Hello, Planning Committee! In an effort to keep everyone more regularly up-to-date, Abby and Heather are going to try to send out an update every other week with new info, action items (that require your attention/response), etc. So, here goes...!

1. Response to Idealist announcement
2. Update on host campus conversations
3. Update on fiscal agency
4. Action item: Outreach targets
5. Action item: Branding

1. Response to Idealist announcement
Good news, bad news, and good news. Good news: Idealist sent out an announcement to nonprofit sponsors, facilitators, campus administrators, and the Idealist On Campus listserv to let folks know about the decision about the conference AND the announcement included a plug for our site. Bad news: Due to an oversight, our site forced registration on Changing the Present before leaving name and email address, meaning that no one left us their info! Good news: We fixed the problem, and Heather sent out a correction to the HE-SL listserv and the IOC listserv. That means that over 50 people have now left their info for us, which is not bad...

2. Update on host campus conversations
We wanted to make sure that everyone is on the same page regarding all of the conversations going on about host campuses. There are several updates since our last email, so here is the latest list of campuses someone has talked with, who talked with them, and what the status is:

- Idaho State (Heather, via Ari): very interested

- Univ of Washington, Seattle (Steve): phone tag
- Seattle Univ (Steve): phone tag
- Rider Univ (Ari): phone tag
- National-Louis Univ (emailed Heather): phone tag
- Arizona State Univ (Hunter): phone tag
- Kennesaw State Univ (Hunter): phone tag
- Univ of Mass, Amherst (Heather, via Char): phone tag

- American Univ (Hunter): no word
- Georgetown Univ (Hunter): no word
- George Washington Univ (Hunter): no word
- Galludet Univ (Hunter): no word
- Univ of Maryland (Abby): no word
- Washburn Univ (Ari): no word

- Providence College (Heather): no
- Gonzaga (Steve): no
- Univ of Houston (Hunter): no
- Univ of DC (Hunter): no
- Brown Univ (Heather): no
- Macalester Univ (Deb): no
- St. Catherine's College (Deb): no
- Univ of Missouri-St. Louis (Deb): no

Pocatello, Idaho is wonderful, but we don't think that folks will make that trip in this "transition" year. We'll likely get a sense of what they can offer, but will likely look at the possibility of going there for a future conference (unless we hear an uprising from you!). If you have other ideas about who we should reach out to (and a contact there), please let us know!

3. Update on fiscal agency
We have sent information to a few organizations since we last updated you about Youth Noise's decision not to serve as fiscal sponsor. With the help of Dan, Steph, Michelle, Sean, and John Sarvey (who recently joined the Planning Committee), we pulled together a "Financial Partner Proposal" that outlines in broad strokes what we need from a fiscal agent. We have now sent that document to the Williams James Foundation, Youth Service America, and Do Something. We're waiting to hear back from all three. If you have other ideas about who we should reach out to (and a contact there), please let us know!

4. Action item: Outreach targets
We would like to start setting registration fees and letting Amy/Sean work on sponsorship packages, but we realized that we really need to set outreach targets before we get to that point. Because registration and sponsorship fees pay for the conference, we need to figure out how many people we want to aim to bring to the conference and divide our projected expenses by that number (with a little cushion).

So we need to hear from you: What do you think is a realistic target for the total number of people who would attend the event? (Last year was 1000 total attendees; the 2006 conference was 1500; the 2005 conference was 1200.)

Email the list or email Abby/Heather at chairs@campusconference.org with your feedback!

5. Action item: Branding
Steve was good enough to lead a bit of a focus group with some of his students at the Univ of Idaho to get us started in thinking about how we might "brand" this conference: title, logo, coloring, philosophy, etc. Here are their recommendations:

- Title isn't quite as important as tagline
- Tagline should imply some element of "everyday action," "do something," "great work is small work," etc.
- Words that resonated: share, volunteer, experience, network (maybe)
- Images that resonated: NOT circle or hands!
- Colors that resonated: yellows, some greens, some reds
- Conference should relay "passion" in branding and in actuality -- students are tired of going to conferences that suck enthusiasm and controversy out of the equation

So we need to hear from you: What would you like to suggest as a title/tagline?

Go to the wiki ( http://campusconference.wetpaint.com/page/Brilliant+Names+for+the+Conference) to enter your feedback...folks have already gotten the ball rolling!!

That's all for now! Thanks for all the energy and enthusiasm you all have for providing a platform by which students can organize themselves, learn from one another, and show the world how passionate they are about social change!

- Abby and Heather