CAMPAIGN

PROPOSAL
LEADERSHIP SPRINGFIELD

December 2018

CAMERON HIGBE, ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE  ||  LAUREN PYLE, PR & MARKETING

SARAH BUXTON, MEDIA RELATIONS  ||  ALLYSON DOUGHERTY, CREATIVITY & DESIGN 
THE 4SIGHT TEAM

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
CAMERON HIGBE
Cameron is a first-generation senior at Drury University
pursuing a bachelor's degree in strategic communication and
associate’s degrees in business administration and political
science. A Kansas City native, he is always proud of his
Missouri roots. Cameron is passionate about ensuring the
voices of his peers are heard, which is why he is involved in
student government, started a campus political party chapter,
and loves encouraging friends to pursue their potential. He
hopes to use his education and learned skills to foster mutually
beneficial relationships between groups wherever he’s located.
If pressed to describe himself in one word, Cameron would
employ the term diplomatic.

PR & MARKETING DIRECTOR

LAUREN PYLE

Lauren is a junior working towards a bachelor’s degree in

strategic communication at Drury University in Springfield,
MO. Along with her business administration minor, she hopes
to either work in student affairs at a university or non-profit
organization. She currently works in Drury’s admissions
department as a student tour guide and as a freshmen
orientation leader in the fall. Back in her hometown of Little
Rock, AR, she has worked for the Chenal Country Club in the
hospitality industry. She is involved in many leadership
positions around campus including Greek life, a student union
board, an educational awareness group, and serves as a
mentor for a first generational student.
MEDIA RELATIONS DIRECTOR 
SARAH BUXTON

Sarah is a senior strategic communication student at

Drury University. She graduated with an associate degree
from Ozarks Technical Community College and
transferred to Drury in 2017. Sarah is involved with civic
groups in the area and is passionate about getting others
involved in the community. Sarah believes every person
has a unique purpose and she desires to help people see
their own potential.

CREATIVE & DESIGN DIRECTOR 

ALLYSON DOUGHERTY

Allyson is a fifth-year senior at Drury University pursuing a

bachelor’s degree in strategic communication and associate’s
degrees in website communications, website design, and graphic
design. Hailing from Rogersville, Missouri, Allyson is active in
photography, cooking, and anything that involves the great
outdoors. Allyson is helping start a Drury University rock
climbing club by using her experience in social media, design,
and photography. After college, she hopes to start her own
wedding photography business. Allyson hopes to help bring
passion and creativity in the lives that she encounters.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Leadership Springfield is a nonprofit organization that provides training and

networking opportunities to clients to prepare them to be ethical, efficient leaders
in the Springfield area. While much about this organization has been successful
thus far, there are facets that can be improved, as shown by the most recent
research done by 4Sight (a group formed within Drury University’s communication
department). This group attests that their research—consisting of a social media
audit and available online information coupled with primary research via surveys
and interviews—gives light to multiple strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats. As Leadership Springfield prepares to launch their Access program, they
should consider the advice transcribed within this proposal to maximize their
success and achieve their goals for this new element within the organization.

The goal of the analysis is to find ways to better connect with new members of the
Springfield community and/or those who are new to leadership roles within this
mini-metropolis of Greene County, Missouri. To achieve this goal, 4Sight can help
with Springfield Leadership’s branding to distinguish it from competitors and other
organizations that do not provide the same quantity nor quality of services. The
avenues to accomplishing this include helping solidify the organization’s voice and
tone and energizing their base utilizing an improved internal database.

Ultimately, the proposal of the campaign “Spotlight Springfield”

(#SpotlightSpringfield) provides an opportunity to alter the personality of
Leadership Springfield and highlight their new Access program. With an
invigorating immersion into the culture of Springfield, MO, the “Spotlight
Springfield” campaign will entice new residents and local businesses to engage with
the organization while refocusing on what Leadership Springfield does best:
providing the community with efficient leaders and equipping those leaders with
the tools they need to achieve county-wide success.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CLIENT BACKGROUND  1

RESEARCH BACKGROUND 2

SITUATION ANALYSIS  11

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES  11

KEY PUBLIC OR TARGET AUDIENCE 12

BIG IDEA 14

MESSAGES 16

COMMUNICATION CONFIRMATION TABLE 17

CALENDAR 19

BUDGET 20

EVALUATION 21

LIST OF REFERENCES 23

APPENDIXES  25
CLIENT BACKGROUND
Leadership Springfield has been engaging with the Springfield, MO community since the
1980s, originally partnering with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Junior League
of Springfield, and the United Way of the Ozarks. Now an organization of their own with no
affiliates, they continue to “inspire, develop, and connect” people by providing local
resources and opportunities having over 1,800 graduates. The organization hired Carrie
Richardson to serve as their first executive director this past summer to continue to
develop and grow Leadership Springfield in their own right. She serves alongside a 21-
person board of directors and five-person executive committee (Richardson).

The programs consist of discovering individual strengths that will help the community and
social capital through personal impacts. They currently offer three different programs:
Signature, Academy, and Principals. The Signature program is their most popular course
which attracts people in their twenties to those in their sixties. Of all the applicants, it is
narrowed down to around 33 people. It starts in September with a launch retreat that
focuses on the community and individual strengths. Then there are monthly program days
which topics include: Springfield, our community, criminal justice/public safety, civil
awareness, communications/technology, health/medical services, education/life-long
learning, and arts/quality of life. Each session is planned by the participants in an
interactive learning environment through guest speakers, touring the city, or a panel. It is
followed by an end of the program impact retreat and graduation June (Leadership
Springfield website).

The Academic program is based off the Signature program but reaches to high school
juniors by showing where they can apply their interests, see things in a new perspective,
learn professional skills, develop connections through businesses and leaders, and honing
their personal goals. The Principals class is a smaller class that is focused towards specific
fields and collaborating with others in their field. However, the connections do not stop
once the program ends. With a monthly e-newsletter, class reunions, and quarterly alumni
events, many graduates continue to stay involved and expand their network community
(Richardson).

Leadership Springfield plans to launch a new class this spring called Access. This will
expand its reach to new members of the Springfield community. It will host up to 50
participants in a two- day timeframe. It will act as an introduction to the diverse businesses
and livelihood of the area. In this way, it is designed to encourage and transition people into
leadership roles to continue to develop and grow (Leadership Springfield Access).

1
SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS & BRAND VOICE
In late September, 4Sight performed a social media audit to understand the voice of
Leadership Springfield. The audit includes sentiment, opportunities, and engagement of
posts from the company, consumer, and competition.

The following social media analysis organizes this data and discusses the main insights
gained from Leadership Springfield’s social media accounts and website. Some of the data
has been updated to reflect the most recent dates. The main goal of this analysis is to
identify and explain Leadership Springfield’s primary opportunity when it comes to how
the organization presents itself online.

METRICS
Volume and Reach: From October 2nd to October 10th, Leadership Springfield’s Twitter
account made 18.3K impressions through 8 Tweets. While engagement with these Tweets
was relatively low (only between two and nine likes and zero retweets), the reach was
surprisingly high with 6,795 accounts. (Tweet Reach, Search item, “@LeadershipSGF”,
retrieved 11 October 2018)

SENTIMENT
Consumer Sentiment: Posts from consumers who are mentioning Leadership Springfield
on social media reflect positively on the organization. The social media audit produced
posts that had either a positive or neutral sentiment of Leadership Springfield. Zero
negative posts were found. The purpose of most of these posts was to network with other
Leadership Springfield members or share experiences with social networks. This is an
important insight for Leadership Springfield to understand, as it demonstrates how the
organization is viewed by the public.

