Sports Business Club Strategic Plan

Transcription

1 Sports Business Club Strategic Plan April This strategic plan outlines the history of the Sports Business Club, its beliefs, values, and day-to-day operating procedures. The plan has been crafted in order to provide insights into the management of the Sports Business Club for the academic year. Authors: Alan McGlone alanmcglone12@gmail.com Justin Lucker jlucker23@gmail.com

2 Contents Organizational Background Information... 2 Executive Board and Organization Composition... 3 Executive Board Members and Roles: Member Breakdown... 8 Active Membership Growth....9 Organizational Flow Chart Organizational S.W.O.T Analysis Organizational Vision, Mission, and Values Event Exploration Company Involvement

3 2 Organizational Background Information The Penn State Sports Business club was founded in the Fall of 2011 at the University Park campus. The founding President Ryan Zemke felt that Penn State students should have an organization to meet the demand from students who want a career in the sports industry. The original goal was for students to have access to networking and guest speaker engagements within the industry. Over the past six years the club has expanded its focus towards hosting more engaging events and opportunities for members. The ultimate goal is for members to learn skills from the classroom, develop them through club events, and apply these skills towards the pursuit of future internship and job opportunities within sports or related fields. The Executive Board makes up the leadership for the organization. At the founding of the club, the officer positions were President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary. The club has expanded and specialized into specific officer positions and committees to better organize, plan and execute the club s goals. The Webmaster/Athletic Director, Marketing Chair, Professional Development Chair, Special Events Chair, THON Chair, and THON Vice Chair positions now exist within the club s Executive Board and serve vital roles to the club. The Marketing Chair, Professional Development Chair, and THON Chair each lead small committees which helps them meet their strategic goals while allowing more members of the club to get involved. The Sports Business Club has attributed its success to providing a welcoming environment for members to engage with likeminded students and professionals to develop business skills, all while creating lasting relationships through the power of sports. Despite the pre-existing demand for networking in the sports industry, there were no student organizations available to meet that need. The Sports Business Club came into existence to satisfy interest that was not prioritized within the Smeal course curriculum. We aim to provide students with knowledge of relevant technical and social skills that can be directly applied to the sports industry. Moving forward, we are looking to provide more opportunities for members to make meaningful connections that will lead to future employment and the creation of a powerful, interwoven network of professionals and members of our club.

4 3 Executive Board and Organization Composition In addition to the roles outlined below, the main goal for the Executive Board is to execute all tasks effectively through collaboration. We will take all efforts to hold each other accountable, make informed decisions, provide quality feedback, and make every decision based on the needs and desires of our membership. The Executive Board member class standings and majors are reflective of the Academic year. Executive Board Members and Roles: 1. President: Alan McGlone (Senior, Finance Major, Economics and Psychology Minors) The primary role of the president is to guide the Sports Business Club toward its goals and ensure that needs of members are being addressed. Specific roles include but are not limited to directing specific marketing campaigns, bringing in guest speakers and setting up special events, organizing room locations, and creating weekly meeting presentations. The President is also responsible for leading a cohesive Executive Board by assisting its members with tasks, creating incentives to maximize creativity and effort, and acting as the main point of contact for any activities involving the organization. External Involvement: Vice President of Corporate Relations, Net Impact 2. Vice President and Professional Development Chair: Justin Lucker (Senior, Marketing Major) The Vice President is second in the chain of command in our organization. The Vice President is the leader of the Professional Development Committee, where he will have a small committee selected at the beginning of each academic year. The function of this team is to contact and develop relationships with guest speakers across a wide spectrum of backgrounds and experience. The Vice President will guide the creation of professional development sessions that are designed to elevate members professional foundations through exposure to various applications. In addition to guiding

