My name is Marissa Harrison and this semester I worked alongside the City of Idaho Falls in helping create content for a summer festival happening in 2023.
Introduction of the project
The purpose of this project changed throughout my work that I created, but the objective stayed the same. Leadership for the City of Idaho Falls is dedicated to bringing the community closer and learning more from one another. This project is intended to unify the community and create lasting bonds.
My work I created
My work included a content calendar, flyers, social media posts, email templates and providing a list of groups willing to participate in a diversity celebration event.
Here is one of the four flyers I created:
Here is a preview of the content calendar for posting social media posts. I developed this in Google Excel Spreadsheets, and I did a sheet with all the posting information for the months of April, May, June and July.
Brand kit for social media posts:
I created a plethora amount of social media posts templates and here is two of the post I created:
Here is the email templates created:
The one listed below was for a cancelation we faced which will be explained further below. The “click here” button was lead to a google docs form, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdxKrKixBPWrYVKG_g0xvKY8MJfYHRfpNNKdXHxYV3l831PvQ/viewform
I created an email template to be sent out to the individuals that were interested in supporting the event as well.
This email template is for when they say yes to setting up a time:
Below is for when they say no to meeting again:
Here is a some of the list of people I gathered who were interested in the Diversity Festival. I blocked out names and contact information for privacy purposes.
Challenges
I mentioned earlier that there were some changes in the festival, but the purpose stayed the same. Originally we were planning on doing a Diversity Celebration Festival, this is why there are some mentions in my work about a Diversity Celebration. However, due to the limited time that we had leadership decided it was best to not rush and create this event in the future. This project is still moving forward and the work I did for that was all sent over which included the list of individuals I met and was in contact with.
When this happened I had to change my work I had created to include it for the Summer Festival. This challenge encouraged me to increase my PR skills with contacting the individuals and groups involved and telling them the news. I created a cancelation email to be sent out and messaged them individually if they had any questions. I then created email templates to be used when VOICE Advocacy – who will be assisting in the Diversity Celebration – sends out emails to join in the developed Diversity Celebration.
Project Processes
This project started in September when I had my first meeting with leadership for the City of Idaho Falls. As you can tell there were a few challenges along the way but they were manageable.
Time was limited to plan such a big event with all the other holiday activities going on around the same months. This is one of the reasons we had to move the Diversity Celebration to another date so it could have its time to shine.
We worked on this project for four months and with the team it went by fast. There were bumps along the way but that is expected with each project, the best thing is to have communication with your team. When there is good communication in a team the best results come about.
Experiences & Take-A-Ways
While working with the City of Idaho Falls I had to learn a lot more about design and editing. I had to be creative with the content I was providing for this project. I usually am working on other factors like organizing people and researching grants, sponsorships and having the event be funded and the right people on the team.
This project I was focused on creating content for the public. I was at first uncomfortable with the challenge, but that is where we grow the most. The social media posts and flyers I created show a lot of growth from the first few I made to the last few.
I went from recruiting people on to my team for design in the past to being the designer. This definitely expanded my capability and confidence in this work. It was a great experience to grow my portfolio and see my potential more clearly.