ENGAGEMENT
Likes, Retweets, Shares: Despite having 1, 983 likes on Facebook and 2,282 followers on
Twitter, Leadership Springfield has low engagement numbers on social media. Of the six
Tweets analyzed in the social media audit, the average number of likes was 3.25 and only
one Tweet received a retweet. Similarly, Facebook events have low engagement numbers,
with only nine people selecting “Going” on an alumni luncheon. Likes and shares are also
sparse on Facebook, much like Twitter. (cite social media audit)

2
WEBSITE EVALUATION
DESIGN
From the layout to the headers, to the amount of text, Leadership Springfield’s website
needs to make some changes to reach the desired audience of the Access class. The
template of the website is simple, which is certainly helpful, but the information is poorly
organized and seems choppy. The headers do not help with this, as they are not
prominent parts of each page and make navigation difficult. Lastly, the amount of text on
the website is overwhelming. Boxes or other design techniques to break up the
information should be employed.

The following social media analysis organizes this data and discusses the main insights
gained from Leadership Springfield’s social media accounts and website. Some of the data
has been updated to reflect the most recent dates. The main goal of this analysis is to
identify and explain Leadership Springfield’s primary opportunity when it comes to how
the organization presents itself online.

VOLUME AND REACH

From October 2nd to October 10th, Leadership Springfield’s Twitter account made 18.3K
impressions through 8 Tweets. While engagement with these Tweets was relatively low
(only between two and nine likes and zero retweets), the reach was surprisingly high with
6,795 accounts. (Tweet Reach, Search item, “@LeadershipSGF”, retrieved 11 October 2018)

CONSUMER SENTIMENT
Posts from consumers who are mentioning Leadership Springfield on social media reflect
positively on the organization. The social media audit produced posts that had either a
positive or neutral sentiment of Leadership Springfield. Zero negative posts were found.
The purpose of most of these posts was to network with other Leadership Springfield
members or share experiences with social networks. This is an important insight for
Leadership Springfield to understand, as it demonstrates how the organization is viewed
by the public.

LIKES, RETWEETS, SHARES

Despite having 1, 983 likes on Facebook and 2,282 followers on Twitter, Leadership
Springfield has low engagement numbers on social media. Of the six Tweets analyzed in
the social media audit, the average number of likes was 3.25 and only one Tweet received
a retweet. Similarly, Facebook events have low engagement numbers, with only nine
people selecting “Going” on an alumni luncheon. Likes and shares are also sparse on
Facebook, much like Twitter. (cite social media audit)

3
BRAND VOICE: PROFESSIONAL AND GENERIC
TONE
The brand’s tone across platforms is unified, which is a positive attribute, given the
nature of the organization. The posts are nearly the same across the two platforms
utilized by Leadership Springfield (Facebook and Twitter), which is why the accounts
are experiencing low engagement.

PERSONALITY
Leadership Springfield’s expected brand personality is likely sincerity. Their mission is
to inspire, develop, and connect leaders in the Springfield area. This mission
demonstrates the organization’s honesty and desire for others to succeed. But this is
not necessarily the personality Leadership Springfield displays. Based on how the brand
communicates online, their actual personality might come across as sophisticated,
because it is an exclusive group.

CONSISTENCY
Social media posts and content on the website blog are sporadic and do not appear to
follow a schedule. For example, the social media audit reports that Leadership
Springfield’s Twitter account shared 6 Tweets in August and only 2 Tweets in July. (cite
social media audit)

CONTENT
 On Facebook, Leadership Springfield shares pictures from events and classes, in
addition to information about upcoming events. This kind of content is well received
and helps the public understand the purpose of Leadership Springfield. The Twitter
account shares the Facebook posts in the form of a link. That means only a link with
some text appears, instead of the photos. A few videos appear but are not frequent. The
kinds of photos that are posted contribute to the brand voice of professional and dry
because the photos typically show people giving presentations or talking at tables.

LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT
 Likely the biggest piece of evidence for the brand’s voice is the low engagement levels
seen across platforms. Leadership Springfield has only 7 followers on the largest
professional networking platform, LinkedIn. The low interaction (likes, share, retweets,
etc.) and low engagement on LinkedIn demonstrate the brand’s social media and
website are lacking creativity and excitement.

4
 THE MAIN OPPORTUNITIES

CREATIVITY
While sharing photos on social media is certainly necessary for an organization
of this nature, Leadership Springfield needs to take their photos to the next
professional level and show their participants engaging in the projects and
working together. Graphics using these photos or even quotes/testimonials
from alumni should be incorporated into Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. An
Instagram page should be created as well.

PLATFORM SEPARATION
Sharing a link to a Facebook post on Twitter does not appeal to users. They
want to be able to see the content in the platform they are currently using. If
photos are going to be shared, they should be shared separately. Even
employing a different tone on Twitter to reflect a theme such as professional
humor or innovation can separate the platforms and increase engagement.

PRIMARY SECONDARY EMERGING

Greater Missouri National Leadership State of Missouri

COMPANY
Leadership Challenge Institute Leadership Academy

DESCRIPTION Leadership program A national leadership Holding classes twice a

in several cities in organization that is geared year, SoMLA helps
Missouri. All toward teaching non for create leaders around
programs pertaining profits to lead and act like the state of Missouri.
to women leaders. for profit companies. They
have a mass range of
leadership opportunities
and classes throughout the
country

https://www.linkedin.co https://www.linkedin.co
SOCIAL m/company/greater-
https://leadershipacade
MEDIA/ m/company/national-
missouri-leadership- my.mo.gov/ Twitter
WEBSITE leadership-institute/
foundation/ #WeServeMo
https://www.facebook.co
https://www.facebook.c #MOLeadershipAcadmey
m/NationalLeadershipInst
om/GreaterMOLeadersh
ip/
itute/
https://twitter.com/Gre https://twitter.com/NLIg
aterMissouri urus

5
 PRIMARY SECONDARY EMERGING

PRODUCT/ Three-day long Different programs for For potential

SERVICE  leadership classes held the organization can be government leaders in
quarterly specifically scheduled near the Missouri. A six-month
for women leaders. organization. The program teaching
organization needs to participants’ to “Lead
provide venue, food and self, lead others, and
number of participants. lead change.”

STRENGTH The classes move to Can cater to diverse Helps create

each of the largest groups to create a governmental
cities in Missouri- this balance within an connections which in
creates a larger organization or business. turn helps expediate
network among their state issues.
organization as well as
women across
Missouri.

Weakness Leaves it exclusive to It’s not an all-inclusive They are a new

women, could package. An organization organization in which
expand to an all men must provide a venue and they don’t have social
class as well as a co- food which could be a media or an in-depth
ed class. large cost and some website.
organizations would not
want to do that.