5 4 the professional development team, the Vice President is in charge of assisting other Executive Board members with tasks and event planning. External Involvement: Recruiting Operations Intern, Penn State Football 3. Marketing Chair: Devin Naylon (Sophomore, Marketing Major) Our Marketing Chair is primarily responsible for promoting the club and our values to prospective members and current membership. Responsibilities include designing grass roots marketing campaigns, creating appealing posters and flyers, maintaining our social media presence, and organizing our club s social and fundraising events. The Marketing Chair will be the team leader for the Marketing Committee, which will be comprised of a small group that is chosen at the beginning of each academic year. Our Marketing Chair is also the head of our club fundraising efforts, which will be used to provide value through conferences and special events on campus. External Involvement: PSMA Non-Profit Lead, Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society Member 4. THON Chair: Kaitlyn Vander Woude (Senior, Marketing and History Major) The THON Chair is responsible for all of our THON related activities and goals. Tasks include organizing canning trips, ensuring that all canners have attended a mandatory canning seminar, creating THON fundraising events, and being proactive in getting THONvelopes and THON information to our members. The THON Chair is also the leader of a small THON Committee selected at the beginning of each academic year. The THON Chair also aims to drive THON involvement and provide a valuable THON experience for members choosing to participate. External Involvement: THON Rules and Regulations Committee Member 5. THON Vice Chair: Ryan Lawrence (Junior, LER Major) The THON Vice Chair s primary responsibility is to help our THON Chair with all of her responsibilities, as well as managing the money that we receive through canning and fundraising activities. The THON Vice Chair plays a vital role in creating and executing fundraising opportunities

6 5 for the club, and also assists in driving THON involvement. The THON Vice Chair also ensures that committee operations run smoothly. External Involvement: Director of Events for the Blue & White Society, THON OPP Committee Member 6. Treasurer: Tom Kerner (Sophomore, Risk Management Major) The primary responsibility of our Treasurer is to manage all of the cash inflows and outflows of our organization. These include managing dues and fundraising events, as well as buying club t-shirts and registering for conferences. Our Treasurer is also responsible for going to ASA to reimburse any club member for purchases made on behalf of the club. This requires knowledge of the proper object codes and the use of a purchase order form. Finally, the Treasurer is responsible for maintaining an active budget which can be accessed by our Executive Board, and will serve as a guideline in our decision making for event planning. Our goal is to analyze our cash inflows and find more effective ways to raise funds, as well as analyzing cash outflows to find ways to cut waste and provide the most value per dollar. The Treasurer will be transparent with our members regarding finances. External Involvement: LionTutor, Club Basketball Member 7. Webmaster and Athletic Director: Mike Reasor (Junior, Finance Major) The Webmaster and Athletic Director has the unique responsibility of presenting our organization to others while driving involvement through sports related activities. The Athletic Director role is tasked with organizing fantasy sports leagues, creating and driving intramural sports teams, and analyzing new ways to create athletic events. The Webmaster s primary role is the continued maintenance our club website ( which provides an updated view of our club history, events, THON, and other opportunities. Both roles include collaboration with the Marketing Chair to organize all information into a comprehensive location. External Involvement: Member, Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society

7 6 8. Secretary: Rachel Waite (Junior, Supply Chain Major, Psychology Minor) The primary responsibility of the Secretary is to organize an effective management system for membership data. The Secretary creates a system that combines attendance data from meeting sign-ins, fundraisers, and dues. The Secretary is able to identify who within the club is an active member, and will provide this information to the President on an as-needed basis. The Secretary is expected to provide accurate attendance information to the Executive Board, and work alongside the Marketing Chair to analyze which marketing campaigns and events were successful. The Secretary is also responsible for sending weekly s to our members informing them of upcoming events and meeting locations. Finally, our Secretary is responsible for creating a midsemester and end of semester evaluation surveys to gather honest membership feedback to improve future operations. External Involvement: Cheerleader, Penn State Club Cheerleading 9. Community Outreach: Sydney Eckert (Senior, Economics Major) The Community Outreach Chair s primary focus is to create relationships and opportunities between our club members and the surrounding community. These include charity events, food drives, and volunteer opportunities that allow our club members to make a greater impact outside of typical meetings and events. The Community Outreach Chair is also responsible for exploring new outlets for our club to make an impact, as well as working alongside the Treasurer and President to create corporate sponsorship proposals. The Community Outreach Chair is also involved in event promotion and membership engagement to maximize these opportunities. External Involvement: THON Rules and Regulations Committee Member

8 7 10. Special Events Chair: Harrison Haushalter (Sophomore, Business Undecided) The primary role of the Special Events Chair is to focus on the creation, planning, and execution of large-scale club events that are different than weekly club meetings. The Special Events Chair will work closely with the President and Vice President to coordinate events that draw a higher attendance and provide more networking opportunities for students. The Special Events Chair has the option to include club members and the Professional Development Committee for planning specific projects, and he will work with the rest of the Executive Board to determine optimal marketing strategies and event structure. External Involvement: Business and Society House Member, Club Cross Country Runner

