COLLABORATION: team project, meeting facilitation, and presentation
The purpose of this assignment is to practice and improve the teamwork skills necessary in today’s workplaces.
ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW:
Team Project:
The theme of your project must center around one of the options below:
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- OPTION 1: In your teams, come up with an idea for a new product or service and pitch this idea to the class in your final presentation. Your project should focus on what the product/service does, why the consumer should buy your product/service, what makes it unique, why we should fund your product/service, etc. You DO NOT need to actually make this product, though feel free to be creative.
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- OPTION 2: In your teams, suggest an improvement in a workplace (real or made up). Some examples could include hiring a new position, implementing a campaign within the workplace (i.e. recycle more, exercise during lunch, etc.), allowing for a day off to volunteer, etc.
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- OPTION 3: In your teams, suggest an improvement in our community. The community could be Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Linn Benton Community College, Oregon State University, etc. This improvement should address a need in the community that your group identifies. Some examples include developing a new park, building a new public building, improving roads or schools, etc.
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Team Selection:
You have the opportunity to create your own team based on the skills you value in accomplishing this assignment. Teams will be about three people in size. You must stay with this team throughout the entirety of the term. If problems arise, try to apply what you’ve learned in Chapter 5 regarding successful collaboration, as well as in Chapter 2’s cultural understanding and culturally-sensitive terminology sections to work through issues before coming to your instructor. Additionally, since this is a professional course, like in all workplaces, if a team member is not pulling their weight after multiple interventions, it is possible to “fire” them from your group. Please note that this is a LAST RESORT option and you must discuss it with your instructor prior to any decision or action.
Your group will be expected to meet a minimum of three times throughout the term. During these meetings, each group member will serve in one of three roles (listed below). By the end of the term, you will have served in every role and will have turned in documentation for each using the guidelines below. If you miss a meeting or fail to turn in materials for a certain role, you may not make it up during a later meeting.
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- Agenda Creator – Create a typed meeting agenda prior to your meeting to help guide the meeting forward and keep things moving. You will turn in the agenda you created for points. Both of your group members must sign somewhere on the agenda to verify it was used during the meeting. The date, time, and who was in attendance must also be included on the agenda. Agendas ARE NOT the same as meeting minutes. Only include a plan for the meeting, not a detailed description of what was discussed about these topics (see secretary role below).
- Meeting Facilitator – Facilitators help move a meeting forward, engage those that aren’t participating, and bring everyone back when discussions get off topic. When you are the facilitator, your job is to guide your team through the meeting agenda. After serving as the facilitator, write a brief 1-2 page, double-spaced, reflection on your experience. The reflection should include:
- What went well when you were facilitator?
- What was challenging as facilitator?
- What would you do differently next time?
- Secretary – The role of secretary is to take meeting minutes. Meeting minutes help track what was discussed during the meeting and serve as reminders for after the meeting. Be sure to indicate on the minutes what decisions were made, when the next meeting is scheduled for, tasks that were assigned, items added for the next meeting, etc. The meeting minutes must be typed.
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Promotional Materials:
In order to pitch your product or service, your team will develop a variety of promotional materials. At a minimum, you must include:
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- At least one printed promotional material; this could include a brochure, poster, printed ad, newsletter, or other publication.
- At least one digital promotional material such as a homepage/webpage, social media campaign, short commercial, digital advertisement, brief video, etc.
- One additional promotional material of your choosing (digital or printed).
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Portfolio:
Your portfolio should be a folder of print materials that details what was discussed in your presentation and provides additional information about your project. Your portfolio must include the following:
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- Table of contents—list each item included in your portfolio.
- 1-2 sentence mission statement about the purpose/need your project addresses.
- 1-2 page overview of the project—this should be broad in nature and describe who your overall target audience is, why they would be interested in this idea, and what need it addresses, etc. In other words, save details about individual materials for the description (see below).
- Description of each item—describe in depth each of the materials created for your project, including print and digital materials. Descriptions should include an overview of the item, the specific target audience, why the item was created, and what is unique about it.
- At least one printed promotional item(s)—this could include a brochure, poster, printed ad, newsletter, or other publications. If more than one was created, please include copies of all.
- Peer evaluations for all group members including yourself.
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Group Presentation:
As a group, you will present your project to the class using PowerPoint, Google Slides, or another digital presentation program. Each group member must have an opportunity to present. The group presentation should be 10-15 minutes in length and must include the following:
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- Need/purpose of your project— why did your group choose this idea to create/address?
- Target audience— who will benefit from your project?
- Descriptions and visual examples of all promotional materials— be sure to include the materials (digital or hard copy) as well as a description of why each was created.
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*This assignment was created by Will Fleming and Hailey Adkisson, 2019.