6
 SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
1. Strong management leadership within
the board and the executive committee.
2. Has an active alumni group that
comes to regular alumni events as well
as keeping them involved through a
monthly newsletter.
3. They have more people applying for
their classes than they have spots open,
so they have no trouble filling their
quota.
4. The company is increasing its market
share by expanding programs to new
audiences.
OPPORTUNITIES
1. Much potential to define a voice for
their business and generate tones
across different platforms.
2. Large base of untapped clients. 3. A
lack of identical local competition
creates more opportunities for the
group to freely operate and expand.
4. Consolidation of data for better
future planning is a plan in the works.
7
WEAKNESSES
1. Website design and content leaves
much to be desired. The site needs
organization and a better definition of
LS’s mission and purpose.
2. Social media engagement is low and
the voice across platforms is dry and
uninviting.
3. The organization recently separated
from the Chamber and is struggling to
find its own way among other
leadership organizations.
4. Leadership Springfield’s purpose is
difficult to describe and new
professionals to the area might not
grasp why the organization exists.
THREATS
1. Other professional groups have
networking opportunities for less cost.
2. Major organizations can create a
branch in Springfield.
3. They don’t have strong social media
so if someone were to give bad review
or claims then they wouldn’t know to
fix it.
4. Not keeping things up to date, i.e.
without keeping with what major cities,
west coast and east coast trends. It can
be easy to fall out of date.
RESEARCH RESULTS
SURVEY
4Sight conducted a survey with 31 alumni and board members of Leadership
Springfield. Below are three of the most important observations that pertain to the
campaign. Alongside this, Appendix A provides the full data for each question within
the survey.

1. Age: Knowing the buyer persona’s age can help determine to whom the campaign should
be targeted. Understanding generational gaps, such as between baby boomers and
millennials, is vital to developing the campaign. The circle graph below shows that the age
range is 36-55.

2. Social Media Platform: Each social media platform has a different voice, for example
Twitter is usually more casual and lighter hearted, whereas LinkedIn is more professional
and informative. The graph below shows that Leadership Springfield alumni use
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn most.

8
 3. Favorite Aspect of Leadership Springfield: Respondents of the survey overwhelmingly
agreed that learning about the challenges and opportunities about Springfield was their
favorite part about the Leadership Springfield program.

INTERVIEWS
Appendix B provides a complete transcript of Interview #2; the subject of Interview #1
specifically requested that no recordings be made, so no transcript is available for that
interview.

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW #1
4Sight interviewed the Economic Development Marketing Director for the
Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. Two of the main observations include:

(1) People don’t know about Springfield. Rachel took the time to discuss research the Chamber
performed for a campaign they were planning to implement. The purpose of this research was to
discover why or why not people chose Springfield when given the option to relocate. The
research found that people did not know anything about the area and were not likely to choose
Springfield if it was an option for relocation. The research further found that people were more
likely to relocate when they were given information about Springfield.

(2) Working directly with businesses works for recruitment. Since the Chamber chose to create
consistent messaging through various businesses, their campaign was successful and reached
more potential residents. Plans are to do the same for Leadership Springfield’s campaign. By
targeting new people through their employer, hopefully, the same positive results as the Chamber
had with this marketing campaign will be seen.

9
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW #2

4Sight also interviewed a Drury professor, this professor was chosen since they
are a new professional to the Springfield area. There were two main observations from this
interview:

(1) Influencer marketing works. Seeing an ad would spark curiosity but what would sell the idea
is if a friend or colleague highly recommended it. Therefore, the strategy of acquiring new
applicants needs to rely heavily on alumni and business recommendations and strengthen the
alumni networking events.

(2) Springfield has a unique environment. The overall atmosphere of Springfield comes across
as
a small town feeling with big city opportunities.

10
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Based on primary and secondary research conducted by 4Sight, Leadership Springfield’s
current situation is promising, given acceptance of certain recommendations. Through
quantitative research in the form of surveys given to alumni, 4Sight learned that Leadership
Springfield succeeds in fostering an excitement about Springfield within its participants, since
65.4% of surveyed alumni agreed that learning about the challenges and opportunities of
Springfield was their favorite aspect of their experience with Leadership Springfield. Through
qualitative research in the form of in-depth interviews, 4Sight learned that Leadership

Springfield can most effectively promote the Access class by targeting businesses and
influential
alumni.

Ultimately, the main opportunity for the organization is to expand upon Leadership
Springfield’s current target profile (as recognized through alumni) by incorporating strategies
and tactics that will directly target new Springfield residents who are looking to engage in the
Springfield community.

11
GOAL AND OBJECTIVES:
GOAL
To promote the Access class to new residents of the Springfield community.
OBJECTIVE 1:
To develop a coordinated social media strategy to advertise the Access class to
businesses and residents, reaching a visibility/reach increase of 15% by April 30, 2019.
OBJECTIVE 2:
To engage 30 Springfield leaders (10 of which should be residents of 5 years or
less) in a special event that unites the attendees in their knowledge about Springfield by April
30, 2019.

TARGET AUDIENCE:
The #SpotlightSpringfield campaign will have two target audiences:
(1) New Springfield residents
(2) Businesses in the Springfield area

12
BIG IDEA
4Sght proposes implementing a “Spotlight Springfield” theme to share both the unique
challenges and successes of the community with new professionals in the Springfield area.

The purpose of “Spotlight Springfield” is to engage businesses and organizations in Springfield

with encouraging their new employees to get more involved with the community. This will be
achieved by celebrating the values and culture that make Springfield a unique and exceptional
place to live while addressing the challenges the community is facing. 

STRATEGIES AND TACTICS

STRATEGY 1:
Develop a comprehensive social media strategy aimed at promoting the
Access class and overall message of Leadership Springfield on Facebook, Twitter, and
LinkedIn.

TACTICS:
1. Share facts about Springfield (potential sources could be OzarksAlive.com or the
Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce) in the form of links and graphics. These
posts will appear weekly on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and use
#SpotlightSpringfield.

2. Integrate topics of the Access class (civic awareness, diversity, education, health,
etc.) into the facts that are shared on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, in an effort
to demonstrate the importance of the Access class while including the
#SpotlightSpringfield theme.

3. Highlight alumni with a photograph and bio that asks the alumni
to briefly answer the question, “What is the most important thing that Springfield
should spotlight?” These posts will appear weekly on Facebook, Twitter, and
LinkedIn and use #Spotlight Springfield.

13
STRATEGY 2:
Plan a #SpotlightSpringfield Trivia Event aimed at bringing 25-30 people together to share
knowledge about Springfield and highlight Leadership Springfield’s Access class.

TACTICS:
1. Promote the event on Leadership Springfield’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts, in
addition to creating flyers and promotional materials for businesses to tell their employees
about the trivia night.

2. Target businesses to encourage their employees to attend the event, specifically employees
who have lived in SGF for 5 years or less.

3. Advertise a giveaway of an Access class scholarship that will be awarded to an individual

who attends the trivia event.

4. Ask trivia questions that coincide with the social media strategy, such as: “History of
Springfield,” “Things to do in Springfield,” “Springfield Nonprofits,” “Needs of Springfield,”
“People of Springfield,” etc.

5. Hold the event at a location or venue that exemplifies the unique qualities of Springfield,
such as Springfield Brew Co., The Discovery Center, or the Gillioz Theatre.