9 8 Membership Breakdown: Organization Composition Class Standing: Our club is comprised primarily of freshman and sophomore students and make up a combined 66% of our active membership. This is a reflection of how young our group is, and we look to create a more even mix of students by focusing largely on retainment of members. Providing unique opportunities each semester and creating an even more inviting meeting atmosphere will be vital to retain our membership. Majors: Our club has grown into a more diversified club over the last two years, with a wide variety of majors represented. The top 3 majors are those in the Division of Undergraduate Studies, Finance, and Marketing. We are heavily represented in the Smeal College of Business, and some of the majors located in the other category include HM, LER, ECON, and COMM. Moving forward, we would like to continue to diversify the number of majors while focusing on the growth of our Smeal membership. *Membership data for class standing and majors is directly taken from our attendance database reflecting the Academic year*

10 9 Active Membership Growth: The club has grown every year since its inception in 2011, and we project that our club will continue to increase membership moving forward. This will be driven by our meeting structure, Executive Board decisions, and the creation of member value. *Includes updated information not provided in active roster information by Smeal*

11 10 Organizational Flow Chart President: Alan McGlone Vice President and Professional Development Chair: Justin Lucker Marketing Chair: Devin Naylon Secretary: Rachel Waite Treasurer: Tom Kerner Special Events Chair: Harrison Haushalter Web master and Athletic Director: Mike Reasor THON Chair: Kaitlyn Vander Woude THON Vice Chair: Ryan Lawrence Marketing Committee Professional Development Committee THON Committee

12 11 Organizational S.W.O.T Analysis Internal Strengths Highly relatable to Freshman and Sophomore students, which gives us high growth potential Ability to create successful large scale events, which increases credibility Quality of Guest Speaker appearances External Strengths We are a niche organization that can use sports to expose students to a popular field that is not a major within Smeal Strength and relationship with Penn State Athletics Ability to attract more prominent guest speakers for events Internal Weaknesses Lack of motivated members and issues with retainment Relationship building between members themselves and the Executive Board Lack of generating feedback and communication amongst the Executive Board External Weaknesses Our market for members may not be as large as we think Location of campus provides difficulty in attracting guest speakers to physically visit our club Limited budget and lack of long term relationships with some guest speakers Internal Opportunities We have been very team focused, and have resources to diversify the types of meetings and speakers we present to the club Create mentorships within our club to promote greater bonds between members Use past event success to create and manage larger events throughout Smeal in the future External Opportunities Partnerships with other student organizations to create more exciting meetings and combined events Require less demanding fundraising requirements for active membership by developing corporate sponsors for our club. Create case competitions and projects with teams and companies to drive membership involvement Internal Threats Poor follow through with planning can lead to events that do not meet expectations or maximize value Repetitive nature of guest speaker appearances and topic relevance may lead to disengagement Predictability of meetings and their structures can cause further disengagement External Threats Other outside clubs and activities may compete with our meetings and events, which leads to lower turnout Unpredictability of guest speakers dropping out and having effective contingency plans in place Sports teams and partners may not be willing or able to work with us

13 12 Organizational Vision, Mission, and Values A. Organizational Vision: The vision of the Sports Business Club is to be a prominent Smeal Organization that provides members with a deep understanding of the sports industry while providing professional development in an engaging environment that leads to success in the industry and business world. B. Organizational Mission: The mission of the Penn State Sports Business Club is to foster the growth of students knowledge in the sports industry through professional lectures, workshops, and other networking opportunities that aim to provide students with internships and careers in the sports industry and related fields. C. Organizational Values: Integrity: Under all actions of our organization, we will hold ourselves to the highest standards of honesty and proper ethical conduct. Resourceful: We strive to find creative strategies and use all available information to maximize value for our members. Determination: Our club will continue to promote the values of hard work and focused thinking that create dedicated members and leaders. Accountability: We strive to make responsible decisions that are in the best interests of our members, and leadership is expected to hold each other accountable with every decision. Empowerment: We look to empower members to make a positive difference within our club and use membership to gain experiences and opportunities with career implications that they may have not been previously exposed to.

