regional Summits are around the corner, questions please defer to your Relay Managers

c. Next Volunteer Hot Topic Call is Thursday, October 20 at 7pm

d. During Staff Conference the Relay Business Unit will be hosting two breakouts! One on Time Management & Team Recruitment: building a plan for success!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN and…

SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL STAFF WHO SUPPORT MAKING STRIDES AGAINST BREAST CANCER & CRUCIAL CATCH- we appreciate all of

your time & efforts this month!!

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