14
MESSAGES
Messages will be sent out on the demographics three social media choices, Facebook, Twitter, and
Linkedin. All messages will be sent out on Facebook as a base for all of Spotlight Springfield's
messages.

"Did you know" sections will be featured on Twitter as an informational way showcase
Springfield's unique challenges and successes to the target audience, this will also play a part in
the Trivia Night questions.

Alumni Spotlights will be posted on Linkedin to help gain traction to new professionals in the
Springfield area. This would inform new professionals about the possible connections that they
could be making with the help of the Access class. Below are examples of 

15
 KEY
PUBLICS NEW RESIDENTS OF SPRINGFIELD

To develop a coordinated social media strategy to advertise the Access class to

OBJECTIVES
businesses and residents, reaching a visibility/reach increase of 15% by April 30, 2019.

STRATEGIES Develop a comprehensive social media strategy aimed at promoting the Access class
and overall message of Leadership Springfield on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

TACTICS Share facts about Springfield (potential sources could be OzarksAlive.com or the
Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce) in the form of links and graphics. These posts will
appear weekly on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and use #SpotlightSpringfield.

2. Integrate topics of the Access class (civic awareness, diversity, education, health, etc.)
into the facts that are shared on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, in an effort to
demonstrate the importance of the Access class while including the #SpotlightSpringfield
theme.

3. Highlight alumni with a photograph and bio that asks the alumni to briefly answer the
question, “What is the most important thing that Springfield should spotlight?” These
posts will appear weekly on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and use #Spotlight
Springfield.

PRIMARY To educate residents of opportunities in Springfield through

 MESSAGES Leadership Springfield programs.

16
 KEY
PUBLICS SPRINGFIELD BUSINESSES

To engage 30 Springfield leaders (10 of which should be residents of 5 years or less) in a

OBJECTIVES
special event that unites the attendees in their knowledge about Springfield by April 30,
2019.

STRATEGIES Plan a #SpotlightSpringfield Trivia Event aimed at bringing 25-30 people together to
share knowledge about Springfield and highlight Leadership Springfield’s Access class.

TACTICS Promote the event on leadership Springfield’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts,
in addition to creating flyers and promotional materials for businesses to tell their
employees about the trivia night.

2. Target businesses to encourage their employees to attend the event, specifically

employees who have lived in SGF for 5 years or less.

3. Advertise a giveaway of an Access class scholarship that will be awarded to an individual

who attends the trivia event.

4. Ask trivia questions that coincide with the social media strategy, such as: “History of
Springfield,” “Things to do in Springfield,” “Springfield Nonprofits,” “Needs of Springfield,”
“People of Springfield,” etc.

5. Hold the event at a location or venue that exemplifies the unique qualities of Springfield,
such as Springfield Brew Co., The Discovery Center, or the Gillioz Theatre.

PRIMARY To encourage businesses to utilize Leadership Springfield as a developmental tool to

 MESSAGES new leaders in the area.

17
TIMELINE

18
BUDGET
The budget reflects a tentative breakdown of how the $2,000 designated would be used to
implement the campaign. While admittedly still somewhat generalized due to the awareness of
pending changes and uncertainties, it provides an insight into the plan of how to allocate funds to
specific categories. In the execution phase of the campaign, more specific line items under these
categories will emerge and help finalize how funds should be allocated. A graph is also provided
to better represent the financial delegations.

SPOTLIGHT SPRINGFIELD TENTATIVE BUDGET

VENUES $ 500.00
CATERING $ 500.00
SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION $ 100.00
PROMOTIONAL SUPPLIES $ 300.00
DECOR AND EXTRAS  $ 300.00
FINANCIAL CUSHION & TAXES $ 300.00
TOTAL $ 2,000.00 

19
EVALUATION & METRICS

Objectives for the #SpotlightSpringfield campaign are listed below. These objectives will
be used to achieve 4Sight’s overall goal of promoting Leadership Springfield’s new Access
class. But in order to determine the success or failure of the campaign, metrics must be carefully
set and followed. Therefore, beneath each objective, multiple metrics and tools are listed. These
metrics were developed by considering each objective and how to best assign success to the
tactics of the #SpotlightSpringfield campaign.

Objective 1: To develop a coordinated social media strategy to advertise the access class to
businesses and residents, reaching a visibility/reach increase of 15% on social media
platforms by April 30, 2019.

METRIC:
Conversation rate, which is the number of mentions Leadership Springfield
receives in a given time.
TOOL:
Social media analytics tools such as TalkWalker or SocialMention. Could possibly
get free trials for these tools in order to get a deeper perspective of the analytics.
METRIC:
Amplification rate, which is the number of retweets and shares that Leadership
Springfield receives in a given time.
TOOL:
Social media analytics tools such as TalkWalker or Social Mention
METRIC:
 Applause, which includes likes, favorites, and reactions on various social media
platforms
TOOL:
Internal social media analytics, in conjunction with external social media analytics
tools, such as TalkWalker or SocialMention
METRIC:
Cost per click, which demonstrates how much money was actually spent as a
result of social media promotion.
TOOL:
Internal analytics from social media platforms. 

20
Objective 2: To educate 20 new residents about Springfield and promote the Access class to
50+ individuals through a special event by April 30, 2019.
METRIC:
Event attendance
TOOL:
Count the number of attendees of the Trivia night
METRIC:
New resident event attendance
TOOL:
Ask attending businesses to include information about the members of their team,
in the form of a follow-up email, including whether or not they have been in Springfield for 5
years or less.
METRIC:
Cost per new registration
TOOL:
Collaborate with Leadership Springfield to determine how many people sign up for
the Access class as a result of the campaign. The cost per new registration will be calculated by
dividing the cost of the campaign by the number of new registrations.
METRIC:
Cost per contact, which indicates new exposure Leadership Springfield will
receive from the campaign.
TOOL:
This will be determined by dividing the event budget by the amount of individuals
who took in the event, such as number of attendees, media attention, booths, etc.
METRIC:
Level of message penetration before the event.
TOOL:
Count the number of publications and other materials supplied to businesses and
the responses the businesses received from their employees.
METRIC:
Level of message penetration after the event.
TOOL:
Performing a mini-survey to measure the attendees’ opinions about the event. 