14 Event Exploration Hosting Events: MLB Event: Networking panel discussions between representatives from professional major and minor league baseball teams. We would like to make this event very interactive for attendees. The ideal timeframe would be towards the end of September (9/19, 9/26 are ideal dates). Sports Networking Night: Provide Smeal students the chance to attend panel discussions and one on one networking opportunities with representatives from companies in the sports industry. We aim to include more than 25 representatives from at least 15 companies, and provide students the ability to attend more panels and engage in more discussions. We would aim to have this event towards the end of January (1/23, 1/30 are ideal dates). New Event Leads: Coaches Caravan: Create an event with Penn State Athletics Coaches to provide students with an in depth look inside the athletic program while having the opportunity to interact with coaches. Ideally this event would take place later in the Spring semester. Case Competition with Dick s Sporting Goods: We would like to work alongside Dick s Sporting Goods to create a business case competition for our club members to participate in teams. Ideally,

15 the case competition would take place at Dick s Sporting Goods Headquarters and also include teams from the University of Pittsburgh s Sports Business Association. 14 Case Competition with Under Armour: We would like to work with Under Armour to develop a case competition focused around different aspects of their business. We would be able to work with other Smeal clubs, as well as other sports business clubs, to form teams to answer the initial case. The finalists would be chosen by Under Armour to present at Headquarters in September or October. Meetings: Sports Teams, Sports Agencies, Retail Firms, Companies that Market through Sports, Sports Media. Includes speakers from all levels of the company. Conferences: MIT Sloan Sports Analytics

16 15 Company Involvement: Companies and Financial Involvement: While we are still a young organization that is growing, we are looking for financial growth and opportunities that will allow us to create larger events within Smeal for the future. Please see attached Corporate Sponsorship Proposal for more information about sponsoring events with our organization. Companies and Professional Involvement: At meetings that do not include guest speakers or large events, we provide our members with professional development opportunities. Moving forward, we would love to host workshops with companies surrounding the following areas: o Resume building o LinkedIn and proper social media usage o Interview preparation o Research skills and opportunities

17 Corporate Sponsorship Proposal The Penn State Sports Business Club Hello Corporate Recruiters, My name is Alan McGlone, President of the Penn State Sports Business Club. Our Executive Team is very proud of the growth our club has experienced since being founded in We believe that there are some great opportunities ahead to further connect our membership with opportunities in the sports industry. As we look to grow as a student organization, we are looking to engage with companies through the creation of corporate partners. Our Executive Team has outlined some sponsorship opportunities and more details about our club below, and we would appreciate the chance to further discuss corporate partnership opportunities with you! 1. Our club was able to receive $2,400 in dues money in the 2016 fall semester. We aim to maximize the value for members by spending money on professional event costs, club sports outings, conferences, and social events. 2. Another source of revenues are the football parking fundraisers in the fall, which provided us with $1,800 in fall Completion of football parking fundraisers has been a membership requirement up to this point in time. While the football fundraiser provides us with funding, it is a 1

18 major deterrent to students who want to become members and attend our events, and we hope to phase this out of our active membership requirement. We also bring in money through various alternative fundraisers held on campus throughout the year. 3. Our largest expense is attendance at the MIT Sloan Sports Conference, which costs about $3,000. We provide club tee shirts that cost $800 a year, social events that cost $300 per semester, and a champions dinner (for our Executive Team and top general body members) that costs about $200 each semester. 4. With the help of faculty, staff, and your involvement, we can promote different classes and coursework that can make our members prepared for work for your company. This could include classes or tutorials about Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, as well as classes related to specific functions of a corporation. The following chart represents our current sponsorship layout, which is composed of 3 levels with various benefits to each level of sponsorship. 2

19 Level of Sponsorship Company Logo featured on club website and general marketing materials Sports Business Club Sponsorship Bronze ($250) Silver ($500) Gold ($1000) Featured s and social media posts to membership for campus events Logo featured on banner of semiannual 3v3 Basketball Tournament (months of October and April) Featured s and social media posts to membership for internships, jobs, and deadlines Ice Cream or Coffee social with club members and Dick s Sporting Goods associates Dinner with select club members and Dick s Sporting Goods Associates in the fall semester Company Logo featured on club tee shirts (distributed in the Spring semester) Please reach out to me at alanmcglone12@gmail.com or via phone at if you have any questions or comments regarding our club or sponsorship levels. The Sports Business Club is excited about building future partnerships to advance our club s mission throughout the Smeal College of Business and Penn State campus. Best Regards, The Sports Business Club Executive Team 3