Club Updates January 2021 – AAF District 7

Baton Rouge

AAF-Baton Rouge has traditionally assigned the organization of Club Achievement books to the Immediate Past President. They are in charge of educating the board members about the different books, their purpose, and the creation of them.

We begin in the Summer at our board retreat. The Immediate Past President gives a high-level overview of each book and a basic timeline as to when to start and complete these books for submission. They instruct the board members to keep any photos, press releases, and screen-shots of social media posts about all of our events throughout the year.

Now that there are only five books, there are multiple board members on each book, so the Immediate Past President issues assignments for each book and designates a lead for each book. They then request an outline for each book, which is basically a thesis statement outlining goals, a list of events and initiatives that will be discussed, and a conclusion.

This year, we are planning a work-in day, where all of the board members will get together and work on the books together, so we can hammer everything out and make sure our message is consistent throughout. This will also ensure that we complete the books without delay. Once the books are compiled, we have assigned past presidents and other copywriters to proofread the books. Lastly, we make final adjustments and then submit the books for judging.

Birmingham

Getting it Done for Club Achievement

AAF-Birmingham continues to carry a full slate of happenings across the city with the current focus on our virtual 2021 AAF-Birmingham American Advertising Awards. Having wrapped up 2020 with several months of relevant virtual monthly meetings, member events, and a heightened social media presence, the organization is actively taking notes and making progress on its Club Achievement Planning.

With the task spearheaded by the president-elect and past president this year, club achievement materials are being gathered from vice presidents and directors in all areas to provide information, photos, stats, interviews, videos, and news-related materials on speakers and panels, community service opportunities, local Ten Awards, social media, creative reach, student happenings, website development, and diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts. While end-of-the-year information is yet to be tapped, it will certainly have a placeholder once it is ready to roll.

Memphis

At the start of this year, our Memphis club aimed to connect, uplift, and amplify the voices of all members in our local advertising community. As we begin planning for the Club Achievement Competition, we reflect on this message and how we have fostered and applied it throughout our events, communications, and goals. We also want to assess how those applications work within the different categories of the competition.

To ensure that each category reflects our goal, we’ll be reviewing our programming starting from last March. We have hosted several virtual luncheons along with instituting some new incentives for members to keep our community engaged during this challenging year. We also hosted the district “AMP IT UP” leadership conference virtually which was well attended; just to name a few of the programs we’ll include in our submissions.

As collecting and sorting the data will take some time and we all know the due date for the competition sneaks up on us too quickly, we are assessing the need for scheduling mini-milestones before we begin actual development. We’re also planning to reach out to the board to gather images, feedback, or any other items of note that can assist with building out our club’s books.

A good practice when beginning this process for Club Achievement is to look back at previous winning books. You may find something that could be updated and used for your club or you may find inspiration for programs next year. With all of us working towards similar goals; every club within AAF is a great resource. Use this link to review last year’s winning clubs. Another tip when finishing the books is to save time and reserve some other board members to review the books before submitting them. There is a lot of content that goes into each book, and it is easy to overlook small details that could make a big difference. We’re excited to get started and look forward to sharing our books this year!

Mobile Bay

January Club info

This January, AAF Mobile Bay is hosting two events for our members. We are having a zoom speaker featuring Lindsay Boeddeker of Goodway Group. She will talk about high level 2021 digital advertising trends, Advanced TV 101 (this will include CTV versus Broadcast), and what our cookieless future entails in the digital space.

We are also hosting a “New Year for a Socially Distanced Headshot Clinic” along with a delicious lunch to-go! We miss seeing all of our members and wanted to offer something different as we kick off 2021! We are encouraging members and non-members to stop during your lunch hour to take a new headshot and grab lunch to-go.

We are currently planning our virtual American Advertising Awards ceremony and starting judging this month as well.

Club Achievement Planning

We start with Google documents set up as shells for each submission. In this, the requirements are pasted at the top of the document to keep all mandatory items top of mind. Each document is housed in a corresponding folder in the club’s google drive which also contains last year’s submission, the commentary/assessment of the previous year’s entry, and any artifacts that have been collected throughout the year to use as support.

We have a coordinator dedicated to managing all the submissions. Usually, it is someone who is very familiar with AAF. This year it is an immediate past-president, which is helpful because the nuances are already mastered, and half the content was part of their tenure as president. The coordinator is working on filling out as much information as they can, and then is sending the 75% or so completed document to the board member who is directly in charge of the particular topic/duties. This comes with a due date and detailed instructions.

Since the majority of the activities have already been completed, the entries have an early internal deadline, where final time-sensitive activities will be entered just prior to entry submission.

North Alabama

This is a board position we’ve yet to fill this year. We have captured images of our virtual luncheons and are all excitedly working towards a fun and unique Awards show. Then it will be all hands on deck for Club Achievement. Following Awards season will be a new membership drive and board recruitment.

Tuscaloosa

It’s a little too late for the good advice to start at the beginning of the year saving all possible “exhibits” into a folder for later use, but perhaps it’s a note for next year!

AAFT’s Club Achievement Chair, Kellie Hensley, has been masterful with our books. Here are just a few of the tactics she’s employed:

She created a folder in Basecamp (project management tool) that has everything the author of the books will need: book descriptions and requirements, last year’s books, stats, ideas for each book & possible exhibits.
She hosted a webinar with all authors to go over the basics and then collectively go over ideas for content to add in each book…she even included time for everyone to begin writing.
She has scheduled individual Zoom meetings with each author to review his/her section of the book.
For books with multiple authors, she has offered to write the introductions and conclusions so that the books are consistent in tone.
She set timelines for drafts, editors’ review/notes, and final version.
She requested checks from the treasurer in plenty of time to meet deadlines.