21
LIST OF SOURCES
(IN ORDER OF REFERENCE)

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT

Leadership Springfield. (2018, Sept. 9). Discussing the what, how and why... [Facebook post].
Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/leadershipspringfield/photos/a.724804320899263/1
884514798261537/?type=3&theater
Leadership Springfield. (2018).  LinkedIn. Retrieved from
https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadershipspringfield/
LeadershipSGF. (2018, Sept. 18). Major thanks to @HuschBlackwell for sponsoring our Class
36 launch retreat dinner [Tweet]. Retrieved from
https://twitter.com/LeadershipSGF/status/1042191822511112192 
Leadership Springfield. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://leadershipspringfield.org
Leadership Springfield. (2018, Sept. 22). Alumni Lunch & Learn: Don’t Use the F-Word 
[Facebook event post]. Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/events/329406314479214/
Robberson_SPS. (2018, Sept. 18). Class 36- getting our Leadership on! @LeadershipSGF
@Propel_People @official SPS @NicoleLemmon [Tweet]. Retrieved from
https://twitter.com/Robberson_SPS/status/1042104767961595904
Harkey, Don. (2018, Sept. 13). At the Springfield Leadership Class 35
retreat... [Facebook post]. Retrieved from 
https://www.facebook.com/999957016/posts/10214207355430064/
Itssalemon. (2015, Feb. 11). After a long day learning... [Instagram]. Retrieved from
https://www.instagram.com/p/y-rq6HAbIX/utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Wise, Danielle. (2018 Sept.). LinkedIn. Retrieved from
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6448635004015779840
Nat_murdock. (2018, Sept. 18). The learning and connecting happening @LeadershipSGF class
36 retreat is amazing! Great class! @ckisse @Propel_People #LeadSGF [Tweet]. Retrieved
from 
https://twitter.com/nat_murdock/status/1042114997168627714  
What is the Leadership Challenge. (n.d.). Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation. Retrieved
from
https://greatermo.org/the-leadership-challenge/ 
City Leadership. (2018 Sept.). [Facebook page]. Retrieved from 
https://www.facebook.com/cityleadership/
Meet Joi Taylor, Our Choose901 Alumni Program Coordinator. (2018, Mar. 14). City
Leadership. Retrieved from 
http://cityleadership.org/meet-joi-taylor-our-choose901-alumni-program-coordinator/ 

22
Cities/Explore the Cities Where We Work. (2018). Living Cities. Retrieved from 
https://www.livingcities.org/cities 
NMA (n.d.). Retrived from  https://nma1.org/
NMA Leaders.  (2017, May 16). What is NMA...THE Leadership
Development Organization [video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAI57A4e72I 
Background. (n.d.). State of Missouri Leadership Academy. Retrieved from
https://leadershipacademy.mo.gov/background.html 

OTHER REFERENCES
Tweet Reach, Search item, “@LeadershipSGF”, retrieved 11 October 2018 Richardson, C. Personal
Communication. 2018, Sept. 4. Helping Business Thrive. (n.d.). Springfield Area Chamber of
Commerce. Retrieved from 
https://www.springfieldchamber.com/index.php?
submenu=about&src=gendocs&ref=ABOUT&category=Main
Leadership Springfield. (2018). Access. [Brochure].
Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation. (2018). LinkedIn. Retrieved from 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/greater-missouri-leadership-foundation/ 
Greater Missouri Leadership Challenge. (2018). [Facebook page]. Retrieved from 
https://www.facebook.com/GreaterMOLeadership/ 
National Leadership Institute. (2018). LinkedIn. Retrieved from 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-leadership-institute/ 
National Leadership Institute. (2018). [Facebook page]. Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/NationalLeadershipInstitute/ 
State of Missouri Leadership Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved from 
https://leadershipacademy.mo.gov/ 
Greater Missouri. (2018). [Twitter]. Retrieved from
https://twitter.com/GreaterMissouri 
NLIgurus. (2018). [Twitter]. Retrieved from 
https://twitter.com/NLIgurus

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APPENDIXES
APPENDIX A

24
6. If Applicable where do you work?
"Drury University, Springfield Public Schools, Barker Phillips Jackson, Propel People
Development LLC, Arvest Bank, Esterly, Schneider & Associates Architects, University of
Missouri School of Medicine, Banking, Springfield Public Schools, Mercy, Springfield-
Branson National Airport, "I work part-time at the Ozarks Transportation Organization.
We are a metropolitan planning organization for transportation needs.", Springfield
Public Schools, City Utilities of Springfield, Drury University, HM Employee Benefits &
Risk Management, Springfield Public Schools, Care to Learn, People Centric Consulting
Group, Dream Big Consulting, Queen City Roofing & Sheet Metal Company
(Construction), Non Profit, Lowther Johnson Attorneys at Law, LLC, Banking Industry,
United Way of the Ozarks, Developmental Center of the Ozarks (DCO)."

25
6. If applicable, where did you previously live before Springfield?
St. Louis, MO Cape Girardeau MO, Kansas City, Bolivar, Ozark, St. Louis, NJ, KS, AZ, CA,
Garland, TX, St. Louis, Missouri, Denver, Colorado Kansas City, Kansas, Ozark, Wichita, KS, St.
Louis, Shreveport, Louisiana, We've lived in Springfield for 27 years., Los Angeles, Rolla, MO,
Kansas, Jefferson City, MO, Tampa, Florida and Tennessee, Myrtle Beach, SC, Ohio, St Paul
MN, Kansas City, MO, Maryland, Columbia, Missouri, Overland Park, KS, Evansville, Indiana,
Willard. (not originally from the area...but moved to Willard before coming to Springfield),

26
12. Briefly state what your professional goals are.
My goal is to hold a leadership-level position in organizational or civic communication; To continue
to my own learning so that I may apply it in my role of creating opportunities for others and to
continue building relationships within our community that are mutually beneficial so resources can
be leveraged to build unique opportunities for students.; Continue self-improvement and becoming
more valuable to my clients; Successfully own and operate my own leadership training company;
Provide dedicated and high-quality services for my clients; Lead an organization; To continue to
follow my passion helping individuals achieve their personal and professional goals. Also, to be
actively engaged in my community to help further the positive direction we are headed. The most
important thing for me is to feel as though I have a purpose when I go to work each day; That's hard
to say given how things change so frequently. My overall goal would be to establish myself as a
professional in this community that is respected by all community leaders as hard-working,
passionate, and unable to fit in just one box; Executive Leadership;

27
To use my time and talents to promote happiness and healing in the world; Make it to
retirement! Kinda kidding - I want to be involved in professional activities that help our
community grow and improve. I'd like to see improvement in social issues - abuse, poverty, lack
of healthcare, improvement in public education. For me, it's not about the paycheck, it's about
giving back in some way or another to improve everyone's way of life in our community. I truly
try to focus on the greater good; I'm retired. I worked for the City of Springfield for 22 years
prior to that; Serve K-12 students, parents and teachers to create an engaging, relevant and
personal educational experience for ALL students; My professional goal is to use my education
and experience for the betterment of my community; Impact the lives of young people through
leadership at the college/university level;To successfully contribute my skills in the professional
world while making a comfortable living. I would like to move up in the career plan and retire
comfortably; To improve community awareness of my organization.; Continue to learn while
serving my community; Expand our business; To maintain a healthy work-life balance while
helping nonprofits become more successful through business and financial literacy; To provide
outstanding service and problem-solving to clients, have a great culture at my company and
develop leaders; To retire; Be a productive member in a successful firm; CEO of non-profit;
Continue to build my current position to be considered for Executive Director in coming years;

