Memo

To: Professor Jessica McCarthy

From: Stephanie Poget, Student
Subject: Progress Report
Date: November 9, 2017

Introduction
On November 3, 2017, Mark Wharton, UTCs Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics,
approved the proposal to evaluate how to prompt more students to attend and show support at
athletic teams games.
Currently, UTC athletic teams have subpar turn out to their games from the students of the
university. As a result, the athletes feel neglected and it shows our competition that the student
body does not have enough school pride to cheer on their own.

The information stated in this memo regards events that took place in between the dates of
Thursday, November 2 nd through Thursday, November 9th of the year 2017.
Mr. Wharton approved the proposal to determine what students of the university believe would
draw more students to attend the universitys athletic games. Specifically, Mr. Wharton asked for
the following four tasks to be performed:

1. Research how universities, like UTC, are attracting students to attend their games.
2. Determine the student bodys wants and needs pertaining to entertainment at games.
3. Determine the attitude of the student body pertaining to a variety of entertainment at
games.
4. Evaluate the students response and compare the results to the current situation.
In the below sections, I present the work completed to date, followed by an updated task
schedule and problems encountered in the duration of the project thus far.

Work Completed
In this section of the progress report, I present the completed work on task 1for the time period
of November 2nd-9th, 2017.

Task 1: Research other schools athletic departments

Universitys athletic departments are a big source of revenue for the university, they in turn are
treated as a business. If a department is doing well, in terms of high revenue and low expenses,
the university is more inclined to give more money to that department (Jozsa, 2013).
The most research on how other universities athletic departments draw students to games was
found informally, by way of blog posts or online reviews made by students. These university
students pointed out that their athletic department put on pre-game activities for the students to
get excited for the game. These activities included concerts, tailgates, corn hole, food, and
giveaways. These students tell how activities and entertainment before games draw students to
the event in hopes they will stay for the games. During the game these schools will throw t-shirts
into the student section, field games during breaks in the game, and do random drawings for free
items that are popular to students. After the games, if the team won, the students celebrate by
being allowed to run onto the field and be with the team.
When a sports team is doing well in their respective conference or division, the athletic
department is return is more likely to budget more money to be able to put on these events at the
games. The same effect is seen when a sport can bring in more revenue than their expenses.

Work Scheduled
In this section of the progress report, I present the scheduled work on tasks 2-5 for the time
period of November 9th-16th, 2017.
Task 2: Send out a survey

I will send out a survey to the student body of UTC via their school e-mail accounts on Monday,
November 13, 2017. This survey will include questions that ask the students to describe their
interest in the current athletics situation, how they would change things given the opportunity,
and if changing the things would improve the situation.
Task 3: Put together a focus group

On Monday, November 13, 2017 I will send out a call for students to volunteer to be a part of a
focus group. This group will dig deeper into the topic, allowing students to give a more specific
answer to the questions on their interest in athletics, what they would do if they were in charge,
and if implementing changes would improve the situation or make it worse.
Task 4: Examine the data
Once the surveys and focus group are done collecting information on Monday, November 20,
2017, I will analyze the results.
Step 5: Prepare Report
I will write my recommendation report draft that will be available November 27, 2017. With
suggestions from peers I will make the necessary edits to the final recommendation report. This
final recommendation report will be available December 4, 2017.

Problems
The first problem I encountered was having the proposal accepted so fast. Since the proposal was
accepted earlier than I expected, I had to adjust the schedule forward by one week. Another
problem that arose was being able to find reliable sources that were relevant to the topic at hand.
 Conclusion
I have completed task 1, I am currently preparing to start tasks 2 and 3. Upon the completion of
task 2 and 3 I will be able to complete task 4 followed by task 5. I am on schedule to complete
all five tasks by December 4, 2017. In the report that will be available on December 4, 2017, I
will include my recommendation on what changes should take place to increase student
participation at athletic events.
Please contact Stephanie Poget, at (423)123-4567, if you have any questions or comments you
have on this project.