13. What do you value most about Springfield?

The ability to make professional and personal connections quickly; size of the community;
amenities offered; laid back atmosphere.; The community spirit and willingness of
organizations, businesses and individuals to partner together for the greater good.; The small
town feeling with big city culture; The willingness of the community to tackle our own
problems, and not wait for others to resolve them; Access to community leaders and resources;
It is a community of support; The giving spirit of the community; Location & cost of living; The
willingness for people to work together and a city with a small town feel.; I feel like we are an
extremely giving community. There are so many people who are willing to give their time,
energy and money into helping individuals in a variety of situations.; How easily you can get
involved in something you are passionate about and that you can actually make a difference.;
The size of the community. Missouri State. Downtown. Outdoor activities.; The convenience of
a city with the charm of a smaller town - and with actual small towns just a couple of minutes
away.; I think we have a very rich culture of arts and entertainment that is affordable to all. I
love that Contemporary Theatre has pay what you can on Thurs nights. It's that kind of attitude
that makes this a great city; knowing, unless they do a pay what you can, not all can enjoy the
arts and that's not right.; The large amount of people who are engaged and invested in the
community; I enjoy its big city amenities but small town feel.; Diversity of opportunities
(Education, the Arts Community, Entertainment) Quality of Life.; The collaborative culture of
the community.; There is always something to do. Small enough to know people, big enough to
keep meeting new people. Great food scene, great arts, great parks; the community spirit and
the hometown feel; cost of living safety; I appreciate the values and willingness to assist each
other when needed.; Connections. Springfeild is small enough an individual can make an impact
and large enough that the impact can make a difference.;
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Collaboration; The connections. It has a wide variety of businesses and people, but it’s small
enough that I can go to a coffee shop and run into an acquaintance.; Great place to raise a
family and overall low crime rate; Collaborations; The small town feel with big town amenities.;
The value of community.; Family Connection to community Hometown; Cost of living, close to
family, great outdoor/parks facilities nearby, medical access;

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17. When did you graduate from your Leadership Springfield Class?

Member of Class 28; graduated in 2013.; Class 29; 23; Class of 28, 2013; Class 17; Class 28;
Class 25; 2010; class 23; Class 32; I was in Class 27 - I graduated in June 2012.; June 2018;
June 2018; 2018; 2018; 2018; I was a member of class 19.; Class 34; Class 32. 2017; 2018;
2018 class of 34; Principals of Leadership Class 1; May 2017; Class 29; Class 25; Was in the
first class around 1984; Class 27; 2016; 2010; June 2018; 2015;

30
20. What do you think could be done differently in programming?

I thoroughly enjoyed the programming and as a whole appreciate the structure that has been
created. I think one area that could be improved is alumni interaction, however, I also realize
that is difficult because once out of the program it is harder to keep everyone engaged. Other
than the committee I serve on, I myself have not done a very good job of staying engaged with
the program, though I do stay connected with some of my classmates.; More socials. Our class
isn’t as connected as many of the other classes.; Continue to connect the past with the
present; I think the programs are provided at a very high level of excellence. I do believe there
are others programs that can be provided as LS grows.; Expand it to the community - shorter
options for more participants.; Fewer panels and more interactive engagements with
community leaders.; I wish the first couple of groups got just a little more time to set up their
program days. It's a tight timeline and pretty daunting task when you have no idea exactly
what you're doing. Perhaps the initial retreat could be further out from when the actual
program days begin?; Just making sure the planning committee stays on topic for that day.;
Adding an abbreviated program for those who cannot devote the current time required to
attend.; Annual follow-up meetings to learn about the community focus report.; I  think there
is a huge opportunity for additional programs such as mini experiences to connect people to
the community, young professionals, service projects, etc.; Alumni program days...allow 30
alumni to sign up for different program days put on by Leadership Springfield; certain program
days should be in spring and summer. My class has the Art program day but it was in February
which limits anything outdoors since it snowed the day before.; More programming for
graduates to keep us learning.; New programs that include better representation of
SPRINGFIELD residents; Personal leadership development exercises.; 

31
no ideas to offer here; Align with community goal to increase postsecondary attainment to
60% by 2025. Increase racial/ethnic diversity participation in the High School Academy and
include cultural consciousness training.; Some of the program day topics are too broad and
don't allow for a full showing of what Springfield has to offer.; n/a; To further explain an earlier
answer, I wouldn't the entire experience left a negative impression, but I couldn't choose
positive or neutral. Leadership Springfield has great potential; however, it is extremely one-
sided with one narrative of "this is Springfield" presented. There are other perspectives and
ideas, many being ignored when program days are put together. As long as you fit into the rah,
rah all is a good campaign, you're in with the in-crowd. If you challenge the network, you are
politely ignored.;

32
25. What community programs are you involved in after graduating Leadership Springfield?

Rountree Neighborhood Association, CoxHealth Young Professionals Advisory Board, SPS

Citizen Task Force on Facilities; I am involved in several through work supporting students.; Past
Greene County 911 board member, Current Vice Chair of Greene County Planning and Zoning,
current and founding member of the Community Foundation of Rogersville; Board; Boards and
committees - volunteering for organizations to support the community.; Board service on a
variety of boards; charitable boards; church; Springfield Southeast Rotary, Rotary Event Chair,
Rotary Membership Development Committee, Don't Meth With Us Board, Rock n Ribs
Committee Chair, American Cancer Society Cattle Barons Ball Committee Chair, I Pour Life
Committee Member, Leadership Springfield Board and Committee member, Springfield
Chamber Ambassador. Some of these I was already involved in before Leadership Springfield.; 

33
 Springfield Area Human Resources Association Missouri State Council of SHRM Disney
Elementary PTA Cherokee Middle School PTA Kickapoo High School baseball and football
booster clubs Leadership Springfield Academy Leadership Springfield Board of Directors United
States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners Community Relations Board; I'm now serving on a
Leadership Springfield committee. I've also recently learned that I may be approached soon to
serve on the advisory board for a city committee.; Still looking for a new place to plug in.; Same
as I was before. I haven't added any new ones since graduating.; CASA board member, Drury
mentoring program; I served on the Board of the Victim's Center and was a Sertoma Optimist.;
Leadership Springfield committees. Chamber of Commerce Board.; Cub Scout Pack 75, FC
Legacy Soccer Board, Leadership Springfield Signature Class Committee; SAAF spay neuter
clinic, Junior League of Springfield, Rescue One, Watching Over Whiskers; United Way Church;
Not for profit board.; I was pretty involved prior to graduating but I have continued in those
including: Mayor’s Commission on Children Prosper Springfield Rotary SE MSU Business
Diversity Advisory Board Ally for NW Project; United Way, many many others; Leadership
Springfield board Impacting Poverty Commission; Springfield Contractors Association, Local
SCORE group, Chamber of Commerce,; No changes than prior engagement.; Children's Miracle
Network Campaign Committee, The Victim Center Board of Directors, the Springfield
Metropolitan Bar Association Board of Directors, the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Foundation
Board of Directors, Springfield Ballet Board of Directors.; The Victim Center Board of Directors
and Volunteer Rotary The Springfield Ballet Board of Directors Leadership Springfield Board of
Directors Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce Volunteer; Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring
101 Springfield Leadership committee Networking monthly with class; Church, kids schools,
DCO events and programs (my job keeps me quite busy), advisory member for another local
nonprofit;
APPENDIX B
1: Can you tell me about your previous education and work background?
2: Sure. I have a bachelor's degree in mining engineering from university in Mexico University. I
work in the mining industry for about five years and then participate in study abroad program,
but actually change program with Portland, Oregon University. So I got my MBA there and after
I finished my MBA, my wife and I decided that we wanted to stay there. And we went there. We
were already married. We decided to stay in Texas because her family's from Texas and we
decided to try it for a year or so. And, I started working in higher education primarily dealing
with workforce training, continuing education, workforce development, those type of things.
And then moved into student services and into the latest one I had, there was actually the director
for the career center at UT Rio Grande Valley. I was doing that. I began my PhD and my PhD is
in Business Administration with a concentration in finance and so I finished it last year. I
finished all the coursework before that, but I was able defend my dissertation and as I was going
through that, that's when it was time for me to apply for positions and um, it was an opportunity
here at Drury. I applied and got the position. I'm happy to be here, but so by my, my background
is really in the interdisciplinary, which is something that I really value and I guess that's, 

34
they might be a question about that, but one of the reasons why I like Drury is because it takes
that interdisciplinary approach. So I definitely like that.
1: I agree 100 percent. So, how did you hear about Drury?
2: Yes, I heard it two ways. I knew about Springfield because my sister in law resides here and
so we have traveled to Springfield several times during the holidays and we liked the area and
right before I was going to defend my dissertation, that's when I learned about through, well I
knew about Missouri state then I heard about Drury, but at that time they didn't have any
openings. It turns out that when I got my degree, I got into the market, started looking for jobs.
I
started applying and as I was coming back from a major conference, I went online, I believe it
was the chronicle of higher education or one of those big ones, and they had a position. So I
read it and I had driven by Drury and kind of knew where it was and I thought, well a might as
well apply and, and really I always thought that I actually thought that it was going to be a long
shot. It was too good to be true to what I was going to be able to come here. Here with family
plus being in an institution that actually valued what I valued. So I did apply and I was really
lucky to get an email asking me if I was too interested to go through a virtual interview. And
after the virtual interview, I got a call in December asking me about was interested still in the
position and I said yes, and they told me, well you will hear from us once we come back from
the holidays. And I got the call and in January if I'm not mistaken from James Simmerman.
Because he was the committee chair and he said that they're interested in actually flying me up
here for a formal interview. So I came here for interview in February and then I got a call two
weeks later. So it was really, really nice. Yes, a ton of stories about it, but you cannot write
everything.
1: What else attracted you to Springfield?
2: I think the family was definitely a factor. I would say that when I learned about Drury, you
have student teaching and student success, was definitely one of the key points. And then I
had the opportunity to actually come here and get to know the students, teach a class, talk to
them and ask them what was, why was it that they were coming to Drury? And most of them
told me what made the difference was the interaction with faculty that they felt that the faculty
really care for them. And when I talked a little bit different faculty members, I saw that as well.
I've been in student success or for about 15 years now, a little more than that. Everything is
related to student success. So I thought, well, this is definitely something that I'm interested in
doing. That was definitely very fun. Then we were familiar with the community. We liked the
people here. It's a friendly environment, is friendly and then once you start seeing everything
that's happening here. I've seen how Springfield has grown and it's definitely a hub for
healthcare and businesses in the area, but you still have that kind of small time, small-town
feeling, although it's growing. But everybody that we've talked to are friendly. We just felt that it
was a good place to be. 1: So I'm actually from Arkansas and I heard about Drury from my dad's
friend that used to live in Springfield. He just was praising Drury. I came up here with my family
and just love the community feel and how everyone's so nice. I mean Dr Simmerman, I had him
for one class my freshman year, he still remembered my name and says hi to me. And so you
really do get that, you know, faculty interaction, which I can see and love immediately. 
35
So I just, it's funny how, you know, people how like what draws people to the city and
everything.
2: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, it's kind of what's the Drury difference and I think
that that's what it is and at all times it's not even advertised as much because people don't know
it. You see people walking down the hallways who say hi to you.
1: And I tell people that on my tours. When I run into people and I actually do know these
people.
2: You know, they actually gave me a tour when I was, when I came to visit we went to
admissions, so that's where probably you are. And they gave me a tour in a little golf cart
because we didn't have a lot of time. So now I'm back in the back seat. I'm not used to it.
1: How have you gotten involved in the community so far?
2: I wish I were more involved, but we're being here for three months, landed in this three
months. We are already involved with a Catholic church and school. With my sister in law that
lives here, we're building a group of friends now. Drury offers a lot of opportunities for cultural
activities, so we've had an opportunity to attend a couple of functions and a couple guest
speakers. We've actually recently joined the health center as a family, so we're going to be
involved with that. My son just transferred to a boy scout troop here. We just recently did it and
I'll be part of it will be a committee member at the troops. So we're getting a lot of what we're
doing, it's been involved with, with family and, and that's one thing that's great about
Springfield, it does allow you to interact as a family so it offers. So those are the main things
that I think we've done with the business community. I haven't been as involved as I would like
to. When I heard about Leadership Springfield, it resonated with me because I was actually part
of
Leadership Brownsville back in my hometown and it helped connect with business people. I
actually made a lot of friends that way and you learn how your overall community works. So it
definitely gets to immersed into the community and the faster way. So I'm definitely interested
in being part of that at one point.
1: How many kids do you have?
2: I have two. My daughter who is actually attending Drury between her sophomore and junior
year. My son is 15 and is in high school. So that was one of the other, I guess one of the things
that sold me about the possibility of coming over here.
1: What are some of your professional goals?
2: I think the biggest goal right now, short term is I want to be able to in a full time faculty
member in the past I was, I had been an adjunct in addition to being a full time administrator at
the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. So making that transition, making sure that I want to
meet the expectations that students have as well as the rest of my colleagues as well as the
administration here. So that's the first goal, I want to survive their first year. And then of course
I'm on a tenure track position with the tenure track come many aspects. I want to continue with
my research, published some of my research do in both the community and definitely be be the
best teacher I can be. So those are the ones. Then outside from that, I think one thing I would
like to definitely do is to be more involved with the community. We all believe in is that we want
for students to be successful in the classroom and beyond the classroom. From what I've heard 
36
about faculty that is true. The fact that faculty here are also academic advisers. I'm not right at this
moment, I need to be trained to be one so they don't take that position lightly. They definitely want
things to be done correctly. But I would like to be more involved with the community and try to
help students make that connection with employers and working on internships. I think that I will
develop myself as a professional by doing that stuff. And other things will come.
1: Are there any challenges that you're facing as a new resident to Springfield?
2: You know, what's amazing? Is that moving from Texas to Springfield was not as much a
challenge as we thought it was going to be. It was a bumpy road because we had to sell our
house, buy a house here. But there were people in this community that helped us in an amazing
way from the real estate agent that helped us to get the house to the banker that helped us with
the loan. They made us feel like it was going to be okay and we were going to be able to move in
and we were to sell the house coming here. It was a lot of work at first. I wouldn't like to do that
again, but there were a lot of people within friends of our friends or family members that helped
us with the move. So I haven't seen any challenges in that regard. Any change is difficult, but
this committee has actually made it easier for us than what we thought it was.
1: And then what city in Texas are you from?
2: I lived in Brownsville, Texas, so it's a deep south. It's a border town near the Rio Grande
Valley. It is a striving community as well. There was driving commute because SpaceX is
actually going to be building their launch site at Boca Chica Beach, which is 25 miles away from
Brownsville. So we have South Padre Island, about 30 minutes away. So it's, it's a thriving
community. It's growing and is less than 200,000 people.
1: What is something that you really loved about Brownsville?
2: We were neighbors and living in a place where you could interact with people from that. It
was really a bicultural bilingual community and our campus was actually right in front of a
international bridge. That way international students can come to take classes at the university
and go back. We like the proximity to the beach and the Mexican food. There used to be two
universities that combined and became the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley at and they're
65 miles apart. And when you aggregate all of them, you're looking at close to a million people
that. So something that was in real life was that I would have to commute to Edinburg twice a
1: Do you and your family live in Springfield or are you outside such as Strafford.
2: We actually live in Springfield. Southeast actually. I believe it's 22 minutes without traffic can
be about 20 with traffic. Thirty minutes.
1: What other community involvement were you involved in back in Texas? I know you
mentioned the Brownsville leadership week because I had an office. I love seeing how it was
developed and seeing that the whole community was working together and it was, and it was
creating a lot of synergy. So I think that that was something that it was working for the united, so I
like that. 
2: That was probably the principal leadership. I was very involved with the Chamber of
Commerce. Right. Because we had that, we had an internship program and we rely heavily on
them to help us with placement of students and the Chamber of Commerce was really 

37
close by the university. So that's why we were very involved. I was also involved with the society
forhuman resource management. Once again you had a human resource manager for reps in the
employers that will come in and hire students. So I was involved with that. I was involved with
the local scouts as well. I was not a boy scout but also a committee member. I learned about boy
scouts because of my son and I firmly believe that it's one of the best programs for young boys
and girls. At one point when we were involved in a martial arts. So that was more on the healthy
side. Stress Relief. It was actually what I like about Cook's one. And it was more about that,
about self defense and personal growth. I was involved with our church. I'm trying to see what
else I was involved indirectly with united way as well and through a partnership with the
Chamber of Commerce United Way and some other members when we wrote a grant for to
develop internships in the community. It's a very interesting program because we're getting funds
from a percentage of the tax revenue from the CD goes into economic development. And what
they did is they gave us this grant and while we were doing was we will approach businesses and
ask them to host insurance and paid those interns salary of $10 an hour. And a fair thing was
evolved the and, and in return, what we will do is we will actually reimburse them $5 for every
hour. So it was the community investing in the community to develop internships and develop
human capital. We enter that in collaboration and we did that in collaboration with the community
college. So the ground was a 50 percent of the funds went to the community college, 50 percent of
the funds went to the university and it was to fund those positions within the city. We've had it for
a while, they've had it for two years. Then they made all the goals and it's, it's, we know of another
community that has done something very similar and that's Corpus Christi in Texas. And that's
what we heard from them and took some of the components of the model and so many of the
grant and the grant was out of a program. It's called all in and so, which includes the chamber of
Commerce, the city. 
1: Where did you hear about Leadership Springfield?
2: I heard about it because our dean is participating. That's how I heard about it, but I haven't
done much research. So that's it. And then the email that you sent me.
1: What social media platforms do you use at least weekly?
2: I use my Linkedin account. I tried to post business articles on a weekly basis or every couple
of weeks. I'm not as active as I would like to. I was more active in my former role, but I do have
a Facebook that's more of a personal aside so that I can connect with family members, a release
about uploading pictures and then seeing the picture from my family members. I also have an
Instagram. I actually keep that one also kind of private. I would say I post about once a week or
so and a lot of what I post the people suddenly lose about a default system. Of course I have
several group chats on Whatsapp, which is a great way to communicate that with my high
schooland college friends. That's how we communicate with each other. I do have a twitter
account but I don't use it that much. With twitter is more about listening to other people's tweets
or reading about other people's tweets. But I don't use it as much as I would like to not really
having that much time. In the past we used to have it used to have access to our office media
platforms. And we actually had a committee, but I was part of that, so we will post more things.
Lately it's a, it's more about personal things. The only one that's professional would 

38
be Linkedin and I'm very active on that one. If I meet someone just immediately go there and
find them there. And that's one thing that we try to do a networking. Networking is key when it
comes to getting jobs and your career. So I don't have business cards yet that happened there,
but once I get business cards, we'll make sure that I actually include my Linkedin account. I
actually have one of my signature page number. Whenever I say my signature on my email, I
actually have my Linkedin account.
1: Would you do it more based on like your friends recommending it or if you saw a social
media ad or if you, something like that.
2: If I wanted to get involved in the community program, I think if I were to see it on social
media or ad, that probably sparked my curiosity about it, but I think that what would probably
sell me on the program would be a friend of mine would recommend it or if a colleague were to
recommend it or if I could see some success story where whereas you can see that there's some
connection between me and that person that's telling the story. But word of mouth would
definitely be something. So the first section is yes, how pulled open the page. I will find out a
little more about it, but, but to be sold on it, you have to make that extra connection.
1: Their access class is a shortened version of their signature program. So they are dwindling
down a nine month program to a two day program, mainly for new residents and so they'll have
like talking about like the past, present and future in Springfield. They have different topics like
criminal justice and public safety, art communications, technology, education, lifelong learning
and things like this. And so it focuses on different sections of the community, ways to get
involved with the community, meeting other residents of Springfield.
1: Would you be interested in two day access class?
2: I think would be definitely open to something like that. I guess the question is how much are
those programs? What's the cost of those programs? That's because I know there's programs
that are costly.
1: I think most of the people that go through it have their organization, their business paid for
the majority of it. So I think the two day classes is $500, and I don't know the price off the top of
my head for the nine month one, but I think most people either have scholarships to go. I think
it's one of those where the employers usually will support it.
2: The one in front of, I'm trying to remember how I do recall that I had to get signatures from
my supervisors because you will have to be out one day, a full day out of every month and you
have to commit to be there. So it had to get supervisors and I think so it was the same type of
thing. There were sponsors so they will usually send a couple of people every two or three
people every year from that institution. And so I didn't pay for it, but I knew that. I know there
was a constable, a lot of it was, well it was more like, well we have three slots for this, two
things, money for that, the other company, and then they had some scholarships for those that
were not part of any of those bigger sponsors or individuals.
1: So what would you want to gain most out of a program like that?
2. I think it will be a jumpstart into been immersed in that community. It would be

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definitely networking, getting to know how your community operates and who are the different
actors in the community. In a position like mine for assistant professor. I think it will be
important to know what the biggest employers are and to have access to potential speakers so
they can come and talk to the students and develop mentorships. But also learning about other
things that are happening in cultural things. I had opportunity to go to the art museum. But
there's a lot of restaurants are opening. Of course Missouri State offers cultural and social
activities like Harry Connick Jr. coming. We haven't had a chance to go to check some activities
out. So I think Leadership Springfield we will be able to know more about those things and
become more active with the community and see what the community has to offer to new
residents and our residents as well. And see how can you be more involved and become part of
it and not feeling like an outsider. The main thing is you'll become part of the communion. Not,
don't feel like you're an outsider. That would be the best thing.

Summary of Notes from first

interview
• 750 mile research found that people are not familiar with Springfield bit if they learned
about it, there are more likely to relocate
• Need to shift message from one of the top 25 unsafe places to healthcare, low cost
housing (31% lower), commute (15-20 minutes), and safe community with a balance of
work and life
• Toolbox video series of “Enjoy the Life You Want”
• Relocation guide in 417 Magazine every 2 years as well as career fair booth
• Community tours with potential recruiters and